Canopy Crew
The Canopy Crew is a cohort of young adults who spends the summer with us engaging in civic ecology – the practice of environmental stewardship – focused around trees. The crew is engaged in hands-on learning with the goals of enhancing green infrastructure, providing ecosystem services, and improving human well-being in cities and other habitats.
Direct questions about the program or inquiries/applications to our Forestry Manager Billy Haag (billy@moreleaf.org)
Canopy Crew Credentials:
- Likes spending time outdoors
- Interest in climate change and other environmental issues
- Wants to grow their tree identification knowledge
- Desire to make an impact in their community
- Discovering available green careers in St. Louis
- Hanging out in trees
- Engaging youth in nature-based learning during our Tree Camp Week
- Working collaboratively with 5 other passionate young people
2023 Canopy Crew:
Reflections:
“My takeaways from this experience are that the urban canopy can be advocated for with boots on the ground and youths can be empowered to be environmental stewards. This was truly a phenomenal experience as a baseline for the work I foresee for myself in environmental justice.” – Alex
“Forest ReLeaf created a clear picture of why our work mattered and how our small contribution was significant for creating a greener world for tomorrow. This vision often carried me through some of the tedious and exhausting day-to-day work. Overall, the experience has been eye-opening and incredibly transformative.” – Kieran
“Saving the world may not look as glamorous as we see on TV, but what we’re doing with this program will spark a change no matter how small the seed.” – Mycol
“Getting to know this community has been great because it has allowed me to begin to understand the dynamics that environmental injustice creates. I have often read about the divide between people of color and nature, but I still struggled to fully understand how anyone could dislike the trees that I had been taught to love. They were easy to love. I lived a privileged life in which I only saw nature in safe and aesthetic settings. Listening to the issues that people had with their trees helped me understand their apprehension towards nature.” – Glore
“Along with never considering the worth of a tree I never considered the work of a tree. Trees are so devoted to their darma that we cannot help but to sometimes take their work for granted. I have really enjoyed the reminder of all that trees do for us, and all that they could do for these communities.” – Glore
