WPAD FUEL REDUCTION PROJECT TAKES ANOTHER STEP FORWARD

THE SPECIAL GUEST - Thanks, Lech, for bringing Kaya.

Thanks to all who came to our workday on Dec. 6 to discuss the details of the Garber Park Vegetation Management Project with LeRoy Griffin, Assistant Fire Marshal. We were pleased to have Camille Rogers, Fire Inspector for WPAD, Rebecca Tuden, City of Oakland Watershed Specialist, and Lech Naumovich, Botanist, Golden Hour  Restoration Institute to guide us through the proposal that was initially developed by Lech in collaboration with the Garber Park stewards, and later refined by several community meetings and “in-the-field” walks through Garber.   The plan that was submitted to WPAD on July 25, 2011, can be found on our blog at: http://garberparkstewards.blogspot.com/2011/11/wpad-vegetation-management-project-for.html.

Based on what has become known as The Beaconsfield Model The Garber Plan is a multi-year, year-round program that includes a botanist to assist with appropriate and proper removal of invasive species, thus ensuring environmentally sensitive techniques are used while managing vegetation to reduce the risk of a major fire.  Click here to read about Beaconsfield Canyon and the WPAD project. 

Next Steps: Camille Rogers will be meeting with the botanist. Together they will be developing a month-by-month calendar of the work to be performed in the park. The calendar of work days will be posted on our blog when it becomes available.  Timing of the removal of flammable invasive plants is critical in ensuring the most effective fuel reduction.  

LeRoy Griffin, Assistant Fire Marshal

A Short History of The Garber Park Stewards Journey:  

Two years ago in December the Garber Park Stewards started out with a vision that Garber Park was 13 acres worth protecting – and that our major goal was reducing the risk of wildfire while protecting the natural woodland resources of Garber Park. Early in our work in the park we consulted the City of Oakland Wildfire Prevention Assessment District (WPAD) on the need for a comprehensive fuel reduction and management plan.   In addition,  we heard about The Beaconsfield Model – a project funded by WPAD in Beaconsfield Canyon that included a botanist to oversee and assist with appropriate and proper removal of invasive species, and protection of the native plants that help reduce wildfire risk. This successful model seemed to address the needs of Garber Park.  Fortunately for us WPAD was ready to expand and fund Long Range Fuel Reduction Projects to other Open Space Parks in Oakland.  And in retrospect the stewards are grateful for the forward looking attitudes of both OFD and WPAD that impelled them to seriously implement ecologically sound fire risk abatement strategies.

Camille Rogers, WPAD
Fire Inspector

In February, 2011,  LeRoy Griffin notified the Stewards that funding had been secured for a fuel reduction project in Garber Park based on the Beaconsfield Model.  The Stewards sought the advice of  Lech Naumovich, botanist, Golden Hour Restoration Institute to work with us to develop the initial plan, which was presented, discussed, and refined at several community meetings.  The final, agreed upon plan was submitted to LeRoy in August, 2011.  Last month LeRoy notified us that funding had been approved and he requested the meeting which was held this week.  The Stewards wish to thank everyone who assisted in the progress of this project.  It will begin soon and initiate a thoughtful regime of wildfire safety for Garber Park and for the many neighbors who live at its edges. 

GARBER PARK VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PROJECT FUNDED

The City of Oakland Wildfire Prevention Assessment District has approved funding for the Garber Park Fuel Reduction and Vegetation Management Project,  and implementation will begin soon.   LeRoy Griffin, City of Oakland Assistant Fire Marshall, will be the special guest at our next Workday, Tuesday, December 6, @ 10AM.  Following a discussion of the management plan we will walk with LeRoy around the Loop Trail and Claremont Avenue for a more detailed “in-the-field” look at this comprehensive fuel management plan.  This multi-year, year round project includes a botanist who will oversee and assist with appropriate and proper removal of invasive species, thus ensuring that environmentally sensitive techniques are used while managing vegetation to reduce the risk of a major fire. 
MEET at the Evergreen Lane Entrance to Garber Park @ 10AM. 

DIRECTIONS: The closest address is 144 Evergreen Lane. From Alvarado Rd, take Slater lane to Evergreen Lane, turn Right onto Evergreen Lane. 

For further information email garberparkstewards@gmail.com, or visit   www.garberparkstewards.blogspot.com 

  Read the Garber Park Vegetation Management Plan that was submitted to WPAD by the Garber Park Stewards and approved by WPAD:  (Click on the document to see full size)

SUDDEN OAK DEATH (SOD) FIELD MEETING, SAT., DEC. 3, 1-3PM

The UC Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory has been hosting Sudden Oak Death treatment and mitigation workshops this Fall.  On November 16, Dr. Garbelotto presented at the Friends of Sausal Creek (FOSC) community meeting.  He discussed the pathogen phytophthora ramorum, the spring SOD survey results, and the possible next steps that volunteers can proactively take to slow down the epidemic.

 

On Saturday, December 3, 1:00pm. at the Craib Picnic Area in Joaquin Miller Park, FOSC will be hosting a subsequent field meeting to discuss Sudden Oak Death management and to demonstrate treatment techniques.   A flyer of the event can be downloaded at  www.sausalcreek.org

To learn more about Sudden Oak Death and its its spread into the East Bay follow the links below:

Dr. Matteo Garbelotto's Laboratory www.matteolab.org

Oak Mortality Task Force www.suddenoakdeath.org

SOD-Blitz Results for 2011:  http://nature.berkeley.edu/garbelotto/english/sodblitzresults2011.php

Results:  Sudden Oak Death Mapping in Garber, Golden Hour Restoration Institute blog post:

http://goldenhour.org/?p=227. This post features a fabulous picture of the oaks in Garber Park.

Garber Park Stewards blog:

A Serious challenge for Garber Park:  Sudden Oak Death Pathogen is Present

http://garberparkstewards.blogspot.com/2011_10_16_archive.html.

This post has a beautiful picture of The Garber Oak to give you a sense of what we stand to lose if we don’t take a proactive approach.

Citizen Scientist Workshop in Garber Park on Sudden Oak Death. A copy of the handout can be found on the Garber Park Stewards Blog Post, April 16, 2011

http://garberparkstewards.blogspot.com/2011_04_17_archive.html

SF Examiner, Deadly tree disease, sudden oak death, found in the Presidio. 3/29/11

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/03/deadly-tree-disease-found-presidio

SF Chronicle. Sudden oak death cases jump, spread in Bay Area 10/2/2011

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/02/MNG71L9OAK.DTL

Oakland Tribune. Oak Killing mold spreads in East Bay 10/31/11

http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_19210613

SF Examiner, Deadly Oak Scourge threatens Burlingame Hills trees, 11/10/11

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/peninsula/2011/11/deadly-oak-scourge-threatens-burlingame-hills-trees

For questions and further information please contact Shelagh at garberparkstewards@gmail.com or visit our blog www.garberparkstewards.com. 

A SERIOUS CHALLENGE FOR GARBER PARK: SUDDEN OAK DEATH PATHOGEN IS PRESENT

On Oct 3 at a community meeting on the UC campus, Dr. Matteo Garbelotto reported the results of this spring’s “SOD Blitz” in the northern East Bay area. Altogether 383 samples of potentially infected Bay Laurel leaves, collected by trained “citizen scientists” in the north Berkeley/Claremont Ave/ upper UC Berkeley campus area, were analyzed by Dr. Garbelotto’s lab. 51 samples tested positive for the SOD pathogen. This level of infection was characterized by Dr. Garbelotto as PERVASIVE --sufficient among other things to cause doubt with respect to the apparently negative samples. (According to Dr. Garbelotto, the validity of a negative finding depends largely on how many nearby trees were also sampled as negative. If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, unless there is a flock of ducks, it might be a chicken.).

Looking at Garber Park in particular, at least three samples tested positive, two of them from Bay Laurel trees situated in a threatening position with respect to our beautiful stand of heritage oaks.

In view of the experience of Dr. Garbelotto’s lab, the significance of a positive finding among the Bay Laurels is sobering. Once the Sudden Oak Death pathogen is present, it is endemic in the ecosystem. There is no sanitizing methodology. Drawing from the lab’s recent history in heavily infected areas of the south bay, in the next decade the north bay can expect about 55% mortality among our coastal oak, quercus agrifolia, populations. If this or a worse scenario were to play out in Garber Park, the entire character of the park would be altered and much of the heritage quality would be compromised or eliminated. In addition, like the ravaged tan oak forests of Marin County, Garber would present an incredible fire hazard due to the parched remains of toppled oak trees.

The “SOD Blitz” samples test for the presence of the pathogen in Bay Laurels, but the infection of the oaks and the appearance of symptoms among them, follows the infection of Bay Laurels by about two to three years. In Garber Park it appears that we have an opportunity right now to assess the situation, to locate the infected Bay Laurels and consider whatever mitigation alternatives seem appropriate. We have a chance to slow the progress of the disease, perhaps to achieve a stalemate. But both strategy and action are required right now—the window for mitigation is closing, faster perhaps because we are looking for a third consecutive warm and wet year in Claremont Canyon and in the Park. Dr. Garbelotto has seen two previous three-year sequences of warm rain which have produced great and rapid expansions of this water-borne pathogen.

The Garber Park Stewards will be seeking the opinion, experience, and advice of those professionals who have followed and studied the spread of the SOD pathogen, and we will look to the City of Oakland as well as the County of Alameda for policies and practices evolving to address the widespread presence of the pathogen in all the watershed lands of the East Bay ridge. The infection is regional, but remedies and mitigations, if they exist, may well be local and specific. We hope the North Hills neighborhood will join us in our efforts to seek the best next-steps for Garber Park and also, for our own back yards.

For those who wish to hear, first hand, Dr. Garbelottos’s presentation of the results for our area, there is one further community meeting scheduled this fall: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 at 7 PM, at the Dimond Library, 3565 Fruitvale Ave, Oakland, hosted by Friends of Sausal Creek.

Dr. Garbelotto’s Treatment and Mitigation workshops are now scheduled in our area for the following Wednesdays: October 26, November 9, and November 16. Attendance is free but a reservation is required which may be made on line at http://www.matteolab.org. All of the treatment workshops will be conducted at the Portico of Tolman Hall on the UC campus (a map is available on the website). These are outdoor meetings, held between 1 and 3 pm, rain or shine.

For the results, the meeting schedules and previous publications on SOD, please consult http://nature.berkeley.edu/garbelotto/english/index.php. Results for the SOD Blitz 2011 can be viewed at:
http://nature.berkeley.edu/garbelotto/english/sodblitzresults2011.php. In addition, the regional results were set forth in a recent SF Chronicle article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/01/MNG71L9OAK.DTL

At this point, based on the “SOD Blitz” samples taken this past Spring in Garber Park and more broadly in the East Bay North Hills/U C area, the conclusion is PERVASIVE INFECTION. We’ve got it.

CREEK TO BAY DAY 2011 IN GARBER: FALL CHORES DONE

 This year's Creek to Bay Day event in Garber Park was very different from last year's.  One year ago we were clearing large areas and steep hillsides of decades of garbage and debris, but this year we were able to tend and advance the goal of restoration of the park's riparian woodland ecosystem.   We picked out three work areas and our great volunteers accomplished all our goals.  We were able to clear the entrance hillside of invasive Erharta grass so that the native seeds from our restoration beds would have a better chance of rooting when the rains come and the growing season begins.  Along those lines, the stalwart blackberry cadre took out a large stand of Poison Hemlock that had sprung up on the banks of Harwood Creek in the open areas that had been previously cleared.

        
 Lech Naumovich's CITIZEN SCIENCE WORKSHOP was able to establish and carry out the transect of Garber Park following Harwood Creek from top to bottom.  Lech, Bob, and Janet established the beginning point and measured, marked, and collected data for about 60 feet of the transect, leaving a good amount of work still to be done at future workshops.  On the way to photograph them, I was astonished to run into a substantial patch of Aster radulinus, a shy and very infrequent native that we have not seen in Garber to this point.


 Creek to Bay Day which is expertly organized by the City of Oakland is a great opportunity to get work done and to assess developments in the Park.  The Stewards are grateful for this program and look forward to next year's event.

CREEK TO BAY DAY IN GARBER PARK

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 9AM-NOON.  Wildland Volunteers, please join us in Garber Park for CREEK TO BAY DAY.  The Garber Park Stewards are offering three structured restoration activities each designed to advance the native riparian character of our oak woodland.  All levels of interest and capacity are welcome and invited.

1) ADVANCING THE EVERGREEN LANE ENTRANCE RESTORATION BEDS

At the Evergreen Entrance, there are five restoration beds now nearly one year old.  Extensive maintenance, native identification, documentary photography, boundary demarcation, and native seed collection will assist in the planned expansion of this very successful project.  The native restoration of the entire hillside is our goal.

2) FRENCH BROOM, CAPE IVY, AND POISON HEMLOCK REMOVAL FROM MIDDLE COURSE CREEK BANKS

Halfway around the Loop Trail, the removal of Himalayan blackberry which choked the creek has left a sunny expanse that has invited opportunistic weeds including French Broom, Cape Ivy, and a large stand of Poison Hemlock.  One good volunteer session will clear the area of these invaders making way for the slower resurgence of the native creekside flora.

3)MAPPING HARWOOD CREEK THE DIRTY WAY

Lech Naumovich of Golden Hour Restoration Institute will conduct a special CITIZEN SCIENCE workshop.  This will accomplish the first ever super transect of Garber Park, from the top of the park down to Claremont Avenue, following Harwood Creek.  Lech will utilize a scientific method (point intercept) to record vegetation and creek features every meter as we travel from top to bottom.  Data will be used to create a vegetation map of the current conditions of Harwood Creek.  Be ready for some hardcore science as well as some mud, as we travel from top to bottom.  Since this activity is optimal with only (12) twelve participants, please RSVP to Lech at lech@goldenhour.org  by September 15 if you are interested in this workshop.

MEET at the Evergreen Ln. Entrance at 9AM, sign in, enjoy some coffee and snacks, and then be ready for an enjoyable morning of restoration work.

MIMULUS AURANTIACUS--STICKY MONKEY FLOWER GARBER'S AUGUST 2011 FLOWER

Although the pervasive aridity of August in Garber Park dulls the expectation of encountering flowers, in fact from the vantage of the Loop Trail the cheerful multiplicity of golden blooms put forward by our native mimulus catches the eye of most visitors.  Properly a shrub, mimulus aurantiacus, known popularly as Bush or Sticky Monkey Flower, occurs in several spots in Garber and also occurs directly across the road on the much more exposed and dry north slope of Claremont Canyon in chaparral conditions.
Our riparian woodland Monkey Flower constituents do not exhibit the parched aspect of their canyonside neighbors, preferring to appear waxy and brightly colorful though they are not rooted in especially moist soil.  Calflora shows the distribution of aurantiacus in California as north to south, border to border, one or two counties deep along the Pacific coastline and also in the western Sierra foothills, mostly in the context of "northern oak woodland".  A number of variants of mimulus aurantiacus have been observed and reported in other limited areas in California, but none of these are apparently wide spread.
We do not have so many examples in Garber Park that they might be called common, but there are a small number of healthy, good sized shrubs--enough to feel certain that Sticky Monkey Flower is comfortable among the many floral varieties that grow beside it.  It is always a delight to find, wherever one runs across it.