Short Summary

Garber Park is a 13-acre wildland park owned by the City of Oakland located behind the Claremont Hotel in Claremont Canyon. Garber Park is home to significant stands of big-leaf maple, California buckeyes and regenerating coast live oak woodland and forest. The Garber Park Stewards vision is to safeguard the native wildland resources of Garber Park while reducing the risk of wildfire and improving the trail system.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Workshop Launches Self-Guided Interpretive Trail Map Project


THE GARBER OAK - the anchor to Garber's Oak Forest
Today's workshop - Lech's third in this year's Garber Park Restoration Workshop Series - was a departure for the Garber Park Stewards.  The purpose of today was the Kick-off to  creating a map of Garber which will highlight some of the unique and interesting aspects of the park along the trails.  And who better to become the Mapping Garber Team than the group assembled today - long term volunteers who know and love Garber  and/or have knowledge of creating just such a map.  After a brainstorming session with coffee and breakfast rolls to fuel our creativity we came up with a general plan on what should be in the brochure and what to highlight on the map.

Our Leader, Lech Naumovich, in Fern Glade along the
Claremont Ave Trail.  
Then the REAL fun began - a long, show purposeful walk to think about the best places to highlight.  What a treat it was for most of us - no tools, no digging, chopping or planting - just a chance to talk about all the transformations that have taken place in the past six years of restoration work in Garber. This year's rains - and it was a light rain as we walked through the park - wiped out the browns of the drought.  The park has never looked so beautiful and lush.
Three years ago this beautiful scene along the Lower Loop
Trail did not exist - it was blanketed in Himalayan Blackberry
and Cape Ivy.  
As we refine our plans to create the final product - a brochure for a self guided walking tour of Garber - we could still use your help.  If you are interested in being a member of the team or would like to just talk about your ideas or you're just curious about what we are all about please contact Shelagh at garberparkstewards@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear from you.
Why are these two smiling?  Because there is new growth
on plants they put in the ground at an erosion control
workshop in March.