How to Volunteer at the Gill Tract (Application Form Here)

The College of Natural Resources, of the University of California at Berkeley, has worked with the city of Albany to come up with a process for gauging volunteer interest in gardening at the Gill Tract this summer. 

In a July 6 email sent by Dean J. Keith Gilless of the College of Natural Resources, posted below with permission, Gilless writes of the importance of a "" for choosing volunteers who will garden at the Gill Tract. 

His email comes one day after set for Saturday after Gilless said it became clear that tensions surrounding the Gill Tract made it too difficult to hold a casual volunteer event. 

Gilless writes in the email, to council members  and , that a group of no more than 20 volunteers should be selected for working at the Gill Tract; half of these will be chosen from . 

A group this size would "be able to get the work done without putting an unreasonable burden on the volunteers or on my staff," he writes. 

Thomsen and Wile will work with representatives from the city and University Village to "recruit and recommend the residents for participation in this activity. This would entail distributing copies of an application form (form attached) to prospective volunteers, reviewing the applicants, and forwarding a list of recommended volunteers to me. It is my understanding that the applications will be managed by Penelope Leach at the Albany Community Center."

Volunteers will need to fill out the application form, as well as "sign the loyalty oath, liability waiver, etc." and participate in a "campus registration process."

The application form for those interested in volunteering at the Gill Tract is attached to this story as a PDF; in addition to basic biographical information and any University of California affiliation, the form has a field requesting a "Statement of interest in community gardening on the Gill Tract and experience in community gardening."

The email from Dean Gilless appears below in full. 

7/6/12

To:                 Albany City Council Subcommittee on Urban Agriculture
From:             J. Keith Gilless, Dean, College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley
Re:                 Volunteers for Summer 2012 Growing Season 

As discussed in our meeting on 6/26/12, and our trip to the Gill Tract on the morning of 6/29/12, we need have a clear and transparent process for recruiting and selecting volunteers from Albany (including University Village) to help maintain the rows I have set aside for non-research use this growing season. The same holds for how we will distribute any harvested produce.

A group of no more than twenty Albany residents (half from the University Village) would be able to get the work done without putting an unreasonable burden on the volunteers or on my staff.

We agreed that the Council Subcommittee, in coordination with Albany City and University Village staff, would recruit and recommend the residents for participation in this activity. This would entail distributing copies of an application form (form attached) to prospective volunteers, reviewing the applicants, and forwarding a list of recommended volunteers to me. It is my understanding that the applications will be managed by Penelope Leach at the Albany Community Center. 

Approved volunteers will need to fill out a UC Berkeley Volunteer Registration and sign the loyalty oath, liability waiver, etc. I will be working with my staff and the City of Albany staff in to facilitate the campus registration process, which will require either a trip to the College of Natural Resources Human Resources office on campus or having CNR staff arrange a time to come down to Albany and get the forms completed there.

I look forward to working with you and the residents of Albany this summer!

JKG

J. Keith Gilless

Dean, College of Natural Resources
University of California, Berkeley
(510) 642-7171

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