The Greenbelt Native Plant Center (GNPC), a facility of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, is a 13–acre greenhouse, nursery, and seed bank complex located on Staten Island, NY.

Internships

Our science-based approach to native plant production and seed banking offers a unique opportunity for college students interested in habitat conservation and restoration, nursery management, horticulture, and other related professional fields.

Interns Wanted

Job Walker, intern, and Denese Hite working in a greenhouse

Becoming an intern at GNPC offers an opportunity to engage in meaningful conservation work with direct benefits to the natural environment in New York City while working and learning alongside our staff.

We are looking for interns to take part in all aspects of our work:

Seed Collection and Seed Banking

  • Monitoring of plant populations in NYC metropolitan area
  • Seed collection from local plant populations
  • Evaluating and processing seed collections
  • Seed bank management
  • Data management
  • Review of technical literature of the ecology, mating systems, and breeding systems of plant species found in the NYC metro area

Native Plant Propagation

  • Assist in the propagation of native plant species by seed and various methods of vegetative propagation; research plant propagation protocols
  • Assist in greenhouse management

Nursery Yard Growing and Management

  • Assist in woody plant production and maintenance
  • Soil preparation
  • Assist in light nursery yard construction and maintenance
  • Investigate approaches to improve production in containerized nursery, such as approaches to reduce foliar disease in containerized production; improve methods of weed control; improve root formation in specific species; improve nutrient management

People around a tabel with seeds

Founder Seed Production

  • Review technical literature as it relates to bulk seed production, seed label certification, and establishment of plantings from bulk seed
  • Monitoring of founder plots and development of species–specific production protocols
  • Assist in sampling seed from wild plant populations
  • Assist in the cultivation of founder seed plots and the production of seed

Special Projects

Our ongoing research and monitoring projects in partnership with many of the area's leading conservation institutions provide an opportunity to assist us in several areas of interest to many college students. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, American Museum of Natural History, and Rutgers University are all current project partners. A few of the current research areas we are pursuing are:

  • Pollinator biology and conservation
  • Plant population conservation
  • Plant population genetics
  • Citizen–scientist programming
  • Education and outreach

Please contact Nursery Manager Timothy Chambers with any inquiries regarding GNPC internships.