Transforming neglected natural areas, one step at a time.

Recent volunteering:  Above: On March 9, Eagle Scout candidate Drew Lindsey led troop members installing new signs with info on native plants on Cerrito Creek at the foot of Albany Hill. Drew and troop members also welded holders for these and other signs. Below: F5C interns installed more signs along the newly completed Codornices Creek trail between 8th and 10th, on the Berkeley-Albany border. Above: On Mar. 29, 24 energetic 7th graders from East Bay School for Boys removed invasive mustard and planted yarrow at Berkeley's Shorebird Park, where we have worked for more than 20 years. Below: Weed Warrios dug toxic Italian lords and ladies (Arum italicum) near the entrance to El Cerrito's Hillside Natural Area Above: Weed Warriors removed perennial pepperweed along the tidal reaches of Cerrito Creek, limiting spread of this invasive.

Helping Nature in the East Bay – Hands On

• Learn more about our work: Subscribe to our e-news, to keep up with what our volunteers are doing, Bay Area environmental news, and a "feature of the month.". (We don't share your information with anybody.) See maps, history, and slide shows of some of our projects.

• Check out our list of events with others -- online here and now being updated through the month.

Students and young adults launching environmental careers, or high-school juniors or seniors, can build environmental knowledge, skills, and experience in our short-term, part-time, paid internships. Fall internships are now full, but we expect openings for spring semester and in summer. We offer a wide variety of hands-on experience and resume building, including semi-independent projects. We have an excellent track record in helping people find good jobs. Candidates should enjoy hard physical work, love nature and the outdoors, and be able to work reliably and independently. We also need a variety of scientific and data-related skills, including monitoring, analyzing data, and a wide variety of writing, editing, and publishing skills, from designing and producing flyers to creating outdoor art displays, ArcGIS Story Maps, or even new web sites. Basic information here.

F5C would love to find a creative, tech-savvy volunteers to help in several ways. Email f5creeks@gmail.com if you are interested.

F5C recent and current-interest handouts, slide shows, and reports

• New! See our flyer on how to de-clutter the environmental way.
• New! See our native-plant signs, linking species to their roles in history and the environment. Free to all to download, modify, and use!
• Click here to see our slide show: Codornices Creek, Chapters in an Unfinished History
• Do-it-yourself Nature Treasure Hunt for families with young children. Print out these two sheets back-to-back for fun aimed to engage young children in nature -- along with queries designed to intrigue and challenge adults. This hunt focuses on Codornices Creek, but is easily adapted to other places. You can even use it on a cell phone!

F5C letters to agencies

• El Cerrito has a grant to write a plan for fire safety and conservation in the Hillside Natural Area, 100 acres surrounded by city, rich in nature but highly flammable. Its existing plan is 30 years old.   Friends of Five Creeks' January input on what this plan should include is here. A short slide show is here. An earlier handout is here.
• Importance of Berkeley's new plan for urban runoff, including need to deal with a changing climate. Read F5C's July 2023 letter.
• Need for toileting and RV sewage pumpout for unhoused in Berkeley: Read F5C's June 2023 letter on the need for portable toilets and sewage pumpout for the unhoused, for human dignity, public health, and pollution prevention.
• Considering likely effects of climate change in Berkeley's plans for development in its Marina area: Read F5C's May 2023 letter on the draft Waterfront Specific Plan.
• Protecting Codornices Creek as part of re-paving the Hopkins-Gilman corridor in Berkeley: Read F5C's February 2023 letters on the importance of including green amenities, pollution reduction, and protection for Codornices Creek in a "complete streets" project for Hopkins Avenue, which follows the creek a half block away.
• Codornices Creek west of San Pablo Avenue: Read F5C's Oct. 3, 2023 report to Albany, Berkeley, and UC Berkeley on challenges at Codornices Creek near 8th Street. Read F5C's Nov. 2, 2022, email on the need to keep often-impaired homeless people out of flood-prone creek areas as climate change brings stronger storms. Read F5C's Mar. 27, 2023, letter to the Albany City Council re strategic needs for Codornices Creek.
• Read F5C's April 24, 2022, letter to the state's groundwater authorities on why the "sustainability" plan drafted by EBMUD does not take into account the environmental importance of the shallow groundwater from Oakland to Richmond and F5C's March 12, 2023, letter to EBMUD on why this plan cannot be called "sustainable" unless it considers rising groundwater, salt intrusion, and possible pollution from buried toxics as a result of sea-level rise.