Friends get together to restore creek Posted in Contra Costa
Times, Thu, Aug. 26, 2004
STAFF WRITER
MARTINEZ - Embarking on a ground-breaking effort, 30 residents gathered with environment and land preservation agencies to plan a grass-roots restoration project on the upper segment of Alhambra Creek.
Concerned property owners affected by the creek and agency representatives packed into a small room at the John Muir House to discuss restoring a one-mile stretch of the creek that runs from Alhambra Avenue near John Swett Elementary School to Alhambra Valley Road near Wanda Way.
"This will be kind of a new thing," said Igor Skaredoff, Martinez resident and representative of Friends of Alhambra Creek. "You don't usually have very many of these kinds of projects on private property."
The Alhambra Valley Creek Coalition Project hopes to draw support from 50 or more individual property owners along the creek to work with agencies on remedies for a host of problems that plague the area, including erosion, pollution, flooding and disappearing habitat.
Participating are agencies that specialize in habitat restoration, including Berkeley-based Urban Creeks Council, Friends of Alhambra Creek, the Contra Costa County Resource Conservation District and the Muir Heritage Land Trust.
"We want to raise awareness in our creek," said resident Jamie Menasco, de facto organizer of the residents. "We want to discuss how to keep it healthy and stop erosion."
Menasco and her husband, Mike, purchased their house on Strentzel Drive two years ago, and became involved with Friends of Alhambra Creek when it quickly became clear that living with a creek in their back yard required special attention.
"We've just noticed that the banks were steep," Menasco explained. "So we tried to plant willow trees and felt we did more damage than good."
Erosion was the biggest complaint voiced by residents at the meeting last week, with several saying they have lost more than four feet of their back yards to the creek in a decade.
Many, like 40-year resident Hal Olson, said they do perpetual work to mitigate the erosion and maintain their property and its value.
"The best thing I like about the creek is it keeps me busy," joked Olson.
Pollution also plagues the stream, with residents finding truck parts, litter and other trash in the stream.
"I've seen people pouring gray water in the creek," said Marie Olson. "And it will kill every living organism."
Residents were eager to have something done about flooding before it worsened with new housing developments in the watershed area scheduled to open in the near future.
"This is a pretty ambitious process. We probably won't be able to do all of it at the same time," Skaredoff admitted.
Mike Vukman of Urban Creeks Council cited its project with Friends of Alhambra Creek at the adult school on Alhambra Avenue as an example of mitigating common creek problems.
"We all want to keep it natural," he said. "Every property has different problems."
Susan O'Neil, a National Park Service natural resources specialist stationed at the John Muir site, said they are concerned by the effects of the creek on the historic landmark, Mount Wanda and Muir's burial site.
The list of participating organizations is likely to grow as the group begins drafting projects and seeking funding sources, said Beth Pardock of Muir Heritage Land Trust. Her time has been donated as grant writer for the project.
Still, Skaredoff stressed that the project would stay true to its grass roots.
"None us of are here to tell you what to do," he said. "We're here to help you get what you want, to identify issues and opportunities to solve them."