Update 11-11-2007
Oil Spill: What You Can Do
2. Where the waterfront is not closed, walk the Bay Trail or other routes asking people to stay away from the bech so birds can come ashore. This is being done pretty thoroughly in Berkeley and Albany, but not as well elsewhere. And the current volunteers are unlikely to be available weekdays. You can also continue to try to report oiled birds. In the Berkeley area, try 510- 981 6720 (Shorebird Nature Center). Elsewhere, try 877 823 6929 (note that they are so overwhelmed that they only want reports of six or more birds).
3. Continue to photograph and document oil or its absence and effects on plant and animal life of all kinds - including seaweed, fish, crabs, mussels, and tiny invertebrates. Please note time, date, location, type of shoreline (sand, gravel, rip-rap?), how long and wide is the band or pool of oil? is it in rocks, sand, wrack, seaweed? what percentage of the shoreline or water is covered? is the oil a thin slick, thick film, pool, droplets, globules? Hold onto your information and photos and let me know what you have. Various agencies and organizations can use it.
Oil Spill: Update
Numbers of oiled birds appear to be increasing, and are expected to continue to increase. So many are being spotted that the Department of Fish and Game has asked that only groups of six or more oiled birds be reported to the International Bird Rescue number, 877 823 6929. On a more hopeful note, surveys of the Bay's ecologically important and all too rare eel grass beds generally report little damage so far.
There are lots of heroes out there. Patty Donald of Shorebird Nature Center, already trained in bird rescue, trained a team of volunteers and organized what has become the bird-rescue center for the East Bay, at Shorebird Park. Researchers and others have been surveying eelgrass and other habitats under very difficult conditions, including at night and in the rain. Please let me know about others!
Oil spill: Information
Other Friends of Five Creeks news
Ordinary life has not stopped. Here are other important events:
Albany's Parks and Recreation Commission will discuss a proposed Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy affecting pesticide use, Thursday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 pm. Information at www.albanyca.org.
The Contra Costa County Creek and Watershed Symposium will be 8:30 am - 4:15 pm Nov. 15 at Shadelands Center, Walnut Creek. It includes 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/.
The UC Berkeley Water Resources Archives Center offers a talk "Climate Change Implications of Waste Treatment," with Perry L. McCarty, Silas H. Palmer Professor Emeritus, Environmental Engineering and Science, Stanford University, 5:30-7 pm Tuesday, Nov. 13, Rm. 112, Wurster Hall. Information at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/WRCA/ccow.html.
Take your choice of Codornices work parties Nov. 17 and Dec. 1. Friends of Five Creeks and Berkeley Path Wanderers are partnering to plant natives on paths in the upper Codornices watershed, 10 am to about noon, meet at lower Glendale Path, Campus at Glendale. Urban Creeks Council will be planting natives at its new restoration site on Codornices Creek adjacent to St. Mary's High School, below Albina Street, 9 am - 1 pm. Wear boots with good traction!
1. The bird-rescue operation at Berkeley's Shorebird Park needs the following: towels and pillowcases, paper grocery bags, plastic trash bags, AA batteries, bottled drinking water, and heavy-duty work gloves. Drop these off at Shorebird Nature Center, south side of University Avenue near the tip of the Marina peninsula. Directions to the park are at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/directions.html. I expect these needs will continue through the week, though you can try to check at 510- 981 6720. They do not need people, though you can briefly ask.
Boats were out today stretching booms across more very sensitive East Bay marshes. Crews were removing oil from Albany Beach. Keller Beach has been cleaned, though more oil continues washing in.
For a slide show on the spill's effects in the East Bay, go to www.fivecreeks.org. Other good information and another slide show at www.savesfbay.org. For information on whether and when waterfront parks are open, go to www.ebparks.org.
Albany's Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a study session Tuesday, Nov. 13, re the University of California's proposed commercial and residential development of its San Pablo Avenue frontage, including a proposed grocery store (Whole Foods), senior housing, and parts of Codornices and Village Creeks. Information at www.albanyca.org and http://www.albanyca.org/dept/pdf/20071113-SSSR-UniversityVillage.pdf