Update 2-6-2008
Thanks!
Help restore Cerrito Creek at Albany Hill Saturday, Feb. 9
Broom pull at Pt. Isabel Saturday, Feb. 16
East Bay CNPS needs outreach volunteers
Watershed Project spring workshops
Ride to Friday conference on Creek Restoration and Global Warming Friday, Feb. 8?
Hope to see you soon!
Applause for the 13 hardy F5C and Berkeley Path Wanderers volunteers who braved cold and drizzle to plant natives and remove a mountain of broom and other weeds on Upper Covert Path Saturday. Thanks, too, to the two dozen UC Berkeley student members of Circle K who planted 150 natives and took our one of the last remaining ivy patches at Berkeley's Mortar Rock Park on Sunday. Last but not least, thanks to Charlie Bowen, Berkeley Path Wanderers path-building chair, for her delightful slide talk at our Monday meeting, and to the Weekday Weed Warriors' heroic clearing of fennel and overgrown brush at the Schoolhouse Creek culvert on the Santa Fe Right of Way Tuesday. Great work, all!
Please join us 10 am to 1 pm this Saturday, Feb. 9, as we return to Cerrito Creek at the foot of Albany Hill, our major restoration focus for several years. The weather looks promising. We'll have coffee and tea just in case, light and heavy tasks for all ages, and there's even a playground for the younger set! Meet at Creekside Park, south end of Santa Clara, El Cerrito (72 bus, El Cerrito Plaza BART). If we're rained out on Saturday we'll try again the next day, Sunday, Feb. 10, same time and place.
If this Saturday doesn't work for you, why not join Greens at Work at 10 am Sat., Feb. 16, pulling broom and removing cape ivy along the Bay Trail on Pt. Isabel, between Central Avenue and the Pt. Isabel dog park. From Central Avenue west of the I-580 Freeway, turn right on Rydin Road. Look for a green-waste container and the folks with the big orange levers. Information at (510) 704-8628 or kyotousa@sbcglobal.net
The East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society needs volunteers to help with and coordinate outreach. Two different skill sets (or willingness to learn) are needed: publicity, with writing ability and media contacts; and coordinating tabling and various environmental events, with time to phone folks and ability to handle logistics. You need to be a CNPS member, but it's easy to join through the web site, www.cnps.org. If you're interested in these or other volunteer opportunities, contact Charli Danielsen at nativehere@ebcnps.org.
The Watershed Project's spring 2008 workshops cover a range of environmental subjects for educators and others, including linking school gardens to K-6 curricula, Feb. 13 in Berkeley; groceries from the garden, Mar. 8 in Richmond; and Kids in Gardens, June 19 in Oakland. Information at www.thewatershedproject.org. The Watershed Project also offers technical support for school gardens and K-12 short courses in watershed ecology.
This Friday, Feb. 8, I plan to drive to Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto for a free day-long conference on what global warming means to creek restoration, sponsored by Acterra, a 37-year-old South Bay environmental organization. I am willing to drive but hate to do it alone. If you'd like to carpool, please call me at 510 848 9358.
Susan Schwartz