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.) More Important Details:
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:
Green heron photo: (c) Susana De Trapaga 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:
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If you have questions about this event, please contact Lisa Damerel at [email protected] or at (925) 672-4577. 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:
![]() 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! ![]() 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. ![]() 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. 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 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. ![]() 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 |