Author: fivecreeks

Posted on

F5C busy on Berkeley waterfront

Friends of Five Creeks had a busy Saturday, Nov. 8, volunteering in Eastshore State Park. In the morning, a dozen King Middle School 6th graders levered out broom bushes, pulled invasive ice plant, picked up trash, and planted native grasses, all in the course of an interpretive walk from Shorebird Park to the mouth of Strawberry Creek.

In the afternoon, more than 25 volunteers from UC Berkeley (Circle K and Roots and Shoots service clubs) and the community cleared a big broom thicket and masses of invasive weeds from the ecologically important Berkeley Meadow, north of University Avenue.

We’ll be planting natives at Cerrito Creek on November 22, and working on the waterfront again Dec. 6. See the calendar, or www.fivecreeks.org, and join us!

Posted on

Celebrate Berkeley Parks at our Fundraiser!

Bring friends and family for an afternoon of camaraderie, food, drink, and music by the Berkeley Old Time String Players at Berkeley Partners for Parks’ annual Fundraiser, 3-5:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 28, at beautiful Halcyon Commons — an abandoned strip transformed into vibrant urban open space.

Dedication of the Halcyon Commons Rejuvenation Project follows. Come see this great example of the kinds of projects Berkeley Partners for Parks makes possible! Meet the people who are creating and revitalizing Berkeley paths, parks, creeksides, even a labyrinth!

Halcyon Commons is on block-long Halcyon Court, between Webster and Prince, one block west of Telegraph. Suggested donation $30; all donations tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Posted on

Park(ing) Day Friday, Sept. 19

Celebrate Worldwide Park(ing) Day
Friday, Sept. 19, at two Berkeley events:

  • Berkeley Partners for Park and Ecocity Builders transform a parking space on Center Street between Shattuck and Oxford into a mini-park for a day, showcasing our need to pass Measures WW and HH, continuing existing levies that support local and regional parks.
  • Nomad Cafe and neighbors offer music, a kid zone, face painting, plus grass and hay Friday through the weekend at 65th and Shattuck, presenting their vision for what the urban street corner could become (info at http://
    nomadcafe.wordpress .com/2008/ 09/17/parking- day-at-nomad- cafe-this-
    friday-sept- 19/)

    • Stop by and enjoy the “an open-source experiment in
    reprogramming the urban surface” — creating ephemeral urban parks at metered parking spaces. The concept originated with San Francisco-based REBAR, www.rebargroup.org. The idea has gone worldwide and is now co-sponsored with Trust for Public Land.
    For more info and a glimpse of other projects, go to www.parkingday.org.

    Posted on

    UC Berkeley funding for BPFP “Greening Berkeley” partners

    For the third year in a row, BPFP’s “Greening Berkeley Hands On” partnership has been awarded a Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund grant by UC Berkeley. This year’s award of $24,000 will help BPFP affiliates carry out a wide variety of hands-on environmental projects. The grant pays for both materials and a UC student intern, who organized student volunteering through CalCorps, UC’s public-service arm.

    Projects in the 2008 grant range from path construction and a solar light for the Santa Fe Right of Way, projects of Berkeley Path Wanderers, to tools and gloves for the city’s 14 public-school gardens, through Friends of School Gardens. The community-built Schoolhouse Creek Common will install chess tables and a bench. Nearby, Friends of Westbrae Commons will continue transforming the Ohlone Greenway south of Gilman with native coastal-prairie plants. Friends of Shorebird Park Nature Center will spread fresh sand and build new racks at Adventure Playground, while Aquatic Park EGRET will get upgraded nataive plants and upgraded wheelbarrows. Friends of Five Creeks will be able to install signs on local natural history and plant drought-tolerant natives in a variety of sites, from the Santa Fe Right of Way to Mortar Rock Park.

    Aquatic Park EGRET also will partner with Earth Team Environmental Network, Berkeley Community Media, College of Natural Resources, and Berkeley Community Garden to involve local teens in habitat restoration days that teens also will film for showing on local cable TV. This project received a $5000 Chancellors Community Partnership grant.

    Join us to carry out these projects! Contact BPFP or the affiliate group you are interested in — click on “Affiliated Groups” at right.