By Lauren Woodfill While at the park yesterday, I noticed an all too familiar sight. In between giggling kids rolling in the grass, friends enjoying the summer sun, and families, trash echoed the past park goers. Chip bags floated by my feet, crunching like the snacks they once held, water bottles rolled down paths, and plastic forks speared the dirt. A headless Spiderman action figure lay forgotten next me. With Coastal Cleanup Day coming up next month, I have been thinking more about the litter all around me. While I do not know how long the headless Spiderman will be roaming the …
Volunteering for Social Justice: Reflections of Leadership High School Students
By Jenn Sosa, Carlos Martinez and Alexa Vega Three Leadership Public School-Richmond students share their volunteering experiences at the Richmond Greenway and to reflect upon the impact of trash in their communities. We are three students that attend Leadership Public Schools-Richmond and we are part of a new 2-week summer camp - Community Leadership Institute (CLI) - that focuses on the assets of our community. CLI is a service learning program that sheds light on the importance of working in our community. As a result, we had community guest speakers including staff from Chevron and …
What’s in your Watershed: Wild Turkeys
By Nikki Muench Over the last few years, seeing wild turkeys in our gardens, on our fences or garages, or standing in the middle of the road, has become yet another normal Bay Area occurrence. Whether you enjoy these dinosaur descendants roaming your neighborhood, or you find them annoying because they scratch up your yard and pick apart your flowers, their presence in our neighborhoods has certainly sparked curiosity about why they are here and how exactly we live with them. The wild turkey, Melegris gallopavo, is wide-ranging across North America and has five subspecies, four of which …
From Diving to Ballot Box: Call for a Trash Free Ocean
Calvin Abbott, Summer Intern I have been diving for the past 13 years, the vast majority of my life. I was raised with an awe, respect, and love for the ocean and all it contains — except for trash. Except for the hundreds of little pieces of plastic I see swirling around the water. Except for bottles and pipes and car parts and home appliances that I see strewn across what once was pristine reef. People in California often don’t know this, but we live right next to one of the world’s most popular dive destinations, due to our unique and beautiful kelp forests. Year after year teams of …
Watershed Appreciation Event and Photo Contest
We’re proud to be celebrating 20 years of inspiring communities to understand, appreciate and protect their local watersheds! As part of our anniversary, we’re hosting a 10-day watershed appreciation event and photo contest August 4 - August 13, 2017. We invite you to take a picture during your watershed explorations and submit your photo to the contest using the hashtag #TWPphotocontest2017 on either Instagram or Facebook. If you prefer to email your submission, send it to education@thewatershedproject.org. For ideas on where to explore and downloadable activities for the whole family, …
Green Infrastructure as Environmental Justice: UC Berkeley Students Partner with the Community
Eugene Pang, Summer Intern During my Spring semester, I joined an engineering ethics class that analyzed social and environmental justice in the field of engineering. The class brought me many opportunities, including an opportunity to work with a community organization on relevant projects. I decided to work with The Watershed Project on their community outreach project. We were a team of five young UC Berkeley students, excited to enact change. The project was a community outreach project based in El Sobrante. We were seeking to understand their knowledge of green infrastructure and their …
What’s in Your Watershed: The Tiny New Zealand Mudsnail
By Lauren Woodfill “What’s a mudsnail?” has become a common question this summer as The Watershed Project’s education team and summer camp students explore Baxter Creek in Richmond. Ominous warning signs plead CAUTION! along Baxter Creek, and many other local urban creeks, hoping to stop to spread of these tiny, invasive snails. The New Zealand Mudsnail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, is endemic to – surprise! – New Zealand, and thrives in streams and lakes. The small, 4-6 mm long, aquatic snails are remarkably adaptive and tolerant to a variety of habitats, including areas of poor water …
Watershed Voices: Helen Fitanides on Citizen Science
By Helen Fitanides I believe that cultivating citizen scientists is the best way to make ecosystem monitoring and assessment more affordable, with the added benefit of educating communities about important watershed processes. I began working with The Watershed Project as a contractor in 2014, hired to monitor the oyster restoration project at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Park. I had also been working for one of The Watershed Project’s fiscally sponsored groups, the San Pablo Watershed Neighbors Education and Restoration Society (SPAWNERS), as a water quality monitor. My background is …
