Idle green thumbs find work in shoreline aid
By Candace Murphy, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
Monday, January 16, 2006
THE GLORIES of gardening, as any backyard gardener knows, are mystical and manyfold. There's the intimate connection with Mother Earth. There's the god-like power to create, cultivate and nurture. There's the rescue of a soggy 2-foot stuffed Elmo doll.
While Elmo may not pop up in the typical backyard garden, it's not so unusual for the Sesame Street staple to make an appearance in one of the larger backyard gardens in the Bay Area: Oakland's Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline. At least that's what the group volunteering for Save the Bay found out last week while helping restore the shoreline as they planted sea lavender and blue wild rye, weeded, and fished garbage out of the marsh.
"Elmo!" exclaimed one volunteer, a gray canister with a seedling of sea lavender still in hand. "Looks like he needs restoration!"
Muppets notwithstanding, the shoreline restoration projects run by Save the Bay, an organization founded in 1961, are an ideal opportunity for backyard gardeners, who are often idle during the rainy winter months, to exercise their green thumbs. But that's not all. The restoration projects ‹ Save the Bay is in charge of six right now, with the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, Redwood City's Bair Island, the Marin Islands, Sonoma's Tolay Creek and Berkeley's School House Creek rounding out the bill ‹ are actually working. Wetlands are actually being restored.
"We've noticed a change in the vegetation, for sure," says Marilyn Latta, habitat restoration director for Save the Bay, of the 72-acre MLK shoreline area. "Since we started this project in 2000, we've restored whole sections. We've planted 30,000 native seedlings and removed 50 tons of weeds. We're working with volunteers to make sure that the wetland is not just restored, but that it's a habitat."
That too, at the MLK shoreline at least, appears to be a success. Last year offered the first sighting ever of a California black rail at the shoreline. That the tiny shorebird decided to make MLK its winter home is a direct indication that the restoration effort isn't for naught; in years past, the rail never would have hunkered down here, a former industrial site adjacent to a large long-term airport parking lot.
But it's not just about a home for birds. It's not breaking news that New Orleans' deteriorating wetlands had a lot to do with the severe flooding after hurricane Katrina. Wetlands, in a way, are Mother Nature's version of a levy. But rather than harnessing water, wetlands work with it, using the ebb and flow to advantage.
"We've lost 90 percent of wetlands in the San Francisco Bay, and in New Orleans, I know they lose huge amounts every year," says Latta. "Wetlands are basically the wet land between the fringe of the bay and the upland area. Though they're an amazingly rich habitat ‹ animals use them as a nursery and a breeding ground, fish depend on them for food, shorebirds use them as a resting and nesting place ‹ they also improve water quality and help clean the bay. They act like a huge sponge that sucks up water and stores it."
While last week's effort in Oakland netted only about a dozen volunteers, some days up to 30 volunteers turn out. The attraction for home gardeners is that it's something to keep them busy when their own gardens are pretty much dormant. The attraction for others, if volunteer Diana Dorinson is any indication, is the Zen-like activity of simply planting seedlings
.
"This was my first time volunteering with Save the Bay, and I had a great time," says Dorinson, who witnessed the unearthing of the sodden Elmo last week. "It was nice to get outside in the fresh air after all the rain we've been having, and both the shoreline cleanup and the planting are easy tasks. I actually find it very relaxing to clean up and replant a little of the park."
That attitude suits Save the Bay just fine; the goal is to plant 18,000 native plants, in particular, at the Oakland and Palo Alto restoration sites. Save the Bay works with the seasons, and that means January through March is the best time for planting since the plants get enough water from the rains. During the spring and summer, the emphasis is on weeding, and in both summer in fall, the emphasis is on collecting native seeds from plants that have dried.
After last week's outing, Dorinson, who lives in Berkeley, seems likely to return. The energy, she said, was contagious.
"The school kids were very enthusiastic," she says "When we found out that we got 99 plants in the ground, one of them r= an out and put another one in to make it an even 100."
So, 100 plants in the ground. Only 17,900 to go. Any volunteers?
-- To volunteer with Save the Bay, visit http://www.savesfbayorg or call (510) 452-9261, ext. 109.
-- You can e-mail Candace Murphy at cmurphy@angnewspapers.com or call (925) 416-4814.
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