Berkeley Partners for Parks » Aquatic Park EGRET

BPFP partners again funded by UC Chancellor’s Community Partnership Grants

fivecreeks — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:25:08 +0000

Hands-on volunteer work by Berkeley Partners for Parks member groups has again been funded by the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Grant fund. The fund, set up by UC Berkeley in settlement of a lawsuit, funds nonprofits that partner with UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff to benefit the Berkeley area.

BPFP groups who will share $4000 include Aquatic Park EGRET, Berkeley Path Wanderers Assn., East Bay Green Parks Assn., Friends of Five Creeks, Schoolhouse Creek Common, and Westbrae Commons. Operating as the Greening Berkeley Hands on coalition, these groups host thousands of UC students volunteers at their work parties. They have received a grant every year since 2006, when the Chancellor’s Grant project began.

BPFP also will serve as fiscal sponsor for funding for the Berkeley Project, which brings thousands of UC students into the community to volunteer on specific days.

Make Mark Liolios of Aquatic Park EGRET your Conservation Hero (and help BPFP win $5000)

fivecreeks — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:42:25 +0000

For more than a decade, Mark Liolios has worked to transform Aquatic Park into great habitat for herons, egrets, shorebirds, native plants — and people! On September 13, the Trust for Public Land, with Cox Enterprises, has named him one of five “Cox Conserves Heroes” for the Bay Area for 2010! See the Sept. 14 story on www.Berkeleyside.com!

Mark and four other finalists receive $1,250 for the nonprofit of their choice — and Mark has chosen Berkeley Partners for Parks! If Mark gets the most online votes, BPFP will get a total of $5,000!

Watch videos of the five winners and vote online for your favorite at
www.coxconservesheroes.com/san-francisco-bay-area-ca/2010-finalists.aspx.

Mark Liolios weeds with volunteers at Aquatic Park

Video from Aquatic Park

Web Weaver — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:20:41 +0000

The following video was posted on YouTube showing some sights at Aquatic Park (watch the bike ride past the egret on the grass):

And here’s one of egrets feeding at the north end:

Berkeley Aquatic Park Clean up Event, Sunday January 18

Web Weaver — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:13:03 +0000

January 18, 2009
11:00 am	to	2:00 pm

Join us Sunday, Jan 18th from 11am to 2pm at the historic Berkeley Aquatic Park to help us restore and revive this precious local resource. Bring your family, friends and neighbors for an afternoon of landscaping, cleanup, trail reclamation, habitat restoration and a bit of history. The Aquatic Park is Berkeley’s largest park and was built in 1935 as part of the original WPA project. Join us in renewing our commitment to our community as we embark on a NEW New Deal!

To sign up for this event go to: http://www.pic2009.org/page/event/detail/4jtbr

If you would like to sponsor a tree planing (for $20) in honor of MLK, the Inauguration, or a special person in your life, please email aquaparkcleanup@gmail.com .

This cleanup event is part of the Nation Weekend of Service (Jan 17-19) in honor of MLK and the upcoming Inauguration. Citizens like you are hosting dozens of community service events all weekend long. To see more events near you, or create your own event go to: http://www.usaservice.org/

New Year’s waterfront Walk

Web Weaver — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:41:55 +0000

January 3, 2009
10:00 am	to	12:00 pm

Berkeley Path Wanderers: New Year’s waterfront walk , Saturday, January 3, 10 a.m. View wintering waterfowl and discover how Berkeley beaches are rebuilding themselves. Binoculars are recommended. Walk is leisurely and level but not wheelchair accessible. Optional coffee/tea stop at Sea Breeze Deli. Meet at Shorebird Nature Center, 160 University Ave. (South side, west of Adventure Playground). f5creeks@aol.com , 510 848 9358, www.berkeleypaths.org

UC Berkeley funding for BPFP “Greening Berkeley” partners

fivecreeks — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:11:20 +0000

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.

Help stop flooding and habitat damage to Aquatic Park

Lee Trampleasure — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:53:42 +0000

The City of Berkeley plans to use $2 million in Clean Water Bond money from the State Coastal Conservancy to open discharge outlets from the City’s primary storm drains into the tidal bay ponds of Aquatic Park. Discharge of contaminated storm water into the enclosed ponds has been prohibited by the State since 1971, but the City hopes to overturn that restriction and replace it with a permit allowing such toxic discharges in perpetuity. The use of high-pressure pumps can increase the capacity of the City’s drains and avoid violations of the Water Board’s prohibition. Improving circulation within the lagoon system must begin with regular maintenance of the existing culverts, the option selected by Council in 1994 when staff first proposed the project in an earlier version. Additional water circulation can be safely engineered with a one-way flow out of the lagoons, thus prohibiting the introductions of toxic storm runoff. Such one-way outbound options have been recommended for consideration by the State Water Board regulator in his project analysis, but they have not yet been modeled.

This item is on the City Council agenda at their June 24 meeting. For more information, visit Aquatic Park EGRET’s web site: www.egretpark.org

Spring work groups at Aquatic Park

Lee Trampleasure — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:36:31 +0000

It’s been a busy early spring for Aquatic Park EGRET. Plenty of planting, weeding, and cleaning.

Highlights:

March 2008 75 young people coordinated by EarthTeam gathered to commemorate the life and purpose of Cesar Chavez Chavez. The large group split into three smaller ones and tackled Shoreline trash pickup, removal of invasive vegetation, and spreading woodchips around native plantings (woodchips help the soil retain moisture while also keeping weeds from growing).
April Head-Royce 6th graders participated in a service learning project and spread woodchips along shoreline plantings, including three Cyprus trees that had been planted by 4th graders from Rosa Parks one year ago.

Upcoming:

On Wednesday, April 30, 15 high school students from College Prep will spread woodchips along Western shore of Middle Pond.

Come on down to see the results of all this work. If your group would like to help, contact Mark Liolios at mark AT lmi DOT net.

Annual update of 2007 Activities

Lee Trampleasure — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:02:45 +0000

Our annual Update highlights activities of BPFP and our affiliate groups from 2007:

High resolution (PDF: 9.7 MB) (recommended for those with high speed internet access)
screen resolution (PDF: 0.15 MB) (recommended for those with dial-up internet connections).

From the Board introduction:

We are hopeful the energizing power of partnerships will become a theme of the 21st century. Around the world individuals are organizing in their local areas to improve their lives, and Berkeley Partners for Parks is a leader in those efforts in our community.

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

Lee Trampleasure — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:25:51 +0000

As 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.