The Watershed Project’s Greening Urban Watersheds team has been hard at work this past year building bioswales, rain gardens and other community built projects in Richmond. Each month we will highlight a different project. Last month we featured a new swale at Carlson Meadow and before that a brand-new mural at 17th Street on the Richmond Greenway. This month we are featuring a new bioswale at Booker T Anderson Jr. Park (BTA). Funded by the State Coastal Conservancy, The Watershed Project turned 6,660 square feet of the parking lot and median into two bioswales! One is at the center of …
Ebb & Flow
The Newsletter of The Watershed Project
What About that Creek in my Backyard?
By Juliana Gonzalez It is often forgotten that creeks drain the East Bay and help manage rain storms and surface runoff that otherwise will flood our local streets. In my neighborhood in El Cerrito, many homeowners live with creeks in their backyard and often do not know how to be a good neighbor to a creek. Homeowners can make a great difference in the life of a creek. They are responsible for the stewardship of the section of the creek that serves as their property boundary all the way to the middle of the creek and share the responsibility with their neighbors across the creek for …
You’re Invited to Coastal Cleanup Day!
September 15th is Coastal Cleanup Day! We hope you will join us for this international event that brings volunteers across the world together to raise awareness about marine debris. Organized Internationally by the Ocean Conservancy, this is the largest volunteer event on the planet! Last year over 60,000 volunteers at over 1000 sites in California joined together to pick up 800,000 pounds of trash and recyclables, resulting in less trash in our creeks and shorelines. The Watershed Project has two Coastal Cleanup Day sites to choose from, and we would love to see you there on …
Project Spotlight: Carlson Meadow
The Watershed Project’s Greening Urban Watersheds team has been hard at work this past year building bioswales, rain gardens and other community built projects in Richmond. Each month we will highlight a different project. In July, we featured the water-themed mural project, which is set to be finished in October. Join us for the opening celebration on October 13th from 10AM to 12 noon at 17th street and the Richmond Greenway. This month, we are featuring a new swale at Carlson Meadow. This is part of the Greening the Last Mile project where we replaced a concrete BART drainage channel …
Creek Monitoring Program: The data is out!
For the last year, dedicated interns and volunteers have collected water quality data at over 20 sites throughout Contra Costa County. We are happy to report that our data is now online thanks to Water Reporter, a fast-growing social network dedicated to helping communities observe, protect, and restore our world's waterways. Click here to see the data we collected in the Wildcat, San Pablo, Walnut, Grayson, and Marsh Creek Watersheds! Call for volunteers We’re now moving into our second year of the Creek Monitoring Program, and we would love to get you out into the creeks with us! We …
What’s in Your Watershed: Lupines
By Calvin Abbott Lupine is a genus of plants in the pea family. They are characterized by long spires of beautiful blooms and by their foliage, in which bunches of pointed leaves grow out from the end of the stem resembling the claw of a wolf. This similarity is what led the Romans to name them Lupines (wolf-like). Back in Roman times, lupine beans were eaten as we eat peas today, and were an important food source as they have a large amount of amino acids and vitamins. These days it is difficult to find lupine beans (often sold as lupini or lupin beans) due to their small size and bitter …
Drinking Water Survey
As we prepare for Coastal Cleanup Day 2018, The Watershed Project is conducting a brief survey about drinking water. Please take one minute to complete our survey here. Thank you! Look for survey results in our next newsletter and we hope to see you at Shimada or Albany on September 15th! …
Meet the Summer Interns – Watershed Stewards at Work!
By Anne Bremer This summer, The Watershed Project was fortunate to welcome five summer interns to our ranks. Although these interns came to us with a wide range of skills and interests, they all share the desire to make a positive impact in their community (four of them are Richmond residents) and learn more about the environmental field. All of our interns are introduced to a variety of environmental professionals, develop concrete skills that are relevant to their interests and future endeavors, and learn about the workings of a small non-profit. They also work on meaningful and impactful …