Here's the poop on Lake Merritt situation
Oakland gets $1 million grant to remove excessive bird droppings that have killed trees on five islands
By Momo Chang, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
OAKLAND — As part of the state's effort to conserve wetlands, wildlife habitats, parks and farmlands, the city will receive a $1 million grant to improve Lake Merritt's five bird islands — and to clean up some of the excessive poop that has been killing the trees.
The bird grant will help restore the bird islands, built between 1925 and 1956. The islands are near Lakeside Park on the northern end of Lake Merritt and range from 2,000 to 9,000 square feet.
For decades, they have served as a nesting and roosting site for birds, including herons, egrets, Canada geese, ducks, mallards, cormorants, sparrows, warblers, jays and hummingbirds.
But excessive bird droppings, or guano, built up over the years have caused a decline in the habitat, including killing off the birds' nesting trees. Part of the funds will go to removing droppings from the islands.
"Of greatest concern, however, is that in recent years, excessive amounts of guano (bird feces) from cormorants appears to have caused most of the large nesting trees on the island to die," a Coastal Conservancy report states. (Conservancy officials were unavailable for comment Monday.)
Bird activity has gone down over the years because of the decline in habitability of the islands, the report adds.
The grant will help renovate a freshwater irrigation system that has deteriorated over the years, used to replenish the islands' bird ponds. Native vegetation will be planted, and invasive plants, such as English ivy and pampas grass, will be removed.
The city plans to use some funds to create a demonstration marsh to inform the public about marshland habitats common in the Bay Area. The demonstration marsh, near the Junior Center for the Arts & Sciences, will allow visitors to observe birds on the islands from two new viewing scopes.
And some funds will help the city research the feasibility of an inter-island marsh habitat, once the tides change as a result of the proposed channel widening.
The project is expected to enhance bird habitats at Lake Merritt and bring more bird diversity to the area.
The report did not state when the projects will be completed but said the city "will complete construction immediately."
The $1 million comes from the state's Wildlife Conservation Board and Proposition 50, a 2002 voter-approved bond.
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