A Beautiful Fall Day

Taking a break from weeding.

It was a beautiful Fall day for our October Workday.   Meeting at the Claremont Ave entrance we focussed on cleaning up the trash in the parking lot and clearing out the ditch which was covered in leaves.  Once the entrance was cleared we spread out across the park - to attack the Cape Ivy,  clear German Ivy from around the ferns in Fern Glade, and to weed and clear the trail around Fireplace Plaza and the Evergreen Lane Entrance.  A fun time and sense of satisfaction at helping to make Garber more fire safe as well as more enjoyable on your next visit to Garber.

Our next volunteer workday is Saturday, November 16, from 10am-Noon.  We will continue weeding and improving trails to restore the native Oak Woodland Habitat of Garber Park.  We hope you can join us.

Creek to Bay Day-A beautiful, fun and productive day

It was a beautiful day – warm and sunny.  Garber saw 14 volunteers perform many needed tasks and large projects.  One group worked on the Evergreen Hillside pulling Erhardta and other invasive weeds, another group worked in Fern Glade and along Claremont Ave Trail, and Mark continued his amazing work on the Cape Ivy removal.   Two more groups worked at the Claremont Entrance clearing a huge swath of ivy using the Bradley Method (pulling and cutting and rolling the ivy down the hill).  It took 4 strong volunteers to haul the huge roll of ivy into the bin for final removal.  On your next trip to Garber you will notice a nice “bridge” across the newly cleared drainage ditch at the parking lot, one of many improvements we’re making to the Claremont Ave Entrance for safety for pedestrians as well as cars.  And, then there was the one woman raking crew who managed to rake leaves and loose dirt off the trail from the Evergreen Lane Entrance all the way down to the Claremont Entrance.  THANK YOU to all of you plus a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who helped organize these projects.  And THANKS to Oakland for sponsoring and supporting this event.  Garber Statistics:  14 volunteers (many who stayed till 1:30pm), for 55 volunteer hours, and over 300 pounds of waste!!  

(estimated to weigh approx. 300 lbs)

Please join us on Saturday, October 19, from 10am-Noon for our 3rd Saturday workday.  We have more trail projects and weeding projects to get the park ready for the Winter and planting time!

June Workday a FUN Day

Thanks to all the volunteers that made our first Summer Workday in Garber such a success.  We were able to clear erhardta from Bob's place and Harwood Creek, thistle from Horsetail Meadow and Rispin Meadow, and continue with Cape Ivy the Cape Ivy Removal Project.  After the extreme heat of last week it was a pleasure to be under the cool of the oaks, maples and buckeyes (some of which are still blooming).  A few pictures below tell the story:

Removing Cape Ivy off trail - Mark and his team have been so successful
at removing the Cape Ivy from the trail that they're now
continuing in hard to get to places.  Persistence has paid off!

Clearing erhardta along the trail near Bob's Place

Removing invasives from Rispin Meadow.  It's hard to remember
this beautiful meadow 5 years ago with ivy so thick you couldn't see
through the meadow to the trees!

THANK YOU Claremont Hotel Volunteers!

Mudslide blocking the lower loop trail
from the recent storm this week.

HATS  OFF to the volunteers from the Claremont Resort and Spa who joined the Garber Park Stewards in clearing the trail, shoring it up, and mulching.  And, thanks to Bob Strayer in leading this group of "mud wrestlers."  Thanks to all of you the Loop Trail is once again accessible for walking.

We wish to thank ALL the Claremont Resort Volunteers for a great Stewardship Day.  Besides opening up the Loop Trail for visitors once again our local neighborhood paths have been cleared of debris and weeds and swept - a great day of beautifying the neighborhood.

Please come and walk the paths and especially Garber where the Trilliums are blooming and the maples and buckeyes are ready to show the spring foliage any day.

But, do be careful in Garber - the trails are steep, and still muddy in spots.

A few of the "mud wrestlers" finishing
up the mud slide removal

January - a GREAT start to 2019

Lech Naumovich, Golden Hour RestorationInstitute,
demonstrating dividing
Elymus Glaucus.

   January 12  Workshop a Tremendous Success

THANKS TO EVERYONE who made January, 2019, such a fun and exciting start to restoration in Garber Park.  The removal of the beautiful old oak tree that died last June at the Evergreen Lane entrance gave way for a most timely and information packed and fun workshop by Lech Naumovich on the changing ecology of the Evergreen Hillside without the big old oak tree, called Managing a Changing Oak Woodland:  Oak Woodland Restoration Post - Climax.

The week that we had both the tree removal and the workshop scheduled was a rainy week.  But, luck was with us.  The tree came down Thursday, Jan. 10 - the first rain free day of the week, and we had a rain-free day on Saturday, Jan. 12 for the workshop.  And what a fantastic workshop it was.  From Lech:  I estimate we planted over 100 plants (plugs, containers, cuttings plus we caged three coast live oak seedlings.  What a great group and we got quite a bit of work done.

Mulching the Evergreen Lane
Entrance.

           
  January 19 Workday on MLK Week-end

We had a most productive workday - and another lucky "no-rain" day.  Our main task for the day was to perform trail maintenance and get a truck load of mulch on the muddy trails. And that we did! But, we accomplished much more:  invasive weed removal along the trail and the very important work of Cape Ivy Removal, a long term project headed up by Mark.   Next month we hope to mulch some muddy spots along the Loop Trail and finish Fire Place Plaza.  We again want to thank all the volunteers who helped make this possible.

Mark and Kat removing
a most invasive week -
Cape Ivy

Our next Volunteer Workday is Saturday, February 16.  We hope you will join us as we continue restoring this beautiful Oak Woodland Park and making the trails safer for your enjoyment.

In the meantime, do come and check out all the improvements in the park. Pick up a self-guided trail map at one of the entrances to the park, or down load a map from this blog.

An AWESOME Creek to Bay Day

We had a goal - fill the green waste bin with
all the dead limbs and eucalyptus duff - which we did.  In addition we cleared trails, and weeded in Fern Glade to make sure the Trilliums and Ferns could pop-up once the rains came.  

Thanks, everyone, for all the hard work of carrying load after load of dead, fireprone limbs, and branches down the steep slopes to the waiting bin on Claremont Avenue.