Plant Records Curation and Mapping Internship

Description

About Denver Botanic Gardens: Green inside and out, Denver Botanic Gardens was founded in 1951 and is considered one of the top botanical gardens in the United States and a pioneer in water conservation. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, The Gardens has a robust living plant collection, natural history collection and art collection along with temporary art exhibitions. The Gardens is a dynamic, 24-acre urban oasis in the heart of the city, offering unforgettable opportunities to flourish with unique garden experiences for the whole family – as well as world-class exhibitions, education, and plant conservation research programs. 

For more information, visit us online at www.botanicgardens.org.

Denver Botanic Gardens is currently seeking a Plant Records Curation and Mapping Internship Intern in our Horticulture Department! Read below to see if the requirements might be a good fit for you:

 To be considered, please submit your application by Friday, January 31, 2025. 

• To be considered for this internship, please submit all the following:  resume, cover letter, transcript(s) (unofficial transcripts accepted), and two letters of reference. Application must be completed in full at the time you apply. You will not be able to modify or add to your application once it has been submitted. 

Position Summary and Goals:

Working with the Plant Records team, this intern will assist in curation of the diverse living plant collections at Denver Botanic Gardens through databasing, mapping, labeling and documenting phenology through both digital photography and record updates. The intern will be assigned inventorying our Quercus collection but will work within several gardens throughout the duration of the internship, being exposed to the diverse elements that make up the living collections as well as many of the different team members in Horticulture. Past intern experiences have centered on areas such as the Freyer-Newman Center of Science, Art and Education, the Steppe Garden, the O’Fallon Perennial Walk and the recent renovations of some of our habitat gardens.

As mentioned, this year’s main Plant Records project will be focused on inventorying our Quercus collection. Denver Botanic Gardens is part of the Plant Collections Network (PCN) which is a group of North American botanical gardens and arboreta that coordinates a continent-wide approach to plant germplasm preservation and promotes excellence in plant collections management. Within PCN, we are one of 21 organizations that focuses on germplasm conservation for Quercus. As of January 2024, we had 161 taxa representing 101 species and 372 accessions of oaks between our York Street and Chatfield Farms locations. 

Compensation package includes a housing stipend of $1,000. Details to be covered during the interview process.

Background:

Denver Botanic Gardens is an accredited museum with over 14,000 taxa of living plants; as such, we keep detailed records of our collections by mapping and updating our extensive database. We also install display labels for the public. Collections have been mapped since 2002 in the BG-Map system which works in conjunction with Auto-CAD. These collections are viewable to the public online through the Gardens Navigator website. Successful interns in Plant Records Curation have had varied backgrounds, from Landscape Architecture or Design to Botany.

Requirements

Internship Highlights:

Interns will take part in field trips, lectures, and group projects. We at Denver Botanic Gardens feel strongly that there is no substitute for hands-on learning so in addition to the project and participating in the learning opportunities, interns are expected to work alongside their mentors and other horticulturists in the Gardens. This will include participating in the daily activities associated with public garden maintenance – weeding, watering, planting, accessioning, preparing for special events, etc. 

The goal of the internship is to provide an overview of public horticulture as well as useful experience in a specific area which can help students define their interests in horticulture. 

 As a member of Denver Botanic Gardens staff, interns will participate in employee meetings and other day-to-day operations and will be subject to all Denver Botanic Gardens employment policies. 

In Denver temperatures can reach a sizzling 100° in mid-summer, while temperatures at our Mount Goliath site can drop into the 50’s. Humidity is very low here, however, there are occasional days of rain or drizzle. Interns should be prepared to work in these environmental extremes as the work site is primarily outdoors.

Regular attendance at the work site may be required. As with all positions at Denver Botanic Gardens, the incumbent must be in good performance standing to be eligible for remote work. Remote work is at the discretion of management at all times.

All Gardens employees must be committed to the mission of connecting people with plants, especially plants from the Rocky Mountain region and similar regions around the world, providing delight and enlightenment to everyone.

General Duties and Responsibilities/Deliverables:

• Working alongside horticulture staff and plant records staff, accurately inventory and map plants of project gardens and, possibly, additional gardens
• Update records in BG-BASE to reflect current collections in project garden and other gardens
• Install accession and display labels in various gardens as needed
• Presentation to staff and blog post detailing the project and what was learned at the end of the season

Skills that will be learned or refined:

• BG-BASE and BG-Map computer systems for databasing and mapping
• Basic Auto-CAD for basemap updates
• Plant identification using multiple resources, including dichotomous keys, for a diverse collection of plant species, both common and uncommon in cultivation
• Research of nomenclature using botanic publications and resources
• Digital photography of living plant collections
• Working independently and in a team setting
• Critical thinking skills 

Horticultural knowledge that will be learned and how this project will link classroom theory with practical experience:

• Plant identification across a wide range of plant types and garden styles
• Basic surveying skills and techniques for mapping plants and hardscape areas
• An understanding of the importance of curation in a public garden
• Hands-on use of BG-BASE, BG-Map and Auto-CAD

Eligibility Requirements:

• Candidates must be currently authorized to work in the United States.
• Candidates must be currently enrolled in a post-secondary academic program or have graduated within the past six months.
•  To be considered for this internship, please submit all the following:  resume, cover letter, transcript(s) (unofficial transcripts accepted), and two letters of reference. Application must be completed in full at the time you apply. You will not be able to modify or add to your application once it has been submitted. 
• Must have proven excellent customer service, interpersonal, and communication skills in dealing with the public.
• Ability to maintain stability under pressure and able to deal well with stressful situations.
• Ability to be flexible and willing to modify plans, when necessary, throughout the day.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule, including evenings, weekends and/or holidays.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Suite products, specifically Word, Excel and Outlook and Teams.  
• Ability to work overtime as necessary.
• Must be a positive representative of the Gardens both internally and externally at all times.
• Must work with respect and cooperation at all times with fellow employees and the public.
• Must be committed to working safely at all times.

Mentor Profiles:

Cindy Newlander is the Associate Director of Horticulture and leads the Plant Records team. In this role she has strived to inventory, map and label DBG’s diverse plant collections since 2002, while also improving the database to allow for sharing of plant collections data to the public through the Gardens Navigator website. She holds an MS in Public Horticulture from the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program and a BS in Horticulture with a Landscape Design option from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Jennifer Toews is the Plant Records Assistant Manager at Denver Botanic Gardens, where she has worked since 2015. In this role, she helps document the living collections at the Gardens through database curation, photography, and mapping. Other focuses include western native plants, their use in landscaping, invasive species, and alpine plant conservation. She holds bachelor's degrees in English and biology and a master’s degree in English and is an FAA-certified drone pilot. 

Holly Haynes is the Plant Records Assistant Manager and has been with Denver Botanic Gardens since 2018. Her main role is mapping and photographing the living collection, as well as overseeing the plant records volunteers. She completed her AAS in Horticulture & Landscape Technologies from Front Range Community College, after her internship with the Plant Records team at Denver Botanic Gardens and holds a BFA from University of North Texas. She previously worked for a design/build firm in the Colorado Front Range but spent most of her career working in the outdoor industry.

Katie Ashley is the Software Project Coordinator, tasked with designing and implementing new tools and data management efforts for DBG’s Horticulture department. She joined the Gardens in 2023 and previously spent her career doing analytics consulting work in the private sector. She holds an AB in Anthropology with a secondary concentration in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard College and is currently pursuing an MS in Spatial Data Science from Penn State University. Working at Denver Botanic Gardens is her dream job. 

To be considered, please submit your application by Friday, January 31, 2025.

Come work for a place that offers you SO much more than just a paycheck!

Salary : $20