Hours 14 hours/wk over 14 weeks (Jan. 9 to April 27 w. 2-wk break March 5-16)
Pay $23.56 per hour (includes WSIB coverage)
Apply to Tammy Finnikin, Projects Manager tammy@greenhere.ca
Location 270 Barton Ave., Rm. 117 (across from Christie Pits) Toronto, Ontario
GreenHere is a registered environmental charity, initiated to mitigate against the detrimental health, social and environmental affects that result from a critical lack of green space. By addressing environmental justice and social issues faced in mixed residential/industrial neighbourhoods, GreenHere delivers a number of community-based tree planting, environmental planning and stewardship programs that involve community consultation and decision-making, multilingual outreach, workshops, festivals and greening/reforestation initiatives in urban neighbourhoods.
Tree Inventory Summary & Environmental Issues
GreenHere’s target area is 1,535 acres, and to date 9,293 trees have been inventoried on 1,000 acres of land. These figures reveal that there are 9.29 trees per acre, only 10% of the nearby Annex neighbourhood’s 85 trees per acre. Also with a green space deficit of only 23% of the parkland that the average Toronto neighbourhood enjoys, declining tree canopy coverage, and accelerating summer temperatures, the need for reforestation and environmental action in GreenHere communities is becoming an acknowledged public health issue.
Urban Community Orchard Intern
The intern will review the fruit tree inventory list of 900+ local fruit trees, removing the badly damaged/diseased trees from the list, and create a list of 300-500 trees and homeowners to visit over the winter to further asses the health, size and maturity of trees for suitability to participate in the GreenHere Harvests: Community Orchard & Fruit Harvesting Program. With time allowing, further outreach to fruit tree homeowners will begin to solicit participation in a winter fruit tree pruning of the 30-100 healthiest fruit trees.
KEY TASKS
• VET INVENTORY OF FRUIT TREES — From the inventory list of 900+ fruit trees, the most damaged, diseased and ornamental varietals will be removed and a working list of 300-500 will be developed
• OUTREACH TO FRUIT TREE OWNERS — Multilingual outreach materials for fruit tree owners will ask permission to visit the trees to assess their health, maturity, size and owners’ willingness for their tree to participate in GreenHere Harvests
• VISIT FRUIT TREES — Visit all fruit trees to further assess their potential for participating in GreenHere Harvests and select trees for winter pruning
• WINTER FRUIT TREE PRUNING — Prune 30-100 fruit trees selected for harvesting in 2012 as part of GreenHere’s Community Orchard & Fruit Tree Harvesting Program
• WEB MAP DEVELOPMENT — Create an online map showing the location, variety, and size of 30-100 fruit trees included in GreenHere Harvests
SKILLS & ABILITIES
– Practical knowledge of fruit tree care, pruning, maintenance and management;
– Interest in community-based programming and urban agriculture;
– Excellent communication skills, and
– Spoken and written abilities in a second language such as Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin/Cantonese is an asset, not a requirement.
OTHER GENERAL SKILLS
– Positive energy, enthusiasm and initiative
– Ability to learn on the job and problem-solve
– Able to work with little supervision in a flexible environment
– Project co-ordination skills
– Awareness & sensitivity for working with diverse communities
– Willingness to complete tasks & meet deadlines
APPLY TO
Apply to: Tammy Finnikin, Projects Manager tammy@greenhere.ca
