Above: Volunteers tackle the wall of broom along the Shorebird Park waterfront. Below: The waterfront without broom. Click the link at left to see a slide show of our work in this area. A snowy egret hunting on the rip-rapped shoreline near Shorebird Park. The park's beach is a rare fragment not armored in this way.

Historic Maps Slide Show of F5C work History and Future of the Berkeley Waterfront (PDF) Planting natives in Shorebird Park. Schoolchildren remove ice plant on the Berkeley shoreline near Shorebird Park.

Shorebird Park

In 2007-9, Friends of Five Creeks' Weekday Weed Warriors, as well as volunteers from elementary school to college, levered out the 400' wall of French broom that had invaded the Nature Area and blocked Bay views in Berkeley's Shorebird Park.

Removing broom, though, doesn't end with wrenching out big bushes. Seedlings must be painstakingly removed each year — though after a few years, they are scattered rather than a thick carpet. We pull and dig other weeds, including fennel and painful thistles, and plant salt- and drought-tolerant natives in their place. Volunteers also have removed broom and ice plant inland in the park and along other nearby stretches of the Berkeley shoreline.

Map and Directions

Shorebird Park, 160 University Avenue, does not have prominent signs or a large entrance, and its beach, buildings, and playground can't be seen from streets. By car, you have several choices:

• Park at the Cal Sailing parking lot east of Adventure Playground. Walk west along the water, past Adventure Playground, into the park.

• Park in the Berkeley Marina parking lot on the north side of University, west of the Marina headquarters. Cross University into the park.

• From the end of University Avenue, turn left onto Seawall Drive and left again into the Hs Lordship's parking lot. Walk northeast into the park.

By AC Transit, take 51B buses that go to the Marina (check schedule and ask the driver). Get off at the last or next-to-last stops.

By bicycle, take the pedestrian-bicycle bridge or the Bay Trail and then go west on University (caution: no good bike lane on University).

OpenStreetMap has an online map of the trails in this area.