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.

Thursday, October 20, 2022

June 2022 Volunteer Days

 

Spring Surprises!



As spring starts to turn into summer in the park, we start to see some of our plants go to seed and spread the next generation! The official start of summer this year is June 21st, so these were our last spring workdays of the year, which is bittersweet, as spring holds so much plant and people activity in the park! 

These last workdays were busy, from pulling invasive weeds, such as Ehrharta in Horsetail Meadow and clearing ivy in Fern Glade. Though we will be sad to see spring fade, we are excited to bring on the quieter, but just as important summer months. Before we move on to the next season, we'd like to share with you a nice returning surprise that brought delight to our volunteers during our workdays (Curious to know what it is? Find out below).
June 4th
We started our day off in the cool open area that is Horsetail Meadow. Here we worked to tackle the various weeds found in this wetland area. These included Ehrharta grass, Cape Ivy, Poison Hemlock, thistles, mustards, Himalayan Blackberry, and a few others. Weeds of all types and all difficulty levels, which is great as we have a varied volunteer base that includes some as young as four years old!
June 4th- Ruby and Sam (one of our youngest volunteers) share a teaching moment, while his mom helps weed around some Horsetail sprouts

One of our volunteer coordinators, Ruby, shared some tips and tricks with Sam, who, with his mom, are dedicated volunteers who love Garber Park and bring a lot of energy! During our volunteer day, some of our other volunteers tackled a patch of Ehrharta grass and thistles to open up space for some of our native grasses and allow our native population of Giant Horsetails to spread its rhizomes.

June 4th- Volunteers are pulling invasive weeds in Horsetail Meadows to help the natives




After two hours of weeding in this area, we transitioned to Fern Glade for the final hour, as a cool-down activity. Fern Glade is always exciting to work in, because it gives a good opportunity to see your impact as you uncover ferns hidden under the ivy. You may remember from January of us finding a certain salamander under the ivy, and with volunteers continuing to weed this area, another special native Ensatina was spotted! This was a great continuation of the year and it was great to see them still crawling around.

June 4th- Volunteers uncovered an Ensatina, under the ferns and ivy.






















June 18th:
This was an exciting day for a scavenger hunt in Fern Glade! With our wonderful group of volunteers we searched under the ivy
for native plants to uncover. The mat of ivy seems pretty dense but sometimes we find native plants, especially ferns in the most unexpected places, and we try to create a buffer from the ivy around them. This buffer serves a few different purposes; to make the area easily identifiable to revisit, to allow room for the plant to grow, and also allow an area for their spores to spread and get established.

June 18th- Volunteers are pulling ivy and non-native grasses in Fern Glade to uncover native plants.

When removing ivy we generally try to remove the pulled strands with bags to avoid leaving a pile of dead debris behind. One of our continuous focus' has been to select an established fern and create a small buffer in it's immediate area, so as to not create too big of a bare space. This technique has proven successful in Garber, as we have seen new baby ferns sprout around the uncovered ones after a few months, especially during the rainy season.

June 18th- Volunteers are pulling and bagging ivy and non-native grasses in Fern Glade to uncover native plants.

Overall, we had a few successful and satisfying spring workdays! We would like to thank all of our wonderful volunteers and the surrounding Garber Park community for helping us make this a long-term success!

Come join us on our upcoming Volunteer Days on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month as we continue restoring areas of Garber Park to be better suited for native species, and in doing so, creating a more fire safe park for everyone. 


If you'd like to volunteer with us visit our Volunteer Opportunities page for more information and if you'd like to join our mailing list please email Wyllie at gpstewards@gmail.com.     

If you're interested in seeing what's in bloom through the seasons at Garber Park, please take a look at our Plant Highlights Page!


Take a look at our past events

Fun Snapshots of our Restoration Efforts at Garber Park 

MLK Day of Service: Seeds of Hope

Plant Highlights at Garber Park 



 

Saturday, October 8, 2022

May 2022 Volunteers Days!

 

Traveling Back in Time to May 2013


Our blog is a time capsule! Taking a look back at our previous blogs, a special moment popped up.


Where it all started

Garber Park has been transforming into a beautiful wildland ecosystem with diverse plant and animal species! We owe it to Shelagh Brodersen for starting the Garber Park Stewards in 2010 in an effort to make Garber into an more accessible public park where people could experience the beauty of a healthy native plant ecosystem and build community around the park. So many volunteer hours have been dedicated towards building and maintaining a trail system, allowing native plant communities to grow and expand, and building an amazing network of volunteers! 

Looking back we see some familiar faces and we are very thankful to continue seeing our long-term and new incoming stewards as well! One of our highlighted moments is the restoration of Fern Glade, where there is a continual effort to free the ferns from the invasive English ivy and ehrharta grass (as they are some of our most invasive plant species in that area). If you're a long time volunteer, you know how these plants are a constant effort to remove. This work is also very rewarding as the results are visible right away! With that, here are some photos that were dug from our Archive and some details as to what was happening on this very special day. 

May 2013 : Fern Glen Workshop and Restoration - A Huge Success!! 


"Come to Garber, walk the Sylvan Trail, and peek into our Wildlife Habitat Pile to see what creatures have made a home!"
Garber Park Blogpost 2013


 "Establishing the Fern Glade Restoration Site by freeing the ferns and other natives of Hedera (Ivy)"
Garber Park Blogpost 2013

Time-lapse Video of Fern Glade Restoration in 2013

May 2022 : We are continuing this work today - Returning Volunteers and long-term dedicated stewards arrived at Garber Park to continue the efforts that started what now is Garber Park. 

May 7th - Volunteers are pulling ivy and non-native grasses in Fern Glade.

Our 1st volunteer workday in May was a success! We continued our work in Fern Glade uncovering various native ferns and trilliums from invasive plants. Fern Glade is a special place to those involved with Garber as it's a site that you can see immediate results in, especially when removing invasive ivy around ferns. One of the delightful things about Fern Glade is hearing people get excited about finding previously hidden ferns as the ivy comes out!

May 7th - Volunteers are pulling ivy and non-native grasses in Fern Glade.

May 21st - Volunteers are clearing Eucalyptus and other debris.

Our second volunteer day, we dedicated it to removing flammable debris from around the Fireplace area. With the fire season starting earlier, we try to keep on top of some of our more concerning areas, such as near Fireplace Plaza, in which lots of flammable Eucalyptus debris builds up - in some places it accumulated over 4 inches! May was a lot of fun and had a lot of success, from clearing over 10 bags of debris to limiting the spread of invasive grasses in Fern Glade. We thank all Garber Park volunteers whose dedicated time has allowed for so much work and transformation to be made! Thank you!

Come join us on our upcoming Volunteer Days on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month as we continue restoring areas of Garber Park to be better suited for native species, and in doing so, creating a more fire safe park for everyone. 


If you'd like to volunteer with us visit our Volunteer Opportunities page for more information and if you'd like to join our mailing list please email Wyllie at gpstewards@gmail.com.     

If you're interested in seeing what's in bloom through the seasons at Garber Park, please take a look at our Plant Highlights Page!


Take a look at our past events

Fun Snapshots of our Restoration Efforts at Garber Park 
MLK Day of Service: Seeds of Hope
Plant Highlights at Garber Park 

 

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

April 2022 Volunteer Days!

Earth Month in April!


Four volunteer workdays, two workshops, one ceremony, and a full dumpster!  


Earth Month Efforts

We started off with a call to action as part of our Earth Month 1,2,3! Initiative. This encompassed our first three workdays of the month, in which we had multiple organizations join us and share in the work...and snacks! All of this effort payed off as we logged over 150 hours of volunteer time in April! 

April 2nd : Garber Park Stewards joined by the Cal Rotaract club


This amazing group helped clear debris left behind by the removal of a downed tree across the stairs to the Evergreen Lane entrance and an array of other activities. We started the day by eating snacks and learning about the interests of our volunteers and how, for many, it was their first time in Garber Park! It was so fun to get invigorated with everyone's passion as we went over the tasks before us. We separated into two groups, one to clear the debris on the stairs and the other to weed and clear around the Fireplace. 


The two groups made fast work of the objective and then we switched to mulching the trails and removing Eucalyptus debris. We were able to fill quite a few bags, and finished the day in a more relaxing, but rewarding ivy pulling and fern finding session in Fern Glade. Once everyone seemed satisfied, we went back for more snacks, debriefed, and a large group decided to go for a self-guided tour of their neighborhood park!


April 9th : Oaks, thistles, and trail maintenance!


For our second weekend we were joined by our dedicated UC Berkeley volunteers, who helped us mulch the top of the Loop Trail leading towards the switchbacks. Mulching makes the trails more resistant to erosion and makes it less slippery for hikers and runners who enjoy the park. Around one of the switchbacks we also had a struggling oak, in which volunteers helped us try and uncover the root crown, to allow for proper air circulation and lower the stress on the oak. Oaks like to have a slightly exposed root crown, but growing next to the trail means that it can become covered and compacted, which can stress the tree and may even lead to its eventual death, so uncovering these root bases is very helpful to a healthy oak woodland ecosystem. After uncovering the oak, we then moved on to tackle some thorny thistles in Horsetail Meadow. The volunteers took this on with glee, and made a quick and fun work of pulling hundreds of thistles!



April 16th : Welcome CAL Habitat club!



This week we were joined by the CAL Habitat club to continue with thistle removal, work on the trails near the Alvarado Road entrance, and finished the day with some more fern finding and ivy removal. 



We started by splitting into two groups, a trail group led by one of our long-time volunteers and trail coordinator, Alex, and another to tackle the thistles in Horsetail Meadow. Trail work is a critical component of a safe and usable Garber Park. The trail near the Alvarado Road entrance was crumbling in a few places, so we worked with a small but dedicated crew to shore up the sides to limit erosion and hold the trail in place. This seemed to have an immediate difference in creating a safer and more comfortable walk on the trail. 




Our other team was very gungho on removing thistles and pretty much cleared the open area in which they were sprouting! After that they moved to work on another invasive plant, English Ivy in Fern Glade. The experience was definitely rewarding for all, and we are happy they stuck it out through our initial wet weather conditions! 



April 23rd : Earth Month Cleanup!



The city of Oakland provides us bins sometimes so we can conduct large clean-ups of the park. With the bin we were able to remove all the previously cleared tree debris, and the Eucalyptus debris that volunteers had collected. We had a small but dedicated crew that allowed us to get the dumpster over 3/4 full! It was a large and momentous effort but well worth it, as it's one of the few times a year that we can remove a lot of debris quickly from the park, which really helps us lower the fire hazard and create a safer space for everyone. A special thank you to our long-time volunteer Ricardo, who worked with us and let us use his truck to haul down all the debris to the dumpster!


April 24th : Botanical Plant ID Walkthrough



We partnered with East Bay CNPS chapter member and long time steward, Janet Gawthrop, for a Botanical Walkthrough of the park. The goal was to help interested stewards learn a bit about plant identification and work to update the list of species found in Garber Park, which hasn't been updated since 2017. It was a deeply enlightening event where everyone was able to learn so much and we were also able to add a few native plants to the list that weren't previously recorded! Thank you Janet, and to everyone who joined!




April 30th : A Special Celebration for Shelagh Brodersen 

Founder, Garber Park Stewards 



To wrap up this amazing month, in partnership with the Claremont Canyon Conservancy, we held a special ceremony to honor one of our founders and sponsors, Shelagh Brodersen. Shelagh started the Stewards around 2010 with the purpose of opening up Garber Park for everyone by making it more accessible, promoting a healthy native plant ecosystem, and building a community around the park. 12 years later and those goals have been successful, with our wonderful trail system installed, our bustling native communities, and successful network of volunteers! With that in mind, a plaque was installed on the Fireplace, honoring Shelagh and her work with the Garber Park Stewards. A celebration was held and many long-time stewards gathered to acknowledge Shelagh and remember the hard work put into the park. The work isn't over, but Garber Park wouldn't be what it is today without her dedication and efforts - Thank you Shelagh! 




Another special event was a workshop by Lech Naumovich, titled, Building Community and Climate Resilience at Garber Park. Lech was also pivotal in forming a plan to restore the park, leading educational workshops, and educating volunteers. He was there to honor Shelagh and explain where Garber Park is heading, the things we can expect, and the actions we can take to help. It was a very nice and educational walk through parts of the park, and we were given a multi-part strategy to keep in mind.


Overall, we had a very bustling and fruitful Earth Month! Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers and the clubs that helped make this such a success! Garber Park is only made possible through the community's action and we thank you!


Come join us on our upcoming Volunteer Days on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month as we continue restoring areas of Garber Park to be better suited for native species, and in doing so, creating a more fire safe park for everyone. 


If you'd like to volunteer with us visit our Volunteer Opportunities page for more information and if you'd like to join our mailing list please email Wyllie at gpstewards@gmail.com.     

If you're interested in seeing what's in bloom through the seasons at Garber Park, please take a look at our Plant Highlights Page!


Take a look at our past events

Fun Snapshots of our Restoration Efforts at Garber Park 

MLK Day of Service: Seeds of Hope

Plant Highlights at Garber Park 

 

Sunday, June 5, 2022

March 2022 Volunteer Days!

 

March is in Bloom!

A busy month of uncovering ferns, debris removal, and thorny thistles.


Restoration Projects

Volunteer efforts in March shifted towards removing one of our seasonal invasive plants, Italian Thistle, continuing our fire-prone Eucalyptus debris removal, and continuing our work on removing English Ivy from Fern Glade. We had three work days this month, our two regular ones and a special Claremont Club & Spa sponsored one! Stewards were able to remove over 21 bags of debris for the month! This really helps us get prepared for the fire season to come! 

Volunteers from Claremont Club & Spa are weeding thistles in the clearing near our Garber Oak site. 
After a hard day of work all the volunteers were awarded with oven-fired pizza at the Claremont Hotel. 

March 4th was our first workday and Garber Park welcomed volunteers from Claremont Club & Spa in a restoration weekend. One group, led by members of the Claremont Canyon Conservancy, focused on clearing debris and weed management from Evergreen footpath - amounting to about 13 bags of debris which was later collected by the city of Oakland. In Garber, another group tackled a prickly thistle patch and helped remove some of the Himalayan Blackberry growing abundantly over miner's lettuce, (native) blackberry, and other native plants! Claremont volunteers managed to collect about six bags of debris and ended the day by being rewarded for their hard work with oven-fired pizza!

Volunteers are continuing the rewarding work of uncovering ferns and other natives from under the sea of English Ivy.
Over 15 bags of Eucalyptus litter and thistles were collected and taken out of the park by the dedicated volunteers.

One of the many bags of Eucalyptus debris collected by volunteers to help protect the park from any risk of fire.  

On March 5th volunteers from lambda Theta Nu Sorority and our regular volunteers worked to build on the work of the Claremont Hotel volunteers, and continue clearing thistles and blackberry, which we were able to clear most of the area. We then shifted to removing Eucalyptus litter to get ahead of the fire season, which resulted in over 15 bags of debris taken out of the park! To end off the day volunteers worked on a continuous relaxing project of pulling English ivy from under the canopy of Fern Glade and allow the ferns to grow abundantly.  

Ruby--one of our volunteer coordinators for Garber Park--is revisiting and clearing out new ivy.

Some of our returning volunteers work to expand a cleared area and provide the native plants space to grow and expand.

March 19th saw a quieter volunteer day in which we continued the important work of uncovering ferns in Fern Glade. The first steps are identifying and flagging the ferns and other natives under the ivy, and then pulling the ivy that is directly on top of and around the plant. We then create a buffer of about 4ft-6ft around the plant to give them room to grow and spread its rhizomes and seeds! We have seen some major success with this method of passive restoration, and it's both satisfying for both newcomers and returning volunteers as they can see the difference right away or come back after a month and start to see the native plants fill back in!

Our amazing volunteers and guests from the Claremont Hotel joined the work in Garber Park with zest, and didn't mind pulling out the prickly thistles or the thorny blackberry! Amazing progress was made! Without your help, Garber Park wouldn't be as rich and full of like as it continues to be. 

As spring is here, Garber Park is starting to transform with some of our native plants starting to come out of their "dormancy" period. If you're interested in some of these plants, please check out our Plant Highlights Page!

There's still so much we can do. Come join us on our upcoming Volunteer Days on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month as we continue restoring areas of Garber Park to be better suited for native species, and in doing so, creating a more fire safe park for everyone. 

If you'd like to volunteer with us visit our Volunteer Opportunities page for more info and if you'd like to join our mailing list please email Wyllie at gpstewards@gmail.com


Take a look at our past events

Fun Snapshots of our Restoration Efforts at Garber Park 

MLK Day of Service: Seeds of Hope

Plant Highlights at Garber Park 


Saturday, May 14, 2022

February 2022 Volunteer Days!

French Broom Sweep

Searching for French Broom: An Annual Mapping Project


Restoration Projects

 

Volunteer efforts in February shifted towards lowering fire risk in the park. 

Stewards cleared debris and continued our annual French Broom sweep to map and lower the presence of this persistent invasive plant. The French Broom Sweep will be an ongoing project as French Broom seed can be viable upwards of 70 years!

Volunteers looking for broom seedlings growing among a field of miner's lettuce and many other plants.

We started off with a gridded map of the park, and split into teams to search the different sections. When we got to a section we searched for French Broom, then estimated the number of individuals, and what maturity the plants were at - this helped us determine the urgency to treat that section. For example, a section with two mature plants, would be a high priority, as they will flower and spread seed this year, whereas a section with 20 seedlings, would be unlikely to go to seed this year, and can be mitigated during our future volunteer workdays. 

Wyllie, our volunteer coordinator, helps volunteers identify French Broom at different maturities and shows the best strategies for hand pulling if needed.

Volunteers were also encouraged to pull any mature plants and if there were a small enough amount of seedlings to pull, to hand pull the area. After we finished the sweep of the park, we gathered the maps together to make a condensed map with all the data, and give us a picture of the current state of the French Broom in the park. Be sure to check back for an updated map!

Some of our returning volunteers searching for broom among the understory of Garber's Oak Grove. 















One highlight of the French Broom sweep was mapping and counting areas of French Broom plants that are still present in the park, and comparing it to last year. Last year we led another search and pulled over 800 plants! This year we pulled a substantially lower amount, and didn't find them in some of the past areas. This gives us good insight for future restoration events and lets us know that the past efforts are paying off! 

Before the month ended, large broom bushes were found and removed from Garber Park! We will be returning to the site where these were found in order to continue removing any other seedlings in that area.


Our amazing volunteers joined the search with enthusiasm and put their best effort out there to help Garber Park be more fire safe and get our French Broom populations under control! Without your help, Garber Park wouldn't be as rich and full of life as it continues to be. 

As winter turns to spring, Garber Park is starting to transform with some of our native plants starting to come out of their "dormancy" period. There's still so much we can do. Come join us on our upcoming Volunteer Days on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month as we continue restoring areas of Garber Park to be better suited for native species, and in doing so, creating a more fire safe park for everyone. 

If you'd like to volunteer with us visit our Volunteer Opportunities page for more info and if you'd like to join our mailing list please email Wyllie at gpstewards@gmail.com