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My internship at the Joseph Rock Arboretum was beyond expectations.  

For one month, I was immersed in an environment of practical learning which included: collection and banking of seed from endemic plant species, hands-on forest restoration in one of the rarest habitats on the planet — the dry forest, as well as plant propagation in a nursery setting of indigenous and endemic Hawaiian species.  

All of this, while living in a beautiful off-the-grid cabin sensitively situated in dry forest habitat.  

I left the arboretum with a renewed vision for my own horticultural projects back home, which involves working with native plants of the Pacific Northwest along with the conservation of wetlands and coastal areas under threat.  I also left with an undeniable desire to return to the big island of Hawaii to continue the relationship that has only just begun.

— Michael, Feb. 2023

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