Twenty collegiate students are participating in an eight week environmental internship as part of the Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities initiative. This initiative was formed by The Nature Conservancy as a way to engage communities in the planting and care of urban trees and forests. The students involved are working in New York City and Philadelphia and learning essential environmental science skills such as tree identification, tree health monitoring, early tree pest detection and date collection. One of the summer interns, Esteban Arenas- Pino states, “My experience this summer has taught me how urban trees play such a vital role in supporting healthy communities for all… Planting and caring for city trees is one of the best things we can do to support a healthy future for our cities.” HTHC plans to expand their program into other cities over the next year and in order to provide the same opportunities to other talented youth and improve urban environments. To read more about the HTHC initiative, the experience of the interns, and the benefits of city trees follow the link to a featured article by TreeHugger: http://www.treehugger.com/conservation/students-spend-their-summer-protecting-americas-urban-trees.html
