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Videos on threatened local wildlife feature BPFP projects

New short videos on local wildlife threatened by climate change feature two Berkeley Partners for Parks volunteer projects. The five “Edge of Extinction” documentaries were created for local online newspaper Berkeleyside by Max Brimelow, video journalist currently studying at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Meet Marty Nicolaus of Chavez Park Conservancy in “Owl Good Things Must Come to An End” here. Martin’s longer, 24-minute documentary on the Cesar Chavez owls is here.

“Trout in Doubt,” on threats to Central Coast steelhead, features Susan Schwartz, longtime head of Friends of Five Creeks, talking about the group’s work before and after the April 3 fish kill that seems to have wiped out these fish in Codornices Creek, our area’s only trout stream. The other videos cover Western pond turtles, bees, and salt marsh harvest mice. All give tips on how you can help, too. Highly recommended!

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New Mosaic Entry to Schoolhouse Creek Common

BPFP partner group Schoolhouse Creek Common has a new mosaic entryway! All welcome to its dedication 10 AM – noon Sat., Apr. 21, or visit the neighbor-built park on a corner of the Berkeley Adult School campus, 1160 Virginia at Curtis, any time during daylight hours!

Neighbor Lynne Jones did the mosaic work, with materials paid for by donations to the group. null

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Cesar Chavez Park Peace Symbol Gets New Life

The Peace Symbol on the northwest hilltop at Cesar Chavez Park has been saved from choking weeds and enlivened with black and red mulch, just in time for the April 15 peace march in Oakland, thanks to Martin Nicolaus, head of BPFP affiliate We Love Chavez Park. The origins of this informal work of public art are mysterious — if you know, please get in touch with Marty via the contact form on the web site. The park can always use more help. You can help volunteers tend the Memorial Solar Calendar, remove foxtails in the dog park, adopt the peace symbol, or much more.

Also, don’t miss Martin’s beautiful video on the birds of the North Basin, the inlet at the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek, between Cesar Chavez and McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.

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Parks dynamo Patty Donald retires June 2017

If you’ve helped out at a shoreline cleanup, seen the Berkeley Marina’s colorful Kite Festival, or if someone in your family became fascinated with science and nature at Berkeley’s Marina Experience programs, it’s because of Patty Donald, naturalist and recreation coordinator at the Berkeley Marina’s Shorebird Park and Adventure Playground. A citizen arm, Friends of Shorebird Nature Center, is a valued BPFP partner.

Beach at Shorebird ParkOne of Berkeley’s most creative and influential environmentalists, Patty retires this month after more than 30 years “growing” Berkeley Parks programs.

Daughter of a Gold Rush family, Patty grew up in Berkeley. She earned a degree in parks and natural-resource management and interpretation just as California’s Proposition 13 was slashing property-tax funds for such programs. After part- and full-time stints including teaching science at Cragmont School (her “alma mater”) and working for Berkeley Parks and at the East Bay Regional Parks’ Crab Cove Nature Center, she approached Berkeley with an idea:

“I said I’d set up a nature program here. They said OK. So I did.” Continue reading “Parks dynamo Patty Donald retires June 2017”