Youth Tree Tenders

We began our Youth Tree Tenders program to train and educate teenagers about the benefits of trees, why it’s necessary to care for them, and allow them to apply that knowledge in the field through tree maintenance and plantings. Bloomington lacked a paid program that provides opportunities for youth to get involved in tree planting and care. There are comparable programs arising in cities across the country to get youth involved in environmental and tree stewardship and help those organizations reach their goals, such as Keep Indianapolis Beautiful’s Youth Tree Team. Bloomington has a long-standing interest in and initiatives relating to environmental and climate resiliency, but typically youth engagement is limited to volunteering, and paid positions are reserved for adults experienced in the field. This program aims to reconcile community interests in environmental action with youth development.

For our pilot program, we hired 4 enthusiatic high school students who worked for 10 hours a week for 10 weeks throughout the summer. On Mondays we held enrichment days where speakers from the community would talk about resume development, financial responibility, etc., or where we took field trips to local green businesses, like Eco Logic, to learn about other topics in the environmental field. Tuesdays and Thursdays served as our work days where we did our maintenance tasks in Switchyard Park and held tree plantings. Jordis Kieffer, a Junior at Bloomington High School South, says, “Working as a Youth Tree Tender helps our local environment; the work we do will have a long-lasting impact in a positive way by providing better urban canopy around Bloomington.”