Update 10-31-2007
Bay Nature publisher slide talk at F5C meeting Monday, Nov. 5
Codornices Creek walk, waterfront festival Sat., Nov. 3
Sat., Nov. 3 , also is the date of the 2007 Richmond Shoreline Festival, 10 am - 3 pm, with music, birdwatching, naturalist-led hikes and more at Pt. Pinole Regional Shoreline. Information at http://www.shorelineacademy.org//. For other walks, bike rides, and work parties along the Richmond shoreline - including a family work party removing invasives Nov. 18 - go to http://www.pointrichmond.com/baytrail/calendar.htm/
Upper Codornices pathways work party Sat., Nov. 17
Thanks!
Three wonderful lecture series
The UC Berkeley Water Resources Archives Center offers Tuesday afternoon lectures, continuing Nov. 13 with "Climate Change Implications of Waste Treatment," with Perry L. McCarty, Silas H. Palmer Professor Emeritus, Environmental Engineering and Science, Stanford University. The December 4 talk, "A Camera Aloft: California's Wetlands and Streams from a Bird's Perspective," features the amazing kite photos of Charles Benton, UC Berkeley Professor of Architecture. All lectures at 5:30-7 pm at Rm. 112, Wurster Hall. Information at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/WRCA/ccow.html.
The Wayne Roderick series of botanical talks at the East Bay Regional Park Botanic Garden, Wildcat Canyon Road and South Park Drive, Tilden Park, begins Sat., Nov. 3. Botanic Garden director Steve Edward speaks on "A garden of Sierran plants in the James Roof tradition at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden." These talks begin at 10:30 am, but come early if you want a seat! Information and schedule at http://www.nativeplants.org/wayne07.html.
Creek and other upcoming conferences
Santa Clara County Creeks Coalition holds its first annual Creeks and Watershed Conference Saturday, Nov. 17, in Santa Clara. Information and registration at www.sccreeks.org.
Many of the meetings below are aimed at specialists, but they have lots of interesting information:
The Central Coast Agricultural Water Quality Coalition hosts the 2007 National Conference on Agriculture and the Environment, including talks on agriculture and water pollution, sustainability, and more, Nov. 7-9 at Asilomar Conference Center, Monterey. Information at http://www.agwaterquality.org/2007conference/
The Riparian Habitat Joint Venture and PRBO Conservation Science host Integrating Riparian Habitat Conservation & Flood Management in California, Dec. 4-6 at the Radisson Hotel, Sacramento. Talks sound great, but pricey - and they are already charging a fee for late registration! http://www.prbo.org/calpif/rhjvconference/index.htm
The second annual Northern California Botanists symposium will be held Jan 14-15 at CSU Chico, with a keynote on "What to do about climate change" Information and registration at http://rce.csuchico.edu/norcalbotany/
Alameda County Stop Waste will host a conference, Bay Friendly Landscaping and Gardening, for advanced home gardeners and professionals in landscaping, urban design, architecture, etc. 8 am - 5 pm Friday, Feb. 29, at MLK Jr. Student Union, UC Berkeley. They are accepting proposals for presentations through Nov. 2. Information at http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=787.
The seventh annual Ecoctiy World Conference, sponsored by Ecocity Builders, will be April 22-26 in San Francisco; information at http://www.ecocityworldsummit.org/index.
SalmonAid, a conference uniting commerical and sport fishers, tribes, environmentalists and chefs(!) to highlight the plight of West Coast salmon, will be held May 31-June 1 in Jack London Suare, Oakland. Information http://www.salmonaid.org/index.html/
Natives Tour organizer wins award, needs website volunteer
But awards don't get the work done. The popular tour, which highlights native-plant gardens throughout the East Bay in spring, needs a webmistress or master confortable with HTML and CSS; the current webmistress used Dreamweaver and PhotoShop. Fall is the busiest time, but updates go on throughout the year. Please email Kathy at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or call (510) 236-9558 if you can help.
Please join us at 7 pm Monday, Nov. 5, at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin (at Masonic). David Loeb, publisher of the publisher of Bay Nature, will give a slide talk on the trials and joys of creating and sustaining this beautiful, informative, and fascinating magazine spotlighting our region's environment.
I will lead a Berkeley Historical Society walk focused on Codornices Creek's history and future, with creek-restoration pioneers Richard Register and Drew Goetting as guests, 10 am Sat., Nov. 3. This is an easy, level walk, but is not suitable for wheelchairs or strollers. Registration required; call 848-0181 between 1 and 4 p.m. Thursday or Friday to see whether there is space.
Our last two 2007 work parties, Saturday, Nov. 17 and Dec. 1, launch a new project: establishing natives on paths in the upper Codornices Creek watershed as part of a fitire self-guided watershed walk. For Nov. 17, meet at 10 am at the bottom of Lower Glendale Path, Glendale Avenue and Campus Drive. We'll work on different paths and gather afterwards for a light picnic in LaLoma Park, just downhill from the meeting place. Hope to see you then!
Huge thanks to the 18 wonderful UC Berkeley students who pulled a mountain of ice plant, seeded, and put down erosion-control fabric at the mouth of Strawberry Creek on Berkeley Project Day, Oct. 27. Thanks, too, to the groups that removed ivy and planted at Mortar Rock Park. This service day, started just last year, drew more than 1900 student volunteers this year!
The "Close to Home" lecture series Living with Wildlife, 7:30 pm first Mondays at Montclair Presbyterian Church , 5701 Thornhill Rd., Oakland, continues with a Nov. 5 talk on "Free Range Salmon in the East Bay," by East Bay Regional Park District naturalist Mike Moran. Moran will focus on progress on restoring salmon to Alameda Creek, which drains almost half the greater East Bay. On Monday, Jan. 5, East Bay Regional Park District naturalist Jessica Sheppart will speak on coyotes. Information at (510) 655-6658, spring5@mindspring.com, www.close-to-home.org.
The Contra Costa County Creek and Watershed Symposium, 8:30 am - 4:15 pm Nov. 15 at Shadelands Center, Walnut Creek, is packed with material, including brief presentations and tabling by watershed groups, talks on the San Luis Obispo integration of creeks and downtown and plans for Pinole Creek, and panels ranging from historical ecology of Contra Costa to renewed calls for a Peripheral Canal due to the crisis in the Delta. Registration at http://cocowaterweb.org/ccwf-projects/symposia/register/. Brochure at http://cocowaterweb.org/ccwf-projects/symposia/CCC_Symposium_2007.pdf/.
Congratulations to Kathy Kramer, organizer of the East Bay's Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, as well as the Kids in Creeks, Gardens, etc. programs and Aquatic Outreach Institute. Kathy will be honored at the National Wildlife Federation's National Achievement Awards Nov. 1, along with Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger!