Saturday, May 5, (first Saturday of each month) at Pt. Isabel on the Bay Trail, 10 am to 2 pm. We remove invasive plants and re-vegetate with native plants grown from plants found at the site. We are located at the end of Rydin Road just off the I-580 next to Hoffman Marsh. Contact info: Tom Kelly, kyotousa@sbcglobal.net, cell: 510-684-6484.

Saturday, May 5, 9:00 am, Skyline Gate at Redwood Regional Park. Maybe this is not the oldest Genista rip in the East Bay, but it is certainly one with a long continuity. We will return to East Ridge Trail and see what we can remove before the soils dry completely. If you need loaner gloves or tools, you can just show up, but it helps to e-mail DRosario@ebparks.org.

Saturday, May 12, 9:30 am, Huckleberry Regional Park. Meet at the parking lot, where we will scope out weeds and decide on the worksite for the day. We will provide water, gloves and snacks, but please let us know if you need gloves and/or tools by e-mail to janetgawthrop47@gmail.com or jmanley@ebparks.org. We will finish up around 1 pm.

Sunday, May 20, 9:00 am, Sibley Regional Park. Meet at the parking lot off of Skyline on the Oakland side of the park, where we'll distribute gloves, tools and water. From there, you can join the main group to dent the wall of broom on the Sibley-to-Tilden trail. For the poison-oak shy, there are also areas near the entrance to clear poison hemlock, Chinese onions and forget-me-nots to make room for woodland strawberries and cow parsnip.

Contra Costa Restoration Opportunities In an effort to offer our Contra Costa members more opportunities to participate in the work of CNPS, three EB-CNPS board members who lead or assist with restoration efforts in Contra Costa County are inviting CNPS members to volunteer with their projects. Come join us to learn about our native plants, hear about local environmental issues, meet new friends, and have a good time doing it.

John Muir National Historical Site (Martinez): There are several projects associated with the John Muir National Historical Site here in Martinez. One site, now called Strentzel Meadow, is located on the back side of Mount Wanda off Alhambra Valley Rd. It was part of the Strain Ranch and had been used as a horse pasture for years. When the National Park Service purchased the ranch, which was at one time part of the Muir family’s land, there was a problem with flooding and run off into the local neighborhood and creek. The NPS agreed to work with Contra Costa County, Friends of Alhambra Creek, and others to redirect the water flow off the mountain into a meandering stream bed through the pasture into an underground drain pipe to Alhambra Creek. The task that Friends of Alhambra Creek and others took on was to catch as much silt and debris as possible in the meadow stream before the water ran into the pipe to the creek, thus creating a perfect opportunity to reclaim Strentzel Meadow by planting local native forbs, trees, grasses, rushes, etc.

We started working the site around 2003 and have experienced many, many, changes since. We have a lot of fun weeding, clearing cages around our tree plantings, trimming baccharis, and experimenting with different grass plantings. When we are tired of doing those things we saunter up the backside of Mount Wanda and catch the Carquinez Strait breezes.

The Meadow is a beautiful, peaceful place. Come join me on most 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month, 9am till noon. Best to contact me first, or get on my email list for workday announcements, elainejx@att.net, 925-372-0687

Elaine Jackson

Save Mount Diablo’s DiRT (Diablo Restoration Team): DiRT helps to restore properties around Mt. Diablo before they’re turned over to park systems for public access. Volunteers weed, water, plant, clean and build. Whether you are interested in serving your community, getting a workout or just being in the great outdoors, DiRT has what you are looking for. Save Mount Diablo has a number of stewardship and restoration opportunities available in the Mount Diablo region. For example, DiRT has planted and is maintaining 150 oak and buckeye sites at SMD’s 320-acre Irish Canyon property near Clayton, and is restoring native grassland at 208-acre Mangini Ranch near Concord.

A more intensive project is at one of SMD’s Marsh Creek properties east of the mountain, designed by CNPS’ Heath Bartosh. In 2009, DiRT volunteers planted fourteen different species totaling over 500 native plants at the Marsh Creek IV property. Marsh Creek IV is a 3-acre parcel along Marsh Creek Road that Save Mount Diablo acquired in 2008. With Marsh Creek flowing across the property, maintaining a healthy riparian habitat with high resource values is an important step in restoring the property by widening out and enhancing the riparian woodland. Your help is needed weeding and watering to make sure the project is a success. You’ll be carrying 1 gal. jugs (8 lbs) to each of the planting sites walking on uneven ground so wear long pants and sturdy shoes. Bring water, sun protection and a hand trowel if you have one, we’ll provide gloves. Come see how you can help the transformation of a non-native weed-infested stream bank back to its natural state.

Marsh Creek IV is located at 3240 Aspara Dr., Clayton CA 94517. Contact Heath Bartosh at hbartosh@nomadecology.com for more information.

Heath Bartosh

Walnut Creek Open Space: The Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation has done habitat restoration in the City of Walnut Creek’s Open Space since 1991, when we started planting acorns to replace our missing oaks. Recently we have moved to doing projects that try to restore all components of an ecosystem.

The Bayberry project began in earnest in 2008 when we deepened an old ranch pond to encourage red-legged frogs to colonize it. We found some remnant populations of native plants and are knitting them together to create both riparian and upland habitat. We’ve been rewarded with not only greater numbers and variety of native plants, but a growing list of wildlife that uses them. There’s a lot of satisfaction in finding that a hard-to-grow plant is prospering, or seeing that the pond can support a mallard family in just three years.

Our work is centered around our restoration site at Bayberry Pond on Lime Ridge North and our native plant nursery, although we work at other sites in the Open Space as well. Our activities include propagating from our own seeds and other nursery tasks, planting on site, weeding, and site preparation. We meet on Tuesdays 9:00-noon; there is no obligation to attend every week. Other groups work at different sites and times. If you are interested in joining us, contact Lesley Hunt at lesleyh@wcosf.org or 925-937-6791.

Lesley Hunt