WALNUT CREEK WATERSHED COUNCIL
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Lafayette Creek Native Planting Event

1/12/2020

 
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Sign Me Up
Help restore Lafayette Creek by planting CA native plants!

Join The Restoration Trust, Lafayette Creeks Committee, and the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District for a CA native planting event in Lafayette! We will be planting native plant plugs along the northern bank of Lafayette Creek in the western part of Downtown. Revegetating the creek with native plants makes it more difficult for non-native invasive plants to establish themselves, and it provides habitat and food for wildlife.
For this event, we are limiting registration to 30 volunteers, so sign up ASAP. We hope you'll join us! This event will take place rain or shine, but may be delayed a bit during heavy rain.

Date: Sunday, January 12, 2020
Time: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Adjacent to 3725 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA 94549 (See the map in the flyer below.)
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More Important Details:
  • Please see the map on the event flyer (attached below) for the exact meeting location.
  • Minimum age is 12.
  • No experience is required.
  • Tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own trowel or weeding tool, if you have one.
  • Water and snacks will be provided.
  • Free parking (also shown on the event flyer map)
  • There is no need to bring your ticket to the event.

What to Bring:
  • A completed WAIVER form (parental consent required for minors)
  • Wear clothing and closed-toe shoes that can get wet and/or dirty.
  • Wear layered clothing as the weather can start out cool and warm up as the day goes by.
  • A refillable water bottle
  • Work gloves, if you have them
  • Sun protection (e.g., hat, sunscreen)
    ​
If you have questions about this event, please contact Lisa Damerel at [email protected] or at (925) 672-4577.
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Grayson Creek Native Planting Event

1/11/2020

 
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Sign Me Up
Help restore Grayson Creek by planting CA native plants!

Join The Restoration Trust, Friends of Pleasant Hill Creeks, and the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District for a CA native planting event in Pleasant Hill! We will be planting native plant plugs along a portion of the eastern bank of Grayson Creek near Diablo Valley College. Revegetating the creek with native plants makes it more difficult for non-native invasive plants to establish themselves, and it provides habitat and food for wildlife.For this event, we are limiting registration to 30 volunteers, so sign up ASAP. We hope you'll join us!

Date: Saturday, January 11, 2020
Time: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Grayson Creek at Golf Club Rd.
​
More Important Details:
  • Please see the map on the event flyer (attached below) for the exact meeting location.
  • Minimum age is 6 (Under 12 must be accompanied by an adult)
  • No experience is required
  • Tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own trowel or weeding tool, if you have one
  • Water and snacks will be provided.
  • Convenient/free parking at DVC Parking Lot 9 (also shown on the event flyer map)
  • There is no need to bring your ticket to the event.

What to Bring:
  • A completed WAIVER form
  • Wear clothing and closed-toe shoes that can get wet and/or dirty.
  • Wear layered clothing as the weather can start out cool and warm up as the day goes by.
  • A refillable water bottle
  • Gloves, if you have them
  • Sun protection (e.g., hat, sunscreen)
    ​
If you have questions about this event, please contact Lisa Damerel at [email protected] or at (925) 672-4577.
Green heron photo: (c) Susana De Trapaga
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Help Restore Walnut Creek By Planting Native Plants

1/4/2020

 
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Sign ME Up
Help restore Walnut Creek by planting CA native plants!

Join The Restoration Trust, Friends of the Creeks, and the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District for a CA native planting event in Walnut Creek! We will be planting native plant plugs along a portion of Walnut Creek near Civic Park. Revegetating the creek with native plants makes it more difficult for non-native invasive plants to establish themselves, and it provides habitat and food for wildlife.

For this event, we are limiting registration to 30 volunteers, so sign up ASAP. We hope you'll join us!

Date: Saturday, January 4, 2020
Time: 9:30 AM - 12 PM
Location: 1229 Lincoln Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
​
More Important Details:
  • Heavy rain cancels this event. We will work in light rain.
  • Please see the map on the event flyer (attached below) for the meeting and parking locations.
  • Minimum age is 13.
  • No experience is required.
  • Tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own trowel or weeding tool, if you have one.
  • Water and snacks will be provided.
  • Free 3-hr parking at the Civic Park lot (shown on the event flyer map). Parking at the library lot is $1.00/hr. Parking in the City's Broadway garage approximately one block south is $0.50/hr, first hour free.
  • There is no need to bring your ticket to the event.

What to Bring:
  • A completed WAIVER form
  • Wear clothing and closed-toe shoes that can get wet and/or dirty.
  • Wear layered clothing as the weather can start out cool and warm up as the day goes by.
  • A refillable water bottle
  • Gloves, if you have them
  • Sun protection (e.g., hat, sunscreen)

​If you have questions about this event, please contact Lisa Damerel at [email protected] or at (925) 672-4577.

Help restore San Ramon Creek by planting CA native plants!

12/14/2019

 
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Join The Restoration Trust, Friends of San Ramon Creek, and the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District for a CA native planting event in Danville! We will be planting native plant plugs along a portion of San Ramon Creek in Hap Magee Park. Re-vegetating the creek with native plants makes it more difficult for non-native invasive plants to establish themselves, and it provides habitat and food for wildlife.

For this event, we are limiting registration to 30 volunteers, so sign up at https://tinyurl.com/danvilleplantingevent ASAP. We hope you'll join us!
​
Date: Saturday, December 14, 2019
Time: 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: 1025 La Gonda Way, Danville, CA 94526 (just north of the sand volleyball court)
More Important Details:
  • Please see the map on the event flyer (attached below) for the exact meeting location.
  • Minimum age is 14.
  • No experience is required.
  • Tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own trowel or weeding tool, if you have one.
  • Water and snacks will be provided.
  • Convenient/free parking at at Hap Magee Park (also shown on the event flyer map)
  • There is no need to bring your ticket to the event.
What to Bring:
  • A completed WAIVER form (clicking the waiver link at https://tinyurl.com/danvilleplantingevent)
  • Wear clothing and closed-toe shoes that can get wet and/or dirty.
  • Wear layered clothing as the weather can start out cool and warm up as the day goes by.
  • A refillable water bottle
  • Gloves, if you have them
  • Sun protection (e.g., hat, sunscreen)
If you have questions about this event, please contact Lisa Damerel at [email protected] or at (925) 672-4577.
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Contra Costa Watershed Symposium

12/5/2019

 
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For 20 years the Contra Costa Watershed Symposium has connected people working to preserve their creeks and watersheds. Celebrating achievements and milestones, while providing a supportive network for members to learn and network.

This year’s Symposium will host a number of speakers exploring the themes of innovation, inclusion, and the legacy of the Symposium.
​
Keynote speakers: Obi Kaufmann, author of California Field Atlas and the State of Water
Eben Schwartz, California Coastal Conservancy
Dr. Ana Alvarez, East Bay Regional Park District

Register Now!

Abolishing Arundo: The Dreaded Creek Invader

10/28/2019

 
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Monday, October 28 | 6:30 - 7:30 p.m
Part of the Nature Series at the Danville Library
Volunteers are eradicating Arundo throughout the San Ramon and Walnut Creek Watersheds. Arundo invades our streams and creates erosion and flooding problems. Get informed and sign up to help efforts to get rid of this invasive, fast growing plant and replace it with natives.

San Ramon Creek: Care and Maintenance

9/23/2019

 
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Monday, September 23 | 6:30 - 7:30 p.m
​Part of the Nature Series at the Danville Library
Speakers from Contra Costa County Public Works will provide a program for creek owners on the care and maintenance of their creek property. The San Ramon Creek watershed covers 54 square miles and includes San Catanio, Sycamore, Green Valley, Rutherford and Stone Valley Creeks. It is part of the large Walnut Creek watershed.

Work Day at Hap Magee Sept 12

9/4/2019

 
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On Thursday, September 12 volunteers are needed  to cut out a patch of Arundo at Hap Magee Ranch Park.  The lead agency on this opportunity is the Friends of San Ramon Creek. Arundo is a bamboo-like invasive weed that needs to be cut back for the health of the creek. Volunteers will cut and haul the canes to a nearby dumpster. Volunteers need to be 14 or older, physically capable, and active.
 
To register contact Dick Heron who is with Friends of San Ramon Creek. Email  your name, age, phone, preferred shift time, and include your email to [email protected]. 
Shift #1:   12 - 3 pm
Shift #2: 3:30 - 6:30 pm
 
Wear long pants, long-sleeved shirt, closed-toe sturdy shoes or hiking boots, gloves, and a hat. Bring safety glasses if you have them. We will have drinking water, but you may want to bring along your own snacks.
Volunteers will need to sign a waiver with the Friends of San Ramon Creek; it will need a parent signature if the volunteer is under 18. Once you connect with Dick Heron he will email the form to you ahead of time. 

The Diablo Fire Safe Council (DFSC) is sponsoring defensible space fuel reduction projects for 2019 – 2020.

6/26/2019

 
The following was taken from the Diablo Firesafe Council Website. for more information see the 2019-20 Defensible Space Fuel Reduction Project Funding Program Description.

Cost-share assistance of up to $5,000 per project is available to groups or groups of individuals to hire a contractor to reduce fuel loads and create defensible space on your property! This program may be useful for Arundo removal in some circumstances.

The Diablo Fire Safe Council (DFSC) is sponsoring defensible space fuel reduction projects for 2019 – 2020. Emphasis will be on areas prioritized in the Alameda County and Contra Costa County Community Wildfire Protection Plans or where homeowners associations, civic organizations and other groups of individuals are organized and available to promote fire safe efforts.

Read More

2018 Annual Report - Chairman's Letter

3/1/2019

 
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​This 2018 Annual Report highlights the efforts of our very motivated friends groups and our local government, regulatory and corporate partners to improve the health of the Walnut Creek Watershed. The individual reports are important because they show the wide-ranging actions that are being taken to improve the watershed, the use of volunteers, and the progress that is being made in many areas. These reports demonstrate that there are several exciting things happening in our watershed. The Council was started in 2011, and I am proud to say 2018 was our best year yet! In 2019, our major focus will be on removing invasive species and planting native plants in our riparian areas. In March, we are co-hosting a workshop with the California Invasive Plant Council and the City of Walnut Creek. We are looking forward to learning about all the invasive plants in our watershed and how to treat them. In 2018, we received over $40,000 in mitigation funds to be used to target Arundo donax. We identified and mapped more than 250 Arundo infestations in our watershed. Arundo is a non-native, invasive species that uses a lot of water, displaces native plants and wildlife, and creates a fire and flooding hazard. We have already committed $10,000 of that money as a match with the City of Walnut Creek on a major project in Civic Park in the City of Walnut Creek. The project will not only remove the 11 stands of Arundo in that portion of Walnut Creek (the creek), but it will also remove the Himalayan blackberry and the ivy that is present, and install some native plantings. We hope to work with all our stakeholder groups to expand the effort to eliminate these invasive plants from our creeks. Finally, we are working with several others to plan the Fourth Quadrennial Contra Costa Watershed Symposium on December 5th, 2019. The last one was in 2015 and was outstanding. This one will be as well. I hope to see you in our creeks and at the Symposium! 

- Bob Simmons

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Walnut Creek Watershed Council


Contact Us
Council President: Bob Simmons
For general watershed issues: Lisa Damerel
Copyright 2024 Walnut Creek Watershed Council. All Rights Reserved.
Many images courtesy of the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Reports
    • Press Releases
    • Watershed Restoration Plan
  • Stewardship Groups
    • Friends of Concord Creeks
    • Friends of San Ramon Creek >
      • Creek Cleanup
      • Volunteer
    • Friends of the Creeks
    • Friends of Pleasant Hill Creeks
    • Lafayette Creeks Committee
    • Friends of Tice Creek
  • Arundo
    • Arundo Removal
    • Replanting
    • Arundo Map >
      • Editable Arundo Map
    • Arundo Map Tutorials
    • Creek Inspection Status
  • Blog
  • Get Involved