Restoration of Grinnell Natural Area/Strawberry Creek

Plant Ecology Lab students are collaborating with campus Environmental Scientists (Office of Environmental Health and Safety), graduate students (Society for Conservation Biology) and Berkeley High School students to restore native vegetation in the Grinnell Natural Area of Strawberry Creek near Oxford St.



IB154L students have sampled the soil seedbank and initial vegetation in areas to be restored.



We removed two one-hectare area patches of Vinca major (Periwinkle) and Hedera helix (English Ivy) - these were removed by hand with the help of Berkeley High School students


Native species in the cleared area were nearly absent, but we did uncover some Aesculus californica (California buckeye) saplings, and several salamanders!



Future assignments: Plant Ecology Lab students are conducting essential baseline measurements that will be used to assess restoration success. Our future sampling of vegetation in reference sites will be used to select future vegetation community composition. Our recommendations will be the primary source of information for plant selection during revegetation.

Check out more pictures from this project!



last updated 3/25/05
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