Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch & Gardens
Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch & Gardens has partnered with the Southern California Horticultural Society (SCHS) to offer the 2021 Horticulture Internship. With the support of the Linda Pomerance Internship Grant, the internship is a fantastic opportunity for a student to gain hands-on horticultural experience at a public garden and historic site.
Rancho Los Alamitos, the “Ranch of the Little Cottonwoods,” is a Long Beach City Landmark and twice-listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Rancho has a history that stretches back for more than 1500 years and reflects the many people who have called it home – from the first people, the Gabrielino/Tongva, to the farmers of the mid-twentieth century. In 1968, the children of Fred and Florence Bixby, the last private owners, donated their family ranch to the City of Long Beach.
Today, the Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation operates Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch & Gardens in a public-private partnership with the City of Long Beach. Our mission is to educate and engage our visitors with our rich history, our compelling stories, and our authentic connections to California’s past, thus inspiring a sense of community. The 7.5-acre historic resource comprises the ranch house (constructed c. 1800-1933), four acres of nationally significant gardens, a barnyard area, visitor center, and research archive. The gardens were designed by some of the most prominent landscape architects, plantsmen, and horticultural experts of the day, the Rancho’s present gardens have features and plantings which date as early as the late 1800s, with an additional prominent expansion period during the 1920s.
Position Description
Rancho Los Alamitos seeks a Horticultural Intern to identify, catalog, and map plants in our historic gardens. Beginning with the Rose Garden - designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm and planted in the late 1920s - the intern will support the initial population of a new plant database intended to organize the identification information, attributes, maintenance requirements, and maintenance history for plants throughout the gardens. To this end, the intern will work closely with horticulture staff and volunteers to create an Excel spreadsheet recording the ID, GPS coordinates, plant attributes, and maintenance information for each plant in the Rose Garden. The 175-hour internship will be completed by December 2021. The weekly schedule will be determined by the intern and supervisors, the Rancho’s Grounds & Livestock Manager and Education Associate. The intern will receive a stipend of $2900. An initial payment of $1450 will be distributed at the beginning of the internship. A second distribution of $1450 will be made when all internship requirements have been fulfilled, including the following:
- Completed RLA intern work plan
- One-page final report to RLA and the Southern California Horticultural Society (SCHS) about their experience
- A brief presentation to the SCHS Board of Directors or general membership meeting and to the RLA Volunteer Service Council
Requirements
The intern must be [1] currently enrolled in a college degree or certificate program with an emphasis on horticulture or similar area of study and [2] a resident of Southern California. The ideal candidate must have proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel pivot tables and charts; knowledge of plant record-keeping and mapping; and understanding of horticultural data collection and analysis methods. Knowledge of GIS/grid, plant software systems, and the nature of historic resources are desirable but not required. The intern must be able to work independently and collaboratively.
To Apply
Email the following to Ambyr Hardy, Education Associate, ambyr@rancholosalamitos.org. Please include “Horticulture Internship” in the subject line. -- Resume including contact information for 2 professional or academic references -- Cover letter including a description of how the internship connects to the student’s future goals.
Application Deadline: May 31, 2021
Ambyr Hardy | ambyr@rancholosalamitos.org
