Berkeley Partners for Parks » Schoolhouse Creek Commons

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.

Schoolhouse Creek Common Workday

Lee Trampleasure — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:00:45 +0000

Schoolhouse Creek Common Update
The first weekend in January this year, the Schoolhouse Creek Common crew installed a couple of boulders that will serve as the entrance (and additional seating) to a meeting area at the east end of Schoolhouse Creek Common. The plan is to finish the project on the second Saturday in March at 10am, the usual work day (rain day the following Saturday). It should be fun, with folks passing boulders along, mixing cement, quaffing coffee and croissants, sowing wildflower seeds, and getting Schoolhouse Creek Common ready for the Native Garden Tour later in spring. We will also be installing a bulletin board. You don’t have to be a neighbor to participate. Come join the fun and see the native plants and wildflowers. Mark your calendars.
For more information, please call Jamie Day, 559-8368, day7715@sbcglobal.net.

Schoolhouse Creek Common Update

Lee Trampleasure — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:22:22 +0000

Schoolhouse Creek Common Update
The first weekend in January this year, the Schoolhouse Creek Common crew installed a couple of boulders that will serve as the entrance (and additional seating) to a meeting area at the east end of Schoolhouse Creek Common. The plan is to finish the project on the second Saturday in March at 10am, the usual work day. (rain day the following Saturday). It should be fun, with folks passing boulders along, mixing cement, quaffing coffee and croissants, sowing wildflower seeds, and getting Schoolhouse Creek Common ready for the Native Garden Tour later in spring. We will also be installing a bulletin board. You don’t have to be a neighbor to participate. Come join the fun and see the native plants and wildflowers. Mark your calendars.
For more information, please call Jamie Day, 559-8368, day7715@sbcglobal.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.

Schoolhouse Creek Common work days

Lee Trampleasure — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:00:43 +0000

Schoolhouse Creek Common, corner of Curtis and Virginia streets, has a work day every second Saturday of the month, 10-noon, with the rain date being the following Saturday. Over the next few months we will be sowing wildflower seeds, planting native bulbs and creating a new seating area out of large moss rocks. For more information, please call Jamie Day, 559-8368, day7715@sbcglobal.net.… Read the rest

School House Creek Commons-Fall Clean Up and Sowing of Wild Flower Seeds

Web Weaver — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:00:54 +0000

October 13, Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon
School House Creek Commons-Fall Clean Up and Sowing of Wild Flower Seeds
(At Virginia and Curtis Streets-Eastern end of the Berkeley Adult School)
We will be having our fall clean-up and sowing of native wildflower seeds. If the weather has cooled enough, we also hope to be planting a slope of a hill with plugs of native grasses. These are all big projects, so come one, come all and enjoy one of the city�s newest open spaces and explore the native plants and orchard. There�s a play area for kids, and coffee and snacks will be served.
Contact: Jamie Day at 510-559-8368 or day7715 AT sbcglobal DOT net

Schoolhouse Creek Commons: November 2005

Web Weaver — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 20:41:53 +0000

The striking transformation of the southwest corner of Virginia and Curtis has been made possible by a coordinated effort between the staff of the Berkeley Unified School District and 150 neighbors of the Adult School who have given time and/or money to Schoolhouse Creek Commons. The late Karl Linn also provided his wisdom and guidance in the initial design and development of the Commons. The School District provided the funding to tear out the old asphalt and playground equipment, contour the land, create the entrance and pathways, and plant the grass area in the center of the Commons. The neighbors have been creating the Commons by fundraising, bringing in soil, mulch and compost, placing rocks and planting trees and plants (most native Californian) throughout the Commons. For more information on how you can get involved, call Brad Smith at 524-1938 or e-mail at brad_smith AT earthlink.net.