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Austin youth forestry interns describe yearlong paid internship that supports canopy work
Summary
City of Austin Youth Forest Council staff told the Urban Forestry Committee the paid, year-long internship places 12—16 young people in pathways including community engagement and school tree inventory; presenters highlighted hands-on projects, partner collaborations and training in data collection and outreach.
Vice Chair Martin Lukey opened the committee—s staff briefing by welcoming Brittany Huynh and Zane Williams of the City of Austin—s Youth Forest Council.
The Youth Forest Council, Huynh said, "is a paid year long internship for young people ages 16 through 20, living and going to school in Austin," and is housed in Austin Climate Action and Resilience. She told the committee the program is structured around three pathways: youth programming, community engagement and ASD (school) tree inventory.
The presentation said cohorts run June through May, generally include about 12 to 16 interns, and that interns are paid part time and typically work about 10 to 15 hours per month. On recruitment, presenters said the program prioritizes applicants from "high priority" areas identified on the Community Tree Priority Map; Huynh reported that 69% of the most recent cohort came from those areas and listed participating schools including ACC, Austin High, McCallum, UT Austin, LBJ Early College, Garza and Westwood.
Zane Williams described training and activities: interns participate in pathway trainings, lead community tree ID walks, tabling at events such as the CTX Climate Summit, and partner events with nonprofits. On the school-inventory pathway, presenters said interns use the TreePlotter GIS tool to measure species, size and health; Huynh told the committee interns inventoried at least six schools and 985 trees during the last program year.
Presenters highlighted community action projects as a leadership opportunity: examples included an alum mural about native Central Texas trees, a volunteer planting at Roy G. Guerrero Park, a tree planting at Grove Valley Elementary School, and youth-led educational workshops in partnership with Wells Branch Wild Conservancy.
Committee members praised the program and asked how projects are proposed and sustained. Huynh said projects are intern-driven with staff support; they provide suggested ideas, logistical help and connections to partners, and noted that some projects that used to be required are now optional. Zane described a capstone video project documenting native-plant propagation that he said remains available in city archives.
The committee thanked the presenters and Lukey encouraged members and neighborhood groups to propose partnership projects. The Youth Forest Council presentation closed with an invitation to contact staff about collaboration and volunteer opportunities.
The committee moved to the next briefing after brief discussion of program scaling and local outreach plans.
