Transforming neglected natural areas, one step at a time.

Recent volunteering:  Below: At the Dec. 7 Youth Festival at Aquatic Park, kids enjoyed drawing critters --and looking at some pictured on our poster of Aquatic Park lagoon life. F5C interns staffed the table. More 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!

Helping Nature in the East Bay – Hands On

All-volunteer Friends of Five Creeks has worked hands-on for 27 years for clean water, healthy watersheds, and natural areas that welcome both wildlife and people. We work from Berkeley to Richmond on the urbanized east side of San Francisco Bay.

• 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 within the month!

Volunteer with us at Aquatic Park Sat., Jan. 18 -- MLK weekend

Join us at the south end of Berkeley's Aquatic Park, 10 AM - 12:30 PM Sat., Jan. 18, as we remove invasives, pick up trash, and observe nature and environmental possibilities in these fascinating lagoons.

Our big task will be digging out roots of invasive giant cane, Arundo donax. But there are always lighter chores -- and litter pickup is a great way to explore and enjoy the shorelines. Wintering waterbirds should be around.

All ages welcome! Meet at the circle at the south end of the park.

Directions: You can walk or cycle about a mile from the park's main, north entrances. Nearest bus is AC Transit 7. By car, you must come through Emeryville, cross the tracks at 67th Street, and double back on Shellmound/Bay/Bolivar ( street changes names), ending at the circle. With Internet maps, "Aquatic Park South Lot" will get you there. A map is here.

Wear closed-toed shoes with good traction, dress in layers for changing weather, and bring a re-usable water bottle. We supply tools, gloves, light snacks, and good company. No reservation required, but groups of five or more please RSVP so we will have enough supplies. For information, email F5creeks@gmail.com. Heavy rain cancels!

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.

We work with local agencies in important planning processes and  issues. We also collect data, especially citizen-science data focused on climate change. Here's some of what we're doing, and how you can contribute, participate,and have your voices heard!

El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area

New: Our interns' survey of woodrat nests, important "ecosystem engineering" in the El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area, is here. El Cerrito's draft final plan for reducing fire risk in the El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area is online here, along with public comments and the consultants' responses. Our interns presented their work at a Dec. 10 joint meeting of the El Cerrito Environmental Quality and Urban Forestry Committees, and may do so again when this plan goes to the City Council. Although the plan has been improved in response to comments, we still have concerns about whether it adequately protects wildlife and habitat, and whether the city is being realistic about the needs and costs for maintenance. (We worked for more than a decade and transformed the main, 75-acre portion of the Hillside Natural area, reducing fire danger mainly by removing French Broom.) 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.

Berkeley (and Albany) urban runoff and related citizen science along the Bay

Report drainage and runoff trouble spots to help Berkeley and Albany write new plans for their storm-drain systems. The Nov. 22 storm was just a preview of stronger deluges expected with climate change. Both cities need to update aging infrastructure. Both Berkeley and Albany are writing new plans for their storm-drain systems.  Berkeley wants report of possible trouble spots using an online survey -- info here (scroll down, or go straight to the form here.) Please report a broad range of issues:

• frequent flooding or backups of runoff
• wet spots that may indicate leaks, backups, or slide danger
• failing culverts or other infrastructure
• lack of needed storm drains -- saturated soils can wash out or slides. More drains may be needed as storms become more intense.
• catch basins that don't get cleaned, rain gardens that need maintenance. (You also can volunteer to maintain these.)

As part of this effort, we are working with the informal Friends of Aquatic Park to make sure that this new plan, and other city actions, adequately deal with the complex and longstanding issues of water quality and poor circulation in the park's lagoons, as well as new and increasing challenges from climate change. This so far includes building the informative web site aquaticpark.org along with other efforts, from posting signs about how to report problems to developing baseline information on water quality and the sometimes surprising plants and animals that live in the park. 

In a related effort, we are building baseline data on what lives between the tides along the Berkeley and Emeryville shorelines, focused especially on the Albany shoreline from the southwest tip of the Albany Bulb to the sandstone outcrop at Golden Gate Fields. It is best done during spring to fall daytime low tides.  If you'd like to help with these citizen-science efforts, please email f5creeks@gmail.com.

Schoolhouse Creek and North Basin Strip:

Helping plan the future of the North Basin Strip, part of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, in Berkeley.  The East Bay Regional Park District is planning the future for 20 acres and almost a half mile of Bay shoreline west of the I-80 Frontage Road, between the foot of Gilman Street and where Virginia Street would reach the Bay if it crossed the freeway. It includes the south shore of the North Basin Cove and the service road/trail there. This land is part of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. (The Tom Bates Sports Fields are on a long-term lease to Berkeley and not included in the planning, but ideas on how they could work together are welcome.)  Background info and a link to the survey are here. Another public meeting is expected in spring.

Friends of Five Creeks has worked for years maintaining this area, and we are taking an active role in planning. (Three of our interns also were part of a "New Voices" group that the Park District convened before public planning, but their participation was independent. We did not discuss their suggestions.)

Friends of Five Creeks seeks "daylighting" of the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek in the park and consideration for the varied and beautiful volunteer-planted natives along the shoreline, as well as coordination between the East Bay Regional Park District and Berkeley on a wide range of issues. These range from dealing with sea-level rise through parking and traffic safety, responsible use by high-school mountain-bike teams, and effective links between the sport-field complex (on long term lease from the park) and the rest of the North Basin Strip and surroundings. Background here.

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

• New: Our interns' survey of woodrat nests, important "ecosystem engineering" in the El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area, is here.
• See our native-plant signs, linking species to their roles in history and the environment. Free to all to download, modify, and use!
• 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.
•  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 selected older letters to agencies

• 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.