Update 9-12-2007
Many thanks to all the volunteers who staffed our Solano Stroll booth last Sunday, and welcome to new folks who signed up! Thanks, too, to the Weekday Weed Warriors, who pulled a mountain of broom at Berkeley's Shorebird Park on Tuesday - hard work but rewarding, followed by good coffee and chat. If you'd like to join the Weekday Weed Warriors, let me know!
WEEKEND WORK PARTIES
Sept. 16 Ivy Re-Leaf at Mortar Rock Park: Join a new effort to remove smothering ivy from 100-year-old Mortar Rock Park in Berkeley this Sunday. Meet at 10 am at Mortar Rock Park, Indian Rock Blvd. just east of the north end of Oxford St., opposite S. end of San Diego Rd. (one block above Indian Rock Park). Snacks and a short walk focused on a history of the "rock parks" follow.
TALKS NEXT WEEK
Sept. 19 forum on Bay Health: "Troubled Waters: A Forum on the Health of San Francisco Bay," sponsored by Save the Bay and Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, will focus on the problems caused by trash in the Bay, 6:30 - 9 pm Wed., Sept. 19, at Rosa Parks Elementary School, 910 Allston Way, Berkeley. F5C will have a table.
Sept. 20 seminar on fire retardants and environment: A seminar on "The Fire Retardant Dilemma: How can we achieve Fire Safety without Harming Human Health," will also focus on larger issues of the human health and environmental impact of chemicals, 8:30 am - 1 pm Thursday, Sept. 20, at UC Berkeley University Hall, Oxford and Addison, downtown Berkeley. RSVP to FRDilemma@gmail.com. Information at http://greensciencepolicy.org/conferences.shtml.
Sept. 20 talk on big Bay Area trail systems: Bill Long, chair of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, gives a slide talk on "Two Rings Around the Bay: The Bay Trail and Bay Area Ridge Trail" 7 pm Thursday, Sept. 20, at Berkeley's historic Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Comic monologist Josh Kornblush emcees at the free event, which is the annual meeting of the Berkeley Path Wanderers Assn.
Sept. 20 talk on Berkeley creek history: Now this is frustrating. The same night as that great talk on development of the Bay Area's two major trail systems, just two blocks away, local historian Richard Schwartz speaks on history of the Codornices watershed, 7 pm at Congregation Beth El, 1301 Oxford St., (sponsored by the Codornices Watershed Council). Schwartz is author of Berkeley 1900 and the recently published Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley.
VOLUNTEER RESTORATION DESTROYED IN OAKLAND
LOOKING AHEAD WITH F5C:
Oct. 13 and 14 will be a big weekend, with art-making using natural materials on Cerrito Creek at El Cerrito Plaza Saturday, and a "progressive" work party on on paths in the Upper Codornices watershed of the Berkeley hills Sunday, clearing several spots for later planting of natives, and including a picnic lunch. Put them on your calendar!
Sign up for another big adventure as we do a GPS survey of the deep "grand canyon" of Cerrito Creek, Saturday, Oct. 27 (training Tuesday evening, Oct. 23), part of a Contra Costa County program. For information contact F5C board member Alfredo Chingcuanco, aoc272@yahoo.com.
Sept. 15 Coastal Cleanup: This Saturday is Coastal Cleanup Day, with many opportunities to rid the shoreline of trash, especially fragmenting plastics that are increasingly disrupting ocean life. Bring your own water in a bottle you'll re-use many times, and your own gloves if you have them, to a site near you. F5C folks will lead a group from the end of Buchanan Street out to the art-bedecked north shore of the Albany Bulb at 9:30 am. Allow plenty of time - parking may be limited. Bring a trowel if you have one, to root trash out of the wrack.
Next week offers a busy schedule of talks related to the environment:
Many of you remember the loss of vegetation at our Pacific East Mall restoration in Richmond (by the way, still apparently on track to be repaired this fall). Here's a similar tale from Oakland: Adjacent to the North Oakland Sports Fields (Caldecott Field, near Caldecott Tunnel), about 100 volunteers had used a grant to plant natives to create habitat while increasing fire safety. Plants were flagged and mulched, but volunteers returned this month to find their work obliterated, apparently by a bulldozer. Particularly if you live in Oakland, please contact Mayor Ron Dellums and your city Councilmember to demand that this be repaired. For more information (or just to offer sympathy and support), contact Lech Naumovich, a restoration professional who was working as a volunteer at the site, lechroy@gmail.com.
Our talk by Bay Nature publisher David Loeb has been postponed until our Monday, Nov. 5 meeting. Oct. 1 will be a board meeting (all welcome).