Friends of Five Creeks is a regional community volunteer organization founded in 1996 by Sonja Wadman originally dedicated to the stewardship of creeks in northern

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

and western Contra Costa,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.Friends of Five Creeks

California Coastal Commission The California Coastal Commission (CCC) is a state agency within the California Natural Resources Agency with quasi-judicial control of land and public access along the state's coastline. Its mission as defined in the California Coastal Act is " ...

. 2011. 27-01-2011.Environmental advocate nurtures a love for nature.
Shellah Moody. ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

''. 05-10-2008. Retrieved 27-01-2011."Worldwide Work Party" with Friends of Five Creeks
''El Cerrito Patch''. 2011. Retrieved 27-01-2011. Education about wildlife and restoration is also a major facet of the FFC's mission.
El-Cerrito.org. ''City of El Cerrito website''. 2011. Retrieved 27-01-2011.

History

The organization is dedicated to improving creek habitats for environmental, flood control, pollution filtration, and beautification reasons. The original five creeks were

Cerrito Creek Cerrito Creek is one of the principal watercourses running out of the Berkeley Hills into San Francisco Bay in northern California. It is significant for its use as a boundary demarcation historically, as well as presently. In the early 19th ce ...

- Middle/Blackberry,

Marin Creek Marin Creek is a creek tributary of Codornices Creek in northwestern Alameda County, California.Codornices Creek Codornices Creek (sometimes spelled and/or pronounced "Cordonices"), long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 is one of the principal creeks which runs out o ...

Schoolhouse Creek Schoolhouse Creek is a creek which flows through the city of Berkeley, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. History The creek acquired its name from a school which was sited adjacent to it, the Ocean View School (the first school in tod ...

and Marin/Village Creek, however the organization's involvement has expanded to all the creeks in the area including the communities of

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, Albany, El Cerrito,

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, and the surrounding unincorporated areas. Susan Schwartz, the organization's leader, states that the organization like other "friends of" groups would not have gotten off the ground without help from the

Urban Creeks Council The Urban Creeks Council is a Berkeley, California non-profit organization that promotes stewardship of San Francisco Bay creeks and habitat restoration around them. The council was founded in 1982 and is based in West Berkeley. In 2001 the organi ...

. The group holds up to 40 events a year where the volunteers work on refuse collection, graffiti removal, removing culverts in addition to plating native vegetation and removing invasive species. There is a monthly work party to pick weeds and showcase the area's natural habitats with a new site each month. The organization is registered with the

Creek work

The organization organizes more than 40 work parties each year, providing direction and tools for groups of volunteers who work to restore a section of one of the creeks. Cerrito Creek runs from the El Cerrito

hills A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

to the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. The organization has daylighted and restored a portion of the creek along the parking lot of El Cerrito Plaza Shopping Center. Further down stream part of the creek runs through

Pacific East Mall Pacific East Mall is an Asian supermarket, Asian mall in Richmond, California. It is owned by Pacific Infinity Company Incorporated. History The mall opened in 1998 in Richmond's Richmond Annex, Richmond, California, Annex neighborhood, directly ...

's parking lot, where it forms the border between Richmond and Albany.Cerrito Creek watershed map
Museum of California. 2011. Retrieved 23-01-2011.Garden Variety: An Ecological Calamity Below Albany Hill
Ron Sullivan. ''Berkeley Daily Planet''. 26-01-2007. Retrieved 23-01-2011. This portion of the creek was daylighted and restored by the organization in 2003.

Berkeley Daily Planet The ''Berkeley Daily Planet'' was a free weekly newspaper published in Berkeley, California, which continues today as an internet-based news publication. The ''Daily Planet'' is politically progressive, and offers endorsements of progressive a ...

columnist Ron Sullivan reports a statement from FFC's Susan Schwartz that Pacific East Mall landscapers in Richmond have used herbicides, and speculates that this could explain her (Sullivan's) observations of dead grasses, plants and trees along the creek path near the mall's property line. Furthermore, Sullivan reports allegations and concludes from seeing the results that small native shrubs were mowed, and reports allegations that the mall has not agreed to a written maintenance plan as required by its use permit. In 2001 the organization received two separate grants totaling $400,000 to work on the restoration of

Codornices Creek Codornices Creek (sometimes spelled and/or pronounced "Cordonices"), long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 is one of the principal creeks which runs out o ...

. In the 1990s the Friends of Five Creeks discovered the reappearance of steelhead and rainbow trout at Codornices Creek while performing restoration work. The "Friends" are also lobbying for the creation of public space adjacent to the creek for a new

Whole Foods Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A USDA ...

supermarket and parking structure along the stream's banks in U.C. Village. The organization also helps to restore and work on some non-creek areas such as the Berkeley Meadow and

Eastshore State Park McLaughlin Eastshore State Park is a state park and wildlife refuge along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of the East Bay between the cities of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Oakland. It encompasses remnant natural wetlands, restor ...

in addition to blight abatement, and trash collection activities at local parks. Working with Citizens for Eastshore Parks FFC is studying the possibility of daylighting a portion of Schoolhouse Creek.

Education work

Friends of Five Creeks works with school groups to educate them about the creek and bay environments.''Environment for learning / At one Oakland alternative school, lessons grounded in ecology help guide students onto the right track''

, 14 November 2003. Retrieved 1 February 2011

References

External links

Official website

Google Maps
{{San Francisco Bay watershed Organizations based in Contra Costa County, California Environmental organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area 1996 establishments in California Albany, California