TEK Environmental Workforce Development Internships
.png)
The Native American nonprofit, Elderberry Wisdom Farm, works with Native American and other interns pursuing conservation career pathways through our Traditional Ecological Knowledge Workforce Development Program. We provide paid internships in partnership with Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry Program, City of Salem Urban Forestry, Friends of Trees, and local Salem-Keizer schools.
Interns will have opportunities to learn to integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge and climate adaptive practices into conservation partners' habitat restoration activities, including urban forestry, native plant nursery, organic farming and micro-enterprise development.
Culturally tailored classroom education, experiential service-learning activities and mentorship will strengthen interns' conservation workforce readiness.
13-week internships are held seasonally, with Fall, Winter , and Summer cohort recruited approximately 1 month in advance of internships beginning on the first Monday of October, February, and June, respectively. In-person classes are held three days a week with a stipend ($1,500 per month) provided, although some interns have four day internships ($2,000 per month).
Candidates must live near training and work sites in or near Salem or be willing to move to the surrounding area to participate. Please review our website www.elderberrywisdom.org and review past newsletters for more information.
Watch our website and newsletters for job opportunities. For more information, or to submit your resume and cover letter for consideration, email rose@elderberrywisdom.org.
INTERNS
More about our Urban and Community Forestry career track
You can learn to cultivate, plant and maintain tree and shrub species Native to the Willamette Valley and receive training from EWF as well as our partners: Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry Program, City of Salem Urban Forestry, Friends of Trees and local Salem/Keizer schools.
More about our Native Plant Nursery career track
Interns can learn to cultivate, maintain and plant native tree, shrub and pollinator ground cover species at two of our Native American Plant Nursery sites in rural Marion County in Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley. Partners include the Institute for Applied Ecology, its Willamette Valley Native Plant Partnership, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and several local native plant nurseries.
More about our Organic Farming career track
We currently have an opening for an Organic Farming and Food Sovereignty Intern who is a current undergraduate or graduate student ages 18–24, regardless of enrollment status. The scholarship is being provided by the Organic Farmers Association's Organic Career Network. If you are committed to learning organic farming practices and would like to join Elderberry Wisdom Farm's team of Native American and Indigenous staff and interns, please consider this opportunity. It will help strengthen your awareness of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and other Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and increase social and economic opportunities for Native American and Indigenous producers. Classroom education and experiential service learning will be held in the rich soils of Oregon's mid-Willamette Valley. You will also learn more about and be able to support tribal food sovereignty through a combination of technical, cultural, and educational activities in collaboration with multiple partners, including Marion-Polk Food Share.
More about our Hybrid Microenterprise Development career track
EWF trains Native Americans and other individuals in agricultural and horticultural microenterprise development. We have formed several Native American LLCs that will provide interns who complete training in business and marketing that can provide opportunities for multigenerational prosperity for their families.
Businesses include Blue Elderberry Farm which is developing an organic locally-sourced elderberry syrup and skin product line using the native plant species, Sambucus nigra ssp. Cerulea, commonly called Blue Elderberry. This business is serving as a model to Native growers and producers on how to plan, form and operate their own organic and sustainable farm operation. We are currently selling products at the Salem Farmers Market and Corvallis Farmers Market.
EWF also formed the businesses, Native American Habitat Restoration LLC and Native American Plant nursery LLC and are training a crew that, once trained in habitat restoration and native plant nursery development, will work at a living wage restoring mid-Willamette Valley ecosystems. Training and experiential learning activities are provided at two Native American Plant Nursery sites where the native elderberry farm is also located and at partner sites in the Willamette Valley. We are developing this initiative as a micro-enterprise business. After joining the crew, the interns will develop over three years to administer and run their own LLC as owner-operators.
Join Our Newsletter