Transforming neglected natural areas, one step at a time.

October volunteering sampler:  At Aquatic Park: Above, UC Berkeley students from the Berkeley Project and F5C interns removed a huge stand of Arundo, giant cane.  Below, F5C interns completed a wildlife and plant survey giving valuable insight into the unstable lagoons, with their periodic wildlife die-offs and massive algae blooms. At the North Basin Strip near the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek, volunteers got great Bay and Mt. Tam views (above) and the joy of pulling out ice plant, with the new Gilman pedestrian-bicycle overpass in the background (below). On Codornices Creek, Saudi students studying at UC Berkeley on scholarship from ARAMCO removed weeds and scatter seeds of native wildflowers. Below: F5C Weed Warriors braved steep slopes in Tilden Regional Park is get every last invasive broom and spurge plant! Above: Weed Warriors and interns cleared re-sprouting French broom at Quarry Picnic Area, another long-term project.

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!

F5C in November and December: Tuesday morning Weed Warriors, more

Join our informal, friendly group maintaining varied natural areas: Our "Weekday Weed Warriors" gather Tuesday mornings 10 AM - noon. Email f5creeks@gmail.com for more information or to get weekly email notification of locations.

F5C has not scheduled public work parties for November of December -- we'll post here and send an email notice to our mailing list if this changes. Turnout is often low as the holidays approach, and we have urgent work to do putting data gathered with our interns into usable, effective form.

We also will be working with and pressing local agencies in several important plannning processes and on several issues. Updates coming soon, including ways you can participate and have your voices heard!

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

• New: Intern Paulina Lara's guide to how native plants and animals "get along" on Codornices Creek (helpful for other local creeks as well) -- her senior honors project at CSU East Bay. Click here for English or Spanish versions. (These are large files. Please be patient.) It's on display now on the Codornices Creek trail at the net at Sixth Street. See more of our displays on the Codornices Creekside trail: A schematic map of the creek between San Pablo and Tenth Street done by Berkeley High student Evan McMurtrie, "tree trolls" and "tiny things" designed by our interns, at the creekside meadow across from the Little League ballfields, between 10th and 8th Streets, on the Berkeley-Albany border.
• See our flyer on how to de-clutter the environmental way and Saving Water -- Rain or Shine.
• 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

• F5C is strongly interested in the two-year process to write a new plan for Berkeley storm-drain system, much needed given 100-year-old infrastructure and coming climate change. Our June 17 letter here called for much more public input into write a new plan for Berkeley storm-drain system, much needed given 100-year-old infrastructure and coming climate change. Pulic input plans have since been greatly improved. Our earlier, July 2023, letter supporting the contract to carry out this plan is here.
• F5C's detailed comments on El Cerrito's draft plan for the Hillside Natural Area are here. For earlier comments:  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.
• 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. The project was shelved.