Category: General interest

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Honoring Our Peacetime Veterans: The New Deal Legacy in Berkeley’s Parks and Recreational Facilities, Presentation by Gray Brechin, PhD, Author (Imperial San Francisco, etc.) and Urban Geographer

December 5, Wednesday, 7:30 to 9 pm

(Live Oak Park Center – Theatre, in Live Oak Park, 1201 Shattuck Avenue,)

Within less than a decade, New Deal public works agencies such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps put millions of men to work creating and improving the nation’s public parks and recreational facilities, but their contributions were quickly forgotten after WWII killed those agencies. Gray Brechin is the Project Scholar for The Living New Deal Project, a collaborative effort to inventory, map, and interpret the great legacy of these agencies on California. He is also a fascinating and engaging speaker. He will illustrate the invisible landscape of New Deal accomplishments in Berkeley and seek recollections of long-time residents in the parks so improved. $5-10 donation at the door; Contact: John Steere or Georgia Silvera: seatulip AT hotmail DOT com

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Grow a Greener Community – Become a Master Composter

Grow a Greener Community – Become a Master Composter
Inspire others and make a difference in your community. The annual Master Composter Training Program is currently accepting applications from Alameda County residents for the 2008 Class.
The Master Composter Program is a certificated, extensive compost course. Participants receive training in the art and science of basic and worm composting, soil health, and Bay Friendly gardening techniques.
Participants use this knowledge to train others through a compost community outreach project.
All participants receive a compost bin and several composting and gardening books, including the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s “Plants and Landscapes for Summer Climates of the SF Bay Region.” Teachers who complete the program are eligible for a $200 stipend to use toward school garden and/or classroom compost activities. Classes will meet Tuesday nights weekly in Oakland from early February through mid-May 2008, plus a Saturday field trip. The Program offers graduate level and continuing education credits from California State University at Hayward or credit from
Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Department. Master Composter training enhances the skills of community leaders, activists, educators, environmentalists, gardeners, and recyclers. We encourage people of all ages, abilities, and ethnic groups to apply. If you have ideas and energy for community actions, this class is for you.
HOW? Complete an application by January 11, 2008.
Reserve the evening of January 16 or 17 for an interview.
Visit our website at www.BayFriendly.org to apply on-line or download an application.
From the home page, click on the Bay-Friendly Gardening link on the bottom left, click on the Residents icon, and then the Master Composter Program link.
The website also provides a class syllabus and examples of projects from past participants. For more information, please contact StopWaste.Org at www.BayFriendly.org or 510-444-SOIL.

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Berkeley’s Downtown Parks: Real, Envisioned, and Vanished.

November 17, 2007, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon
Berkeley’s Downtown Parks: Real, Envisioned, and Vanished.
Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and led by Steve Finacom & Linda Perry. Downtown Berkeley is a commercial, transportation, and civic hub, with a hidden history of open space. Learn of Civic Center Park and the vanished park in Shattuck Square, and fountains that once ran down the center of Shattuck Avenue. In celebration of the Centennial of Berkeley’s public park system, we’ll visit all these sites, as well as sites of proposed open spaces that never were. Contact: Reserve a space by calling (510) 848-0181, between 1 pm and 4 pm on Thursday or Friday before the tour; or go to www.cityofberkeley.info/histsoc/#EVENTS

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Volunteer to help with oil spill clean up (Oiled Wildlife Care Network and Baykeeper)

Oil spill mapAs of Saturday, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network has enough volunteers, but check their web site if you are interested: UC Davis: Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

On Friday afternoon, November 9, the tide tubes that connect Berkeley’s Aquatic Park with the SF Bay were closed to minimize intrusion of oil into Aquatic Park. City officials are also concerned with pollution reaching the Marina and other Berkeley aquatic facilities.

More details on the “Cosco Busan” oil spill can be found on the California Department of Fish and Game’s website.

See also SFBaykeeper.org for other volunteer opportunities and updates.

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Lower Codornices Creek: From Rails to Restoration

November 3, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon
Lower Codornices Creek: From Rails to Restoration
Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and Led by Susan Schwartz with Drew Goetting & Richard Register. Explore lower Codornices Creek and its varied history, from early rails and industry through World War II worker housing and shipyard railway to recent nature restoration. 2.5-mile walk is level, but two blocks of trail are not suitable for strollers or wheelchairs. Contact: Reserve a space by calling (510) 848-0181, between 1 pm and 4 pm on Thursday or Friday before the tour; or go to www.cityofberkeley.info/histsoc/#EVENTS