A TOTALLY AWESOME EARTHDAY!!

Removing ivy from the trees and slope along
Claremont Ave.

The Garber Park Stewards and the Claremont Canyon Conservancy were thrilled to see such a tremendous Earth Day turn-out in Garber Park.  The group of 45, consisting of old and new friends from the neighborhood and beyond, including City of Oakland firemen as well as employees and their famiilies from AMEC, an environmental consulting group, were enthusiastic and up for the challenge of pulling invasive weeds on the hilly slopes of Garber.

City of Oakland Firemen from Station 19 in Rockridge
helped at the Claremont Ave site

We split into two groups.  One group attacked the ivy on Claremont Ave. while another group headed to Harwood Creek, removing poison hemlock, Himalayan blackberry, ivy, and thistles from newly planted Restoration Site 2 along Harwood Creek.  No task was too daunting for this energetic group - on Claremont Avenue ivy was attacked with gusto, and because it was the first Ivy Rip in many, many years, the results are quite dramatic.  Our long term goal along this Claremont Ave. corridor?  To rid EVERY tree in Garber of ivy and pull back the ivy from the rich native flora just waiting to emerge.

We were so glad AMEC chose Garber on Earth Day.

Along the Lower Loop Trail and the riparian corridor of Harwood Creek the Earth Day group performed the extremely important task of removing the invasives that were threatening, once again, to take over and smother the newly emerging seedlings.  Crawling up steep hillsides or diving down the hillsides vast quantities of invasives were removed, allowing the natives to flourish and continue to regain their prominence in Garber.

Claremont Avenue before Earth Day.

Claremont Avenue AFTER the Earth Day Weed Pull.


THANKS TO ALL for a fun and phenomenally successful Earth Day.  You made a huge contribution towards native habitat restoration in Garber, a beautiful City of Oakland oak woodland wildland park at the base of Claremont Canyon. 


Click here to see more photos of Earth Day 2013 in Garber 
Marilyn's pictures
Isabella's Earth Day Pictures

Congratulations, Lech!  The Garber Park Stewards share your joy of Earth Day and Golden Hour's most recent awards for your environmental work.   Read more on Golden Hour's blog post 
Happy Earth Day - A Report on Projects, Partners and Awards

Please consider submitting your photos, or sending me a link that I can post on the web.