Boulder Community Forestry Corps inspires teens to care for trees

Caleb Rivers, a member of the Community Forestry Corps and a freshman at Fairview, collects heat map data Thursday around recently planted trees between Aurora 7 Park and High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder. (Matthew Jonas/photographer)

A handful of Boulder County teens are spending the summer exercising their green fingers, thanks to the new Community Forestry Corps.

This year marks the launch of the Teen Pilot, a program led by the PLAY Boulder Foundation in partnership with Cool Boulder, Boulder County and other organizations. The initiative teaches teens how to care for urban trees and the importance of urban forests.

“I am very grateful to this group of young people for joining this program,” said Daniel Hanson, CFC program manager. “We need human guardians to care for these trees and ensure they survive and thrive for decades. »

In its inaugural summer, the group had two crews, each made up of five teenagers. One team takes care of trees in Boulder, while the other team is responsible for trees in Lafayette and Louisville. The teens also tend to trees on Boulder Valley School District grounds.

The teens work about 28 hours a week at $16 an hour during the nine weeks of the program. Team leaders — older teenagers who manage teams — work nearly 40 hours a week, starting at $20 an hour.

During the first three weeks, the two groups of teens watered, mulched and weeded trees throughout the county. They also participated in other forms of environmental education, from learning about sustainable finance to bird watching.

Teenagers also collect thermal data using sensors and other monitoring tools. At the end of summer, county officials will use the data to determine where trees can be added in municipalities to mitigate urban heat.

“The more we understand how heat affects our individual communities, the more we will know how to deal with it,” Hanson said.

Heather Bearnes-Loza, of the city’s Nature-Based Climate Solutions team, said she hopes the teen group will become an analogue of Boulder’s Junior Ranger program, which is more focused on natural properties. open spaces. The group is also an opportunity to invite young people into natural spaces they previously felt excluded from, Bearnes-Loza said.

“It’s really easy to be depressed about the weather right now,” Bearnes-Loza said. “If you can look and see the work opportunities that will actually impact climate change, that’s pretty optimistic.” »

On Thursday, the teens conducted heat mapping and watered trees at Aurora Park 7, 385 E. Aurora Ave., in Boulder. Boulder City Forester Michelle Ferguson said she hopes participants will continue their forestry work in the future, whether as a career or just as a hobby.

“Small impacts can have a big impact … on the survivability of these trees,” Ferguson said.

Josue Hernandez, one of the team leaders, is returning home to Boulder this summer after his freshman year at Northeastern University.

“I wanted to do something fun for the summer,” Hernandez said. “Last summer I worked with the city in the parks and recreation department, so the transition was easy.”

Josue’s brother, Rafael Hernández, also got involved with the corps this year. Rafael, who will be a senior at Boulder High School this fall, said the program taught him about different species of trees.

“When I go outside, I’m more able to look at a tree and identify what type of tree it is,” Rafael Hernandez said. “It’s very interesting.”

Lennon Anson, an incoming freshman at Boulder High, said he joined CFC because he wanted to help make a difference.

“Climate change is a major problem,” Anson said. “I learned a lot about trees and what we can do to mitigate climate change. »