May Flower - Cow Parsnip

The so-called "Common" Cowparsnip (Heracleum maximum)--anything but

common--is Garber Park's Flower of the Month for May.  Anyone who

walks in the Park has come upon this energetic late spring perennial

herb with mild astonishment because of its unique stature.  It comes to mind that this plant might have been a giraffe in a previous life.

Native to California, documented in almost every county, occurring in

many other locations across the United States, when Common Cowparsnip

is racing to bloom--in Garber, late April and May--it steals the show

from any other botanic rivals. Deep green

leaves, elongated stalk, and alluring white flowers, shortly to be

seeds, distinguish it from all others.

You will find Common Cowparsnip in many spots on the Loop Trail and on

the several spurs, especially the one that leads to Rispin Lane.  May

is the month to meet it in its best form. 

For more pictures of Cow Parsnip in Garber Park Click Here

A New Feature - Flower of the Month

With April's "Flower of the Month"--Giant Vetch--we are presenting the first of a series of feature articles that look a little closer at Garber Park and its many wildland treasures.  We will select a native flower that is prominent in a particular month, that you might easily see from the Loop Trail, and that has ecologic significance both for Garber Park and for wildland on the East Bay ridge in general. 

In creating this feature we acknowledge and build upon Kay Loughman's pioneering website, Wildlife in the North Hills, http://www.nhwildlife.net/, where a beautiful catalog of carefully identified wildland species may be found.  Kay's work is both inspiration and archive for our new feature, in which we hope to present the individual or community, the species, the context, the range where we know it, and the overall health of the plant. 

In considering these several aspects, we wish to explore what we often discover in Garber Park--Garber is vitally related to the larger biologic unity of the remaining wildland in the East Bay.  Our task as Stewards is to promote the preservation of the entire expanse by understanding and protecting our local communities.

The Garber Park Stewards

Giant Vetch, Garber's April Flower

Giant Vetch [Vicia gigantea]--native to California and thriving in Garber Park--is our "Flower of the Month" for April.

 Although it is a perennial herb, recognizable at all times by its foliage, this month the showy red blossoms of Giant Vetch command the attention of even casual passers by and distinguish it from the several other vetches (both native and exotic) that grow in the East Bay. 

   

In Garber Park, about midway on the loop trail,  a large community of Giant Vetch shares "Horsetail Meadow" with the ancientEquisetum (interestingly also called Giant Horsetail) that cover the slope by the springs.  As you approach the meadow you might think that you are viewing a Horsetail monoculture.  Look closer and you will see hundreds of Giant Vetch blossoms. 
 In about a month, this robust community will provide a good harvest of native seed. 

Giant Vetch may be found at other locations on the East Bay ridge and beyond, including Chabot, Beaconsfield, Clayton Ranch, El Cerrito, San Pablo Ridge, Las Trampas, Point Richmond, and Tilden/Wildcat.  The large community in Garber is one of many wildland treasures in our Park.  

Citizen Scientists

A great turn-out of volunteers made the 2nd Annual Garber Park Earth Day a great success and a very bad day for invasives.  Our recent plantings at the Evergreen Lane Entrance were protected from the threat of poison hemlock and Cape ivy by the team who stayed till 1:00 removing these nasty invasives.  Another group went to work at the Alvarado Rd. Entrance making a big dent in the Cape ivy infestation at that site.  Our Himalayan Blackberry Bashers were once again hard at work.  They made a HUGE dent, not just in chopping down the blackberry-they accomplished that task a couple of months ago-but in digging out the roots.  This is a tiring and difficult task, which elicited an “Awesome” from Lech when he saw the huge rootballs they had dug out.  

We had a nice break from our physical labor when Lech Naumovich, botanist and restoration consultant, guided us on a walk through the park.  The Stewards goal for the walk was to pre-survey Garber Park to help us identify areas and trees which we might test in our upcoming participation in the Sudden Oak Death (SOD) Blitz on April 30-May 1.  This we did.  

But Lech did much more than that - we are all excited about becoming "Citizen Scientists"  and ready to collect information on the condition of our trees in Garber Park.  We not only learned how to identify possible signs of SOD but we measured the size, and estimated the age, and assessing the health of the trees (page 3 of hand-out below).   We encourage you to read the hand-out, and then join us on the SOD blitz on April 30-May 1, where we will not only collect samples but will begin our survey of the arboreal resources in Garber Park.

SOD-SUDDEN OAK DEATH: A Threat and an Opportunity

While Sudden Oak Death, SOD, takes its name as an analog to the terrifying killer of human infants, in fact the course of this botanic infection is not sudden (though the death of an infected oak may appear sudden to the untrained eye) and oaks in general are not the end goal of the pathogen (only some oaks are susceptible, including the Coast Live Oaks of our East Bay ridgelands). The recent devastated forests of Marin County were overwhelmingly comprised of trees we call "Tan Oak", which, botanically speaking, are not oaks at all. Nevertheless, dead and down Tan Oaks compromise the entire environment of which they are a mainstay, and engender a greatly magnified fire danger. We certainly do not want this scenario to play out in the East Bay hills among our vulnerable, signature Coast Live Oaks. (For an excellent article on the destructive potential of this pathogen, follow this link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/30/BAG11ILPL5.DTL)

At this time, there is no "cure" for SOD, but both treatments and strategies exist which may be employed to arrest or to slow the progress of the disease. In the East Bay we know positively that the pathogen is present, but we do not have a reliable or comprehensive assessment of its location except to say it has been identified in a small portion of Tilden Park and also in Huckleberry Regional Preserve.

On April 30-May 1 we have a unique opportunity to advance our knowledge of the local situation. Working with UC Berkeley’s Dr. Matteo Garbelotto (http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/garbelotto/english/index.php) and the California Oak Mortality Task Force (www.suddenoakdeath.org), community organizations including Friends of Five Creeks, Friends of Sausal Creek, California Native Plant Society, and the Garber Park Stewards are seeking volunteers for a “blitz” survey of infected host plants--mainly California bay laurels. Volunteers will need to register on line at http://sodblitz.eventzilla.net to: 1. Attend a free one-hour training session and get survey materials, 1:30 PM Sat., April 30, on the UC Berkeley campus in Room 159 Mulford Hall [near Oxford & Hearst--campus map available at http://berkeley.edu/map/ ] AND 2. Look for infected leaves at locations of their choice or suggested by organizers. Volunteers return suspect samples to an on-campus drop box by 5 PM Sunday, May 1. The Forest Pathology Lab will publish results in a couple of months.

We think five or six volunteers can cover virtually all of Garber Park's 13 acres. If we can accomplish this degree of inspection we would have a valuable indication of the health of the Park. Tested information about the wildland trees in the urban neighborhood would also be very helpful. Please consider setting aside the time to participate and register promptly. If you have questions, contact the Garber Park Stewards or follow the links in this article.

The Stewards wish to thank Susan Schwartz, President of Friends of Five Creeks and long-time champion of wildland areas within our towns and cities for taking the lead in organizing and coordinating this event.

EARTH DAY IN GARBER PARK

Date:  Saturday, April 16    Time:  9 a.m.- NOON

Where:  Evergreen Lane Entrance

The Garber Park Stewards invite you to our second annual EARTH DAY event in Garber Park.  For folks who came last year, much has changed including the sunlighting of our springs and creeks, the substantial improvement of our Loop Trail, and the commencement of native restoration at our entrance hillside.  For volunteers who have not yet visited John Garber Park, Spring in all its manifestations will greet you.

We have a varied menu of activities for this EARTH DAY:

     For weeders and eco-academics alike, we will maintain, document, and weed our hillside restoration beds near the Evergreen Lane entrance, including Fireplace Plaza.

     For weed bashers and invasive plant warriors, we will continue our labors among the Himalayan Blackberry and focus heavily on the Cape Ivy near Horsetail Meadow and the Springs.

     For those who are especially concerned about Sudden Oak Death, Lech Naumovich, Botanist, will pre-survey Garber Park to help us identify areas and trees which we might test in the upcoming Sudden Oak Death (SOD) Blitz on April 30-May1. 

Maintenance at the Restoration Site

Today we focussed on our Hillside Restoration Site at the Evergreen Lane Entrance.  We weeded the planting beds and began eradication of the Cape ivy and Poison Hemlock that are trying to take over the area between the planting beds.  Lots of good news:  the plants ALL seem to be healthy, and the False Solomon’s Seal is blooming!  And, lots of new ferns and some native blackberry are emerging on the hillside.  Fireplace Plaza also received some much needed TLC.

Next Workday in Garber Park:  Earth Day on Saturday, April 16 from 9AM-Noon.  Meet at the Evergreen Lane Entrance