Status: OPEN
Location: Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society
Open Period: May 1st, 2026 – October 31st, 2026
Duration: Sessions may be 2 to 5 weeks, with 4 weeks recommended for maximum learning
Hours per Week: 35 – 40
Cost: $389USD/Week
Description:
Are you looking to broaden your plant identification skills while gaining hands-on experience with tropical botanical families and field studies? Do you want to contribute to the development of a national herbarium and explore the historical context and ethnobotanical uses of the country’s flora? Are you interested in learning about plant communities and how herbarium collection can contribute to our understanding of how they might respond to a changing climate? Would you like to live immersed in the stunning tropical rainforest of Belize while making a lasting contribution to plant science in Belize? If so, this internship is for you!
The goal of this internship is to provide students with diverse experiences in tropical botanical studies and herbarium curation, equipping them with skills for future educational and employment opportunities. Interns will collaborate with T.R.E.E.S staff, the Caves Branch Botanical Garden, and the National Herbarium at the Forest Department in Belmopan to establish a long-term plant monitoring project and contribute to the development of the National Herbarium as a tool for research and teaching. This initiative is part of a larger study investigating insect abundance and the timing of plant flowering and seed production in the Maya Mountains of Belize, focusing on its impact on wildlife, especially avian populations.
This internship may provide opportunities for authorship in future publications, making it an ideal experience for those seeking a career in botany or wishing to pursue further studies in the field.
Internships take place at the T.R.E.E.S Hosting Center, a research and education facility in the Maya Mountains of Belize. The center is operated by the Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society (T.R.E.E.S), a small grassroots nonprofit dedicated to conserving Belize’s natural and cultural heritage through education, conservation, and research. One way we fulfill this mission is by hosting interns. Through training international and local Belizean students in environmental and wildlife management, field research techniques, and data collection protocols, we contribute to a greater understanding of Belize’s biodiversity.
Requirements:
We are seeking interns who:
- Independently motivated yet thrive in a team environment.
- Eager to learn about the incredible biodiversity of Belize through systematic field surveys, data collection, and handling of historic botanical specimens.
- Foundational level of botanical identification skills.
- Desire to enhance plant identification techniques in tropical environments and master curatorial techniques.
- Experience with ArcGIS and GPS is an asset for contributing to the existing map of T.R.E.E.S trails, significant botanical features, and specimen collection locations etc.
Internship Responsibilities:
- Identify various plant species (trees, shrubs, and others) found at the T.R.E.E.S Hosting Centre and within the Maya Mountains of Belize for addition to the national record.
- Collaborate with the national herbarium (Belize Forest Department) in Belmopan to process, organize, and integrate plant specimens into the general collection.
- Write a blog article highlighting the value of the herbarium plant collection as a resource for research and teaching in Belize.
- Continue developing an ongoing medicinal trail, including creating and installing wooden signs, performing trail maintenance, and adding new medicinal plant species.
- Collaborate with local researchers and botanical institutions to obtain identification keys for plants in Belize.
- Share findings with the National Herbarium of Belize.
- Maintain a small plant collection of dried specimens using plant presses.
- Learn and become proficient in various plant sampling techniques, including quadrat plots, transects, habitat characterization, and vegetation mapping.
- Understand the timing of reproduction for plants (flowering times, seed production, etc.) to be included in a flowering plant database.
- Add plant identification tags and signs to trees and plants, contributing to an educational trail at the station.
- Work with local communities to learn and document traditional knowledge of local plant species.
- Collaborate with the National herbarium, T.R.E.E.S staff, and fellow interns on the development of scientific protocols.
- Adhere to safety regulations and priorities while working in both field and office settings.
- Systematically enter data and compile it into a scientific report that includes an introduction, literature review, methods, results (with basic statistical analysis), and discussion based on peer-reviewed scientific articles.
- Depending on involvement in projects, there may be opportunities to collaborate on future publications.
- Complete a short 4-5 page summary report to help establish future research protocols.
Costs:
The internship fee includes room and board (meals included Monday-Friday), full access to lab equipment, and training by professional on-site biologists. Food is not provided as part of the internship program. Interns can also purchase their own basic food supplies from nearby vendors that can be prepared simply on-site without access to a full kitchen OR interns can order meals from the on-site Toucan Café restaurant that is open daily and caters to all dietary restrictions Lodging at the research center signifies a shared dormitory-style rustic cabins with other same sex interns with full access to other facilities such as showers, restrooms, and kitchen. The nature of this program allows interns to carry out a majority of the work independently after the training period is done.
We are hoping to expand our internship program beyond North America. Citizens from Latin America and the Caribbean will be charged at a discounted rate of 50%. Belizeans will get another discount.
Schedule:
Interns are required to work for 35 hours/week minimum. The typical schedule would include daytime work from Monday to Friday, from 09:00 to 17:00. Weekends are free time for interns; therefore, you can do as please (travel, hike, relax). No refunds on food and lodging will be available if the intern decides to leave the station. Projects may sometimes run into the weekend; in which case the days will be returned to them during the week.
The intern supervisor(s) will be responsible for designing a schedule with the intern each week that is reasonable and includes work on the various projects.
Application:
To apply, please visit ecorana.ca/apply. For any questions, please contact jmartinez@treesociety.org.