If you could think of a place where you feel safe to be your most authentic self, where would that be? This would be your querencia. Your querencia can be a physical place, or it can be a metaphysical place - in a dream, memory, fantasy or experience. It can be a chapter in a book or a type of food. Maybe, your querencia is a place in nature; next to a river, on top of a volcano, a type of tree in your backyard or camping next to a lake. A few of The Watershed Project staff share some of their first memories of their querencias in nature. The Spanish word querencia doesn’t have an …
Ebb & Flow
The Newsletter of The Watershed Project
Mosses: Small Plants with a Big Impact
By Paula White Long before flowering plants existed, mosses and other nonvascular plants (i.e. plants that lack nutrient transport mechanisms such as veins and stems) paved the way for subsequent life forms, including humans, to evolve. Though oxygen was present in the earth’s atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago, it took many more eons and the continuous production of oxygen by mosses and similar plants, known as Bryophyta, to create atmospheric oxygen levels similar to today’s. Mosses share space in this plant class with lichens, algae, liverworts, and hornworts, and common names tend to lump …
What’s in your Watershed: California Wild Grape
By Dan Kirk I don’t know much about the process of wine making, but based on observation, it seems as though it’s the season to harvest grapes and begin the process. My observations include: seeing lots of grapes at the farmers market, walking under a grapevine at an entryway and picking grapes and eating them, and having a conversation with a friend who recently harvested grapes to make wine. Okay the last one isn’t really an observation, but our conversation did inspire me to think about grapes native to California. As it turns out, Vitis californica, or California wild grape, is …
October Tree Care
By Charlotte Pitt October is a time for celebrating many things; the coming of fall, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Halloween, and the City of Richmond Arbor Day! Every year the City of Richmond recognizes the third Wednesday of October as the city’s Arbor Day, and in honor of this day they raise awareness for the importance of trees and host a celebration and planting event in collaboration with Groundwork Richmond. Trees are very valuable, especially in urban areas, as they not only provide food and habitat for local pollinators and other animals, but also provide shade, ground stabilization, …
Preparing Teachers Who Take Action
By Carrie Strohl At the beginning of October, ten preservice teachers and I participated in a creek cleanup to learn more about plastic pollution in the Bay Area. The students are enrolled in a one-year professional program to earn their California teaching credentials. As their science methods instructor, my role is to prepare candidates to implement science instruction at the elementary (K-5) level. Taking students outside and engaging them in environmental education has been an important part of my practice since I began teaching the course in 2015–just as the California Blueprint for …
What’s In Your Watershed: California Mussels
By Charlotte Pitt Sprawled across the San Francisco Bay in habitats known as shellfish beds reside a multitude of species sensitive to the quality of water, such as oysters, mussels, and clams. These shellfish were once a popular food source for the residents of the San Francisco Bay area, however in modern times pollution runoff from industry and agriculture is too high to consume any shellfish from the bay. The most abundant of these species, the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida), has been a primary focus of restoration efforts, as pollution and loss of habitat have caused the …
Coastal Cleanup Day: Taking the Temperature of the Planet
By Paula White Last Saturday was the 37th year of International Coastal Cleanup Day. In California over 20,000 people came out to clean up at beaches, creeks, parks, and neighborhoods. This act of love for the planet is hopeful and celebratory, but it also reveals a troubling and persistent truth: the earth is suffering from a plastic pollution crisis. Discarded plastic bags, bottle caps, straws, and hundreds of unidentifiable microplastics wind up in the digestive tracts of hundreds of marine species. Plastic microfibers from clothing have been found in wastewater across the globe, in the …
Passion and Dedication: Over a Decade of Greening Schoolyards Here in the San Francisco Bay Area
By Kat Sawyer Making room for nature in public schools has been a part of my professional work for more than a decade. I remember managing my first significant school greening project in 2008, to demolish two large sections of concrete on the playground of Daniel Webster Elementary in San Francisco and construct raised planting beds out of the broken pieces. When I look back, I realize how complex that endeavor was, and I have gratitude for the key partners who helped me achieve that vision. Stormwater management and water reclamation became the focus of my work, and I …
