Local Ecologist

Update, 05/05/2009: Thank you bicyclists and walkers for making Hidden Gems 2009 a success! Update, 04/30/2009: Rain expected on Saturday, May 2. Heavy rain will cancel the event but bike and walk leaders will be at the meeting point to sell maps (sliding scale $3 - $5). Jen English of Walking Berkeley and I will lead the Walking Tour portion of Hidden Gems. Join us at 10 a.m. at Civic Center Park Fountain and Peace Mural (Center Street between Milvia and MLK). Updated Hidden Gems of Berkeley maps will be available for a donation of $5. The Bike Tour will be led by John Steere and John Coveney. Co-sponsored by Berkeley Partners for Parks (BPFP), Livable Berkeley, and the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition.

Following my new-found interest in gates, I photographed several in the Northwest Quadrant of the City of Albuquerque. The blue color of some of the gates seems to be the official color of the city. The last two photographs were taken at the Albuquerque Museum, located in NW ABQ. The last photograph is of the "Gate" by John Suttman (1995). As I was setting up the shot, a staff person commented that the "Gate" was her favorite gate.

Attendance at two conferences, one in Utah and the other in New Mexico, afforded views of mountains. In Snowbird, Utah, the mountains were snow covered. Between Monday and Wednesday, April 13-15, 24 inches of snow fell. The scenery in Albuquerque was quite different. The Sandia Mountains were bare or covered with desert vegetation. In both places, the views were expansive. I could look far out into the distance before my eyes travelled upward, especially in Albuquerque.

The full text on the plaque can be read at the Central Park Conservancy website Once there was a village in what is now Central Park. It was called Seneca Village. Seneca Village existed from 1825 through 1857. It was located between 82nd and 89th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Today, this area is part of Central Park. Seneca Village was Manhattan's first significant community of African American property owners. By the 1840s, it had become a multi-ethnic community African Americans, Irish, and German immigrants, and perhaps a few Native Americans. In 1855, the New York State Census reported approximately 264 individuals living in the village. There were three churches, as well as a school and several cemeteries. Within two years, Seneca Village would be razed and its identity erased by the creation of Central Park. (Source: Robbie McClintock and Frank A. Moretti, Columbia University Teachers College ) The park village was located in the general area shown in the phot

New York City's most famous greenspace is Central Park designed by Olmsted and Vaux (pronounced Vox). But the city supports more than this (central) park. Here are several types of greenspaces to be found in the city: Produce at the Union Square (14th Street) Farmers' Market Another square, to the south - Washington Square Park Spots of green on the balconies of the old Chelsea Hotel Mid-block East Village courtyard Gardens powered by steam at Cooper Union I was absolutely thrilled to discover the Time Landscape (shown below), a patch of Manhattan woodland created by landscape artist Alan Sonfist in 1978. Learn more about the constructed woodland and the historical ecology of the neighborhood at the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation website.

These mail boxes are located in downtown Berkeley on Shattuck Avenue. Best of luck with filing your taxes.

An incredible church near Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. I cannot recall the denomination but the decorations are typical of a Catholic church. Does anyone recognize this church?

Photograph courtesy Karen at Greenwalks

Update, 04/08/09: April 1 - September 22: Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet, Univ. of California Berkeley Art Museum ( more information ) Saturday, April 28: City of Berkeley Earth Day, 12 Noon - 5 p.m., Civic Center Park, MLK & Allston (contact Karen Hester www.hesternet.net/events.html ) Sunday, May 3: Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour (We are attending!), 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Contact Kathy Kramer http://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/ ) --- So many events and a lot of overlap. April is Landscape Architecture Month and Earth Day is celebrated this month as well. May brings nice weather and thus plenty to do. Sunday, April 12: Green Hairstreak Walk, Nature in the City, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., San Francisco ( more information & RSVP ) Monday, April 20: Maximizing Your Input on Local Green Space , Berkeley Partners for Parks, 7 - 9 p.m., West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth Street at Hearst, Berkeley Thursday, April 23: Climate of Change: Global to Local S

We went to Potrero Hill for the first time on March 15 to visit the Pennsylvania Garden . The garden will be local ecology 's newest neighborhood nature-made sites profile (the gardeners are planting for wildlife). Stay tuned! Our second visit was on March 21 to check up on the garden and to see more of the neighborhood. According to a sign at the Potrero Hill Community Garden, the land on which the garden sits was "an open, grassy space overlooking the Mission and the Golden Gate." The community garden neighbors McKinley Square, a municipal park, located on 20th Street between Vermont and San Bruno Streets. Vermont Street is the city's windiest road! I thought that honor belonged to Lombard. Here's video footage of the curves: The views of downtown SF from the neighborhood are amazing, too (it was a cloudy day). Another do-it-yourself greenspace in Potrero Hill is The Benches at 18th and San Bruno Streets. The sidewalk and entrance to a footbridge over 10