Update 5-16-2007
THANKS FOR PEPPERWEED PULL
JUNE 4 UPPER CODORNICES WALK
Our June work party will be June 9, National Rivers Clean-Up Day, on Cerrito Creek at Creekside Park.
We won't meet in July - visit our tables at the Albany and El Cerrito July 4 Fairs!
LAST CALL FOR "ART TO ACTION" AT LIVE OAK PARK
MAY 18 ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY
Busy Friday but want to volunteer Saturday? Join the California Native Plant Society's East Bay Restoration Team removing invasives from East Bay Regional Park District's Huckleberry Preserve, home of several rare species, 9:30 am - 1 pm Saturday, May 19. Meet at the Preserve parking lot on Skyline Blvd.; map and directions at www.ebparks.org. For information contact Greg Wolford, 510 848 6489 or californica@mac.com.
For Endangered Species Day, I'd also like to salute Center for Biological Diversity and CBD's Jeff Miller, head of Alameda Creek Alliance, for their work protecting endangered and threatened species including local red-legged frogs, Alameda whipsnake. Among recent victories: a court decision that bans use of 60-odd pesticides in red-legged frog critical habitat until US EPA evaluates whether they could harm the frogs. (Yes, pesticides do get approved without determining whether they will harm wildlife. That's a big reason to minimize their use and hire only applicators with training in Integrated Pest Management.)
CITIZEN SCIENCE - FROG CALLS, TRACKING GLOBAL WARMING
This spring pilots a new national on-line project tracking the arrival of spring through "budburst" for clues to global climate change, as well as useful information like when to go see wildflowers, plant gardens, or take precautions against allergies and wildfire. Go to www.budburst.org to find out how you can join in!
SUMMER LEARNING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATORS
NEW MERRITT COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM
Hope to see you soon!
Many thanks to the 14 volunteers who dug and cut pepperweed and other invasives at the mouth of Strawberry Creek Saturday. Thanks to you, our eight-year effort to control this noxious weed looks likely to succeed again. Real extermination would take more than volunteers can do, but a gleam of hope comes from likely Coastal Conservancy funding of planning for this part of Eastshore State Park, which in turn could lead to the California Parks Department or East Bay Regional Park District finally taking on stewardship and maintenance.
Our June "meeting" will be a change of pace, literally. We'll meet at 6:30 pm at the entrance to Berkeley's Rose Garden, west side of Euclid Avenue south of Eunice Street, for a walk exploring geology, history, and ecology of Upper Codornices Creek. We'll see waterfalls, dramatic rocks, and, if fog cooperates, the sunset, ending with drinks and snacks at dusk. This walk gains about 500 feet elevation and includes hillside staircases and narrow, uneven trails. Wear sturdy shoes; bring walking sticks if you use them; bring water; dress in layers. A flashlight is a good idea just in case.
Our show of photographs from last year's "Art to Action on Berkeley Creeks," on view in the Live Oak Park Community Center, 1301 Shattuck, Berkeley, will come down in about a week. Do go see it! Watch for more opportunities to work with Zach Pine, our wonderful leader in making environmental art, on his website at http://homepage.mac.com/zpine/. Upcoming: Zach will teach free balanced-rock workshops in the garden of Berkeley's ACCI Gallery, Friday May 18 and 25, noon to 1:30 pm. (Register on his website, and bring a rock.)
Friday, May 18 is National Endangered Species Day. Why not celebrate by joining Marin's SPAWN (Salmon Protection and Watershed Network) helping restore habitat for Marin's endangered coho salmon? Paola@SpawnUSA.org, 415-488-0370 x102.
Frogs are singing away at El Cerrito Plaza, and there is still time to join in our frog survey, including listing for invasive bullfrogs as weather warms. Information and forms at www.fivecreeks.org. If you have been listening, please send in your reports.
Teachers especially, check out summer institutes offered by The Watershed Project, www.thewatershedproject.org, including school gardens, teaching about watersheds, and composting. Save the Bay, www.savesfbay.org, offers a June two-day workshop, Sloughs and Stewardship, exploring restoration first-hand by canoe, as well as a two-week summer institute, Gold Rush to the Golden Gate, starts canoeing in the Sierra Foothills and ends on a sailboat passing under the Golden Gate Bridge.
In fall, Merritt Community College will launch a new certificate program in Environmental Management and Technology, with courses including human ecology, policy planning, environmental justice, green building and energy management, watershed restoration and management, urban farming, and outdoor education. Get to know them at their annual spring festival and barbecue at Self-Reliant House, 2 pm to dusk (BBQ at 5 pm), including volunteering and tours of their green building, native and edible landscaping, and milling of downed urban trees. Information at (510) 846-4590, 434 3840, or robinf5713@aol.com.
Susan Schwartz