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Trekker News - February 2022


 


Geologist Gary Prost will lead Saturday’s hike. Here he is seen leading an event at our Hillside Festival. All photos by Dave Weinstein

Hillside Natural Area Geology Walk is this Saturday. This approximately 90-minute geology walk takes you from near the recycling center at the old Brown and Hutchinson Quarry up the hill to King Court and back down Moeser Lane. 

Learn about the geological setting of El Cerrito and about the rocks in our city – the Franciscan formation metamorphic rocks, volcanic rocks, and faults and landslides. 

Tour leader Gary Prost is a retired geologist who spent 40 years working for the U.S. Geological Survey, mining companies, and oil companies. He is a member of the Northern California Geological Society.

Bring sturdy shoes and hiking poles for the steep sections, and be prepared for any kind of weather. Meet at 10 a.m. Saturday February 19 at the Schmidt Lane Hillside Area trailhead, near the Recycling Center.


Cerrito Creek is a beautiful spot in our city, and it benefits from periodic TLC. 

Creekside Park Work Party is this Sunday. Join El Cerrito’s Green Teams as they remove detritus from Cerrito Creek and nearby areas. Sunday, February 20, 2022, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Meet at Creekside Park, 3499 Santa Clara Ave.,
El Cerrito. All ages welcome (under 18 with guardian). Wear a hat and bring water, and hip waders or boots if you have them. Green Teams supplies tools, gloves and bags, Rsvp is helpful but not required: (510) 215-4350| green@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us


Help us remove invasive French broom for the Hillside. Trekkers is partnering with the city Environmental Quality Committee’s Green Teams on a series of broom pulls this spring, all on
Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon (or beyond; sometimes it is hard to stop!) The dates are February 26, March 26, April 23 (an Earth Day activity), and – tentatively, if the ground remains soft, May 21. We supply tools and tarps. Broom is a weed that destroys valuable native habitat. Removing it is relatively easy and deeply satisfying. Attend to work alongside some of the most interesting people you will ever meet.

Plant walking: A Healing Ritual. Identify edible and medicinal plants of the El Cerrito Natural Area. Learn interesting stories about how native plants have been used over the centuries and currently, for food, medicine, and crafts by Indigenous People locally and globally (ethnobotany). Gain nourishment and “virtual steps,” increase your connection to nature and motivation to preserve our precious open spaces. Led by Alan Siegel, a volunteer docent at the EBRPD Tilden Botanic Garden. Meet at the Memorial Grove entrance on Schmidt Lane April 3, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.


Canyon Trail Park has a wide variety of habitat, from a creek and pond to grassland and forest.

Plants of Canyon Trail Park, a walk. Did you know Canyon Trail Park has more than 40 kinds of trees and shrubs, more than half native to California? Join this (very) short walk to learn about this diversity, and appreciate the restored pond on Baxter Creek and a rock with Native American petroglyphs. The main path is paved, for those who prefer, with excursions around the pond and up the hillside as desired. An overview of the cultural and natural history of the area is available in a Watershed Project report at https://thewatershedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Final-Text.pdfMeet at the Conlon Ave. entrance, at the lower end of Canyon Trail. 1 – 3 p.m. Saturday, April 9. Walk leader: David Ackerly, Dean, Rausser College of Natural Resources, UC Berkeley.


Take part in the next Baxter Creek Work Party on Sunday, March 6, 10 a.m. to noon. Please join city staff and other volunteers at Baxter Creek Gateway Park in this jewel on the Ohlone Greenway. The activities will include litter removal, invasive plant removal and native plant care. 
 
All ages are welcome (under 18 with guardian). Please wear long sleeves, long pants, and closed-toe shoes. Bring water. The city will provide tools, bags, gloves, and sanitizer. There are no bathrooms at the park. We will meet at 10 a.m. at Conlon Avenue and the Ohlone Greenway. RSVP by email or phone: cbennett@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us  or 510-215-4350
 
Baxter Creek Gateway Park Volunteer Days take place on the first Sunday of each month, except during major holiday weekends, in which case we will meet the following Sunday. 

Subsequent dates for 2022 are: April 3, May 1, June 5, July 10 (2nd Sunday due to Fourth of July holiday), August 7, September 11 (2nd Sunday due to Labor Day holiday), October 2, November 6, December 4


Richard Schwartz, an author and historian, provided insight about the Indians of the East Bay and early settlers of El Cerrito during a past Hillside Festival. He will do so again this year.

Don’t miss our ninth annual Hillside Festival 2022 –Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15. Our schedule is almost complete and will be published in early March, along with a map to all the events. From a family-friendly geology stroll to birding, from an edible-medicinal plant walk to an evening tree hike, from a history hike to a talk about Indians who lived in this area, the festival will present a rounded portrait of this 100-acre wilderness park. Our leaders are expert, the feeling will be casual, and it will all be free.


Trail Trekkers thanks our Life Members and 2021 Donors. Trail Trekkers raises funds to improve trails and habitat, build trails, install trail signs, put on events, promote the acquisition of open space, and for other purposes related to our mission.
Life Time Members
Martie and Chris Conner 
George and Cindy Fosselius 
Bob Gomez 
Alan Kaplan 
Amy Roberts Rogers 
Lori and Darrell Staley 
G. Keith Umezawa 
Dave Weinstein and Mary Barkey
Donors, $25-$100.
Jill Cooper 
Amy Dertz 
El Cerrito Garden Club
Patrick Ford and Karen Smekofske 
Regina Gilligan
Howdy Goudey and Robin Mitchell 
Melissa Hobbs 
Sheldon and Helen Jones 
Alison Kather
Laura Lent
Barbara Liepman
K. Luong
Lisa Martinengo
John McAfee
Kerry McDermott
Camille Mulligan and Katl Hans
Janet Parks
Leslie Perez
Brian and Lara Richmond 
Tessa Rudnick and Daniel Green
Susan Schwartz. 
Peter and Ann Smith 
Lois Switzer 
Patti Tsai-Steiner 
Maryanne West
Gary Yamamoto 
Donors, $100-$250.
Tim Aaronson
Contra Costa Hills Club
David Lingren and Ilana Schatz
Linda Margossian
Kei Matsuda
Al Miller
Vickie Nolan
Ken and Molly Ong
Allison Torres
Donors, $500-$1000.
Marlene Keller
David Larson
Donors, $1000-$2000.
G. Keith Umezawa
Donors, $2000-plus.
Lori and Darrell Staley


Buy our El Cerrito Trail Map. The second edition of this map is available at three stores, Jenny K , Builders Booksource on Fourth Street in Berkeley, and Pegasus books on Solano Avenue.

Or you can buy a map from us or get one “free” by joining Trail Trekkers. Send $6 for a map to our treasurer, Pam Austin, 834 Kearny St., EC, 94530


Have you renewed your membership? It only costs $20 annually to belong to Trekkers, and $500 buys a life membership. Please renew now or join by going to our website and downloading the membership form.

And consider an additional donation as well. Funds go for trail work, to install trail signs, for a fund to purchase additional open space, as well as incidental expenses. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.


Trekkers thanks new and renewing members and donors:

Ronald and Barbara Forsstrom
Neoma Kenwood 
Marnie Frick-Mufti
Gary Prost
Roger Thilmony
Contra Costa Hills Club
El Cerrito Garden Club
Lucy Xie


El Cerrito Trail Trekkers board of directors:

Dave Weinstein, president, davidsweinstein@yahoo.com
Wade Huntley, vice president
Barbara Lass, secretary barbara.lass@att.net
Pam Austin, treasurer, paustin26@yahoo.com
Clare Sheridan, member at large, claresher@gmail.com
Melissa Hobbs, member at large, melma39@yahoo.com





 
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