Volunteer Opportunities

Objective:  During the dry season, our plants need hand watering twice a week to keep them thriving.  Adopt a section as your own, come weekly, or come when you can, and enjoy being in a beautiful place among the plants and birds.  A section takes 1-1.5 hours to water.  Brief training required.

Location: Native Here Nursery, 101 Golf Course Drive, Tilden Park (near Berkeley)

Time commitment: Flexible; come when you can from now until the rains start.  Regular waterers are especially appreciated.  Once you are trained, you can choose your own hours.

Training/Support:   Beth Wurzberg and other Native Here volunteers

Benefits: The satisfaction of knowing that you’re keeping our native plants alive and healthy, and the joy of being in a natural, peaceful environment.

Supervisor:  Beth Wurzburg

Whom to contact: Ruth Ann Pearsons at rapearsons1@mac.com.

Location: Native Here Nursery, 101 Golf Course Drive, Berkeley (Tilden Park)

Objective: Bring out the best in our locally-native plant collection!

Qualifications: Interest in and affection for native plants, a bit of patience, and a sense of beauty

Responsibilities: Check in with lead volunteer about priorities for grooming, then tackle a species or a table of plants. Remove dead leaves, shape as directed. Alert the plant health team if plants have pests or other conditions. See training, below.  Once trained Plant Groomer can work independently, and can alternate this task with other Nursery tasks such as watering, moving plants, helping with inventory, etc. if desired.

Time commitment: Very flexible. A couple of hours once a week is desirable. Work during regular volunteer hours (Tuesday 12-3, Friday 9-12, Saturday 10-2) until fully confident of training and procedures.

Training/Support: We will train you as to which plants are summer- or winter-dormant; how to remove leaves while maintaining plant health; and practices to avoid spreading plant disease. We will provide necessary tools and cleaning supplies. We can train you on other Nursery duties as well. We have many opportunities!

Benefits to the volunteer: A safe, convenient, interesting, beautiful, friendly (yet socially-distanced) place to do community service! We are very careful to protect the health and safety of our volunteers, yet we continue to be a community of knowledgeable, friendly, committed people who care deeply about bringing native plants to gardens in the East Bay. 

Supervisor: Beth Wurzburg, Production Lead

Whom to contact: nativehere@ebcnps.org, attention Beth

Location: Native Here Nursery, 101 Golf Course Drive (in Tilden Regional Park), Berkeley CA

Objective: Move newly potted up plants to their temporary homes in the nursery’s growing areas.

When our seedlings and small plants grow big enough, the potters pot them up into larger pots.  The newly potted-up plants need to be moved to the growing/storage area where they’ll grow until they’re ready for the sales floor. 

Qualifications: This nursery job is a physical one – you’ll be on your feet and improving your arm strength (who needs the gym?).  The plant wrangler needs to be able to lift 10 lbs, walk on uneven nursery terrain, push a cart full of plants through the nursery, and (sometimes) bend forward to place the pots on tables.

Responsibilities: The wrangler works “downstream” from the potters.  The potters leave the newly potted plants and their potting log in the potting-up area.  The wrangler places the plants in a cart and moves them to tables in the appropriate storage area, recording the table number in the potting log.

Time commitment: That depends on you … do you want to volunteer each week or once a month?  We can accommodate you.  Our potters are very busy and can easily keep you busy for 3 hrs or more a week, but we’d be very happy to have whatever time you can spare.  Even if you only have an hour once a month, we could use your help.  The main volunteer workdays are Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, but other days are possible once you’ve been trained.

Training/support: Beth will train you on moving and storing plants and recording what you’ve done.  You can also ask other volunteers to help you – the work goes faster with a partner (socially-distanced, of course). 

Benefits to the volunteer: Aside from the gratitude of the other volunteers (especially the potters!), you will:

•             get to know the plants you move
•             get a preview of plants before they make it to the sales floor
•             be outdoors in a beautiful setting (in Tilden Regional Park)
•             observe local wildlife including a variety of birds (and find nests during nesting    season!).
•             be part of a group of friendly, kind volunteers
•             be helping us provide native plants to our community

Supervisor: After you’re trained, you can work independently, but Beth, John, and Lesley can always provide advice and help.

Whom to Contact: Please contact Ruth Ann Pearsons (NHN volunteer coordinator) at rapearsons1@mac.com if you’re interested.

Location: Native Here Nursery, 101 Golf Course Drive, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley, CA  94708

Objective: Support online sales and pickup for nursery customers during COVID-19 conditions

Qualifications: Required – ability to lift/carry plants in 1 or 2 gallon pots, and push wheelbarrows filled with plants.  Desired – an interest in native plants and/or gardening.

Responsibilities:  Select ordered plants from correct nursery location, groom plants as needed, and assemble neatly in pickup area; greet customers and relay questions to OOCP members

Time Commitment:  About 3 hours on Friday mornings (around 9 am – noon) and/or 4 hours on Saturday (10 am to 2 pm). Regular weekly commitment is desirable, but not required.

Training/Support: Training and support provided by OOCP team members and NHN managers

Benefits to the Volunteer: Work in an outdoor nursery with a collegial team and learn about plants native to Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Shopping for other people is fun!

Supervisor:  Jean McKenzie, OOCP Coordinator

Whom to contact: nativehere@ebcnps.org

Location: Native Here Nursery, 101 Golf Course Drive, Berkeley (Tilden Park)

Objective: Make sure our locally-native plant collection is healthy.

Qualifications: Some experience identifying plant pests and diseases desirable, such as master gardener training, horticulture class on plant health.

Responsibilities: Work with Plant Health Team Lead to scout for plant diseases and pests; apply organic/low toxicity remedies; participate in pear baiting, a test for the phytophthora pathogen.

Time commitment: A couple of hours once a week is desirable. Work during regular volunteer hours (Tuesday 12-3, Friday 9-12, Saturday 10-2) with Plant Health Team, including scheduled pear baiting tests.

Training/Support: We will train you on commonly encountered pests and diseases and their remedies, Nursery best practices to avoid spreading plant disease, and pear baiting protocol. We will provide tools, remedies, and cleaning supplies.

Benefits to the volunteer: A safe, convenient, interesting, beautiful, friendly (yet socially-distanced) place to do community service! We are knowledgeable, friendly, committed people who care deeply about bringing native plants to gardens in the East Bay.  

Supervisor: Kimberly Moses, Lead, Plant Health Team

Whom to contact: nativehere@ebcnps.org, attention Kimberly