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The Garber Park interpretative brochure journey, by Shelagh Brodersen and Lech Naumovich

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Several years ago, Garber Park Stewards and Golden Hour Restoration Institute first tossed around the idea of creating an interpretative brochure that would enrich the experience of visiting Garber Park. We wanted to create a document that was engaging and informative for all park users—first timers as well as regular visitors.

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The wonders of Garber Park, by Nancy Mueller

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if you haven’t delved into the wonders of Garber Park, you need to know about it! You will find a delightful native oak woodland with native fern grottoes, giant coast live oaks, California buckeyes, California big leaf maples, and a fascinating old defunct replace from old boy scout days of the 1920’s! All this is within walking distance from the intersection of Ashby and Claremont avenues.

Cal Berkeley Project Day

Thank You CAL Students: More than 20 UC Berkeley students joined us on October 28th to celebrate Berkeley Day working on trails in Claremont Canyon. Together we cleared trails, pulled French broom, widened the narrow portions of the new Gwin Canyon Trail and began installing steps on the steeper portions. Lots was accomplished and the trails are in great shape. Berkeley Day happens twice a year and the Conservancy has had students involved in these efforts for several years. Claremont Canyon is an example of how teamwork pays off. Thank you to the students, the Eagle Scouts and to all our volunteers for their past and present efforts.

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Making a difference, Conservancy President Tim Wallace

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Tim Wallace considers himself a “Yes man”—not a person that caves into other people's demands, but the kind that says, “Yes” to life.

Tim just celebrated 15 years (on and off—mostly on) as president of the Claremont Canyon Conservancy, "Working with volunteers we have helped make the canyon more fire-safe, more natural, and more accessible by trails.”

Tim has been involved with natural resources all his life: first as rancher and logger, then later in academics. He has been at UC Berkeley since 1963. "I've worked at the White House on agricultural matters and was Director of California's Department of Food and Agriculture. I've done consulting abroad in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Far East, and New Zealand and Australia."

The legacy of Ralph Samuel

Saturday, May 18, 2002 was the dedication of the Ralph Samuel bench at the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve. Ralph was the District’s Land Acquisition Specialist from 1979 to 1986. Hulet Hornbeck, Land Department Chief, originally hired him to acquire the privately owned lots that were included in the Claremont Canyon Preserve.

Big Cats in Claremont Canyon, by Janis Bankoff

A new study conducted by the East Bay Regional Park District reveals the presence of mountain lions (“Big Cats”), an elusive apex predator utilizing the wilderness ridegtop above the Caldecott Tunnel to transit between the open spaces north and south of the tunnel. The study, expanded earlier this year to include the Caldecott Tunnel Corridor, is led by veteran Park District wildlife ecologist and science consultant Steve Bobzie

Annual Meeting Speaker Robert Doyle, General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District

Robert Doyle, General Manager East Bay Regional Park District

General Manager Robert Doyle began his park career over 40 years ago as a member of the East Bay Regional Park District’s eucalyptus crews, following the big freeze of 1972. He went on to serve in several eld, planning, and administrative positions before becoming Assistant General Manager for Land Acquisition and Planning in 1990. For the next 21 years he led the District’s expansion of parklands to serve the rapidly growing populations of Alameda and Contra Costa counties. In 2010, he was appointed General Manager by the Park District’s seven-member, elected Board of Directors to oversee 70 regional parks totaling 124,000 acres, 1,200 miles of interconnecting trails, and a staff of 1,000 employees.

 

Annual Meeting Speaker Ken Pimlott, Director of CAL FIRE

Chief Ken Pimlott was appointed Director of CAL FIRE by Governor Jerry Brown in 2011 after an outstanding, 30-year long career in state re protection programs. As Chief of CAL FIRE and also California’s State Forester, Mr. Pimlott is responsible for 237 fire stations, 39 conservation camps, 12 air attack, and 10 helitack bases.

Annual Meeting November 12 at the Claremont Hotel

RSVP: info@ClaremontCanyon.org or call 510-843-2226

Dear Friends and Neighbors

Please join us on

Sunday, November 12, 2017, 4-6 PM The Claremont Hotel
Sonoma Room

Annual Meeting

Reception       4:00 PM

Presentations   4:30 PM

Open Forum  5:30 PM

Invited Speakers: Robert Doyle, General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District Chief Ken Pimlott, Director of CAL FIRE

“Protecting our public lands, local and state”

Refreshments and wine bar. Invite a friend or neighbor.

The Annual Meeting of the Claremont Canyon Conservancy will be held again at the Claremont Hotel in the Sonoma Room, second floor. All are invited to attend free of charge. After light refreshments and brief updates from the board, we will hear from our two invited speakers, both East Bay residents who have risen to leadership positions in key agencies that have direct impact on the management of public lands and protection of residents. We will first hear from Robert Doyle, General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, followed by Ken Pimlott, Director of CAL FIRE. They will update us on their agencies’ efforts to improve fire safety in the East Bay Hills, and the role of the coordinating body, the Hills Emergency Forum, in fostering interagency communication.

Please come hear what these experts have to share with us, and stay for the questions and answers afterward. Be sure to RSVP, as we expect a strong turnout.

Report of the Grizzly Peak Fire from Glen Schneider

We had some big excitement last week. Because of the Grizzly Peak Fire on Wednesday afternoon, we had to cancel our workday. We did get back to Skyine on Sunday and almost finished with Scattergrass in the Bay Grove.  Perhaps one more good session will finish that off  .  .  . 

Botanists tend to love a fire, because the aftermath is so fascinating. Seeds not seen in decades may sprout.  In the early days of California botany, when Jepson was at Cal in the early 1900's, he and others found scores of interesting natives on the slopes of Grizzly Peak. Will they return?  How will UC manage the burn area (let's hope they do nothing besides remove the Eucs and Pines)?

Tom Klatt writes to Councilmember Susan Wengraf

"I attended the 8/2/2017 fire Oakland Hills fire scene during operations today and observed conditions and took photos.  The City of Berkeley Fire responded, as did many other agencies. The fire would have threatened Berkeley, except that the winds were blowing onshore from the ocean.  Imagine if the winds were blowing down the canyon (off-shore), as we see during Diablo Wind condition days.  The most effective response came from helicopter water drops, taken from lake Anza, by EBRPD, Cal Fire and other attending helicopters.  Most of the firefighters stayed on Grizzly Peak, as the hills are too steep and littered with dead eucalyptus and pine fuel."

New life for a not-so-hidden trail, guest post by Jim Rosenau

A heavily used foot path into the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve was recently upgraded by a volunteer trail crew, Take To The Hills. T3H was formed two years ago by Steve Glaeser and myself to build stairways and make the trail safer for travel. Though the trail does not appear on any existing Park District or UC map, was never formally engineered, and was scarcely maintained, it has, for years, attracted both casual and experienced hikers traveling between Dwight Way and Panoramic Hill. Often misunderstood as belonging

What's going on in the canyon this spring, by L. Tim Wallace

This spring, we cover a new group, Take To The Hills, working on trails in the little canyon that runs parallel to Claremont Canyon. That canyon, and the foot path or “social trail” traversing it, have variously been called Derby, Dwight, Clark Kerr and even (at least once) Rattlesnake Canyon/Trail. Along with T3H, we are asking the agencies that own the land to settle on a name that will stick. For now, we agree with T3H that the historic name of Derby, in honor of Derby Creek whose headwaters begin in that small canyon, makes sense.

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