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Our Activities Annual Creek Cleanup Arundo Removal How to Volunteer Creeks Master Plan Creek History Maps Wildlife in the Creeks Creek Science Water Quality Bioassessment BMI Lifestyles Creek Structure About FOC About Us Join Us Contact Us |
Annual Creek Cleanup Saturday May 11 Join us for the 23rd Annual Creek Cleanup on Saturday, May 11. Meet at the gazebo in Civic Park at the corner of Broadway and Civic Drive in downtown Walnut Creek. Continental breakfast at 8:45. Registration at 9:00. ALL PARTICIPANTS must have a waiver form. Click here to download a form and get more details about the cleanup. Photos of the 2012 creek cleanup are available here. Community Service Day Projects Both projects we sponsored for Community Service Day on October 6 were successful. Ten volunteers cleaned trash from the creek near California Boulevard so that it wouldn't pollute the water downstream when the winter rains come. Another group of ten worked at the nursery propagating native plant seeds for our restoration projects. This project received some very nice publicity from the Walnut Creek Journal. The Creek Walk Is ExpandedThe first section of the Creek Walk included interpretive panels, picnic tables, realignment of the trail farther away from the creek, a new pedestrian-only trail, and replanting of the project area with plants native to the Walnut Creek vicinity. It was opened to the public in May, 2011. During the summer, the plants filled out and flowered, providing food for pollinators. Where the native grass seed was allowed to fall, there are new seedlings around the parent plants, as intended. To the east of the planted area, City staff pruned up the trees and removed underbrush to give the area a more open feeling. As a result of all the improvements, the public is making greater use of the area. On the first Community Service Day in October 2011, Gardens at Heather Farm and Friends of the Creeks volunteers combined to plant an IPM demonstration garden under the oaks at the east end of the Creek Walk. (IPM stands for Integrated Pest Management, which is a set of techniques for managing a garden with little or no use of pesticides.) The new garden showcases a selection of horticultural and native plants suitable for growing under oaks as an inspiration to gardeners to make the most of the native oaks that may be in their yards. New Clean Water Permit The bioassessment program in which we participated for several years has come to an end with changes in the clean water permit. Water quality assessment has shifted back toward chemical analysis which must be done in labs. The major focus for this permit cycle is on trash elimination and reduction. Recent analysis of trash picked up in creek and bay cleanups shows that most of it is stuff thrown away by ordinary people -- plastic bags, plastic bottles, beverage cans, food wrappers, cigarette butts, and balls. We see the same things in Walnut Creek except we don't have many cigarette butts. Early enforcement of the Clean Water Act targeted pollution from industrial sources. Those efforts have been successful and now pollution from excess lawn fertilizers and pesticides has become a major contributor to water quality problems. Fish Sampling In August 2010 we began a new program – gathering data on the fish in Walnut Creek just below the drop structure near the Willows Shopping Center. This location is the farthest upstream that steelhead and salmon can come to spawn. We are attempting to document their success by sampling several times over the course of a year to see what species are present in the creek in each season. We returned to the area a couple of times in December to look for salmon. We found a few the first time, none the second. However, there were lots of signs of otters.
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 Collecting a fish sample with seining nets in lower Walnut Creek
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