Can Berkeley agree on new protections for creeks?

Your chance to speak up for creeks in Berkeley!

After nearly a year of deliberations the Berkeley Creek Task Force is almost ready to recommend to the City Council a set of creek and watershed policies. But with some in Berkeley advocating for elimination of creek setbacks and weakening of other regulations, the rest of us must speak up strongly for strengthening our creek protections.

The City Council created the task force to review and update the city's outdated creek ordinance and policies to benefit from advances in creek/watershed science, as well as to address failures of old culverts in the creek system. The task force has heard presentations from a wide range of experts and Berkeley residents.

The experts agreed that healthy creeks and watersheds improve water quality, help control flooding, and give essential habitat to birds, fish, and other wildlife. They confirmed that setbacks from creeks (the bigger the better), and other strong regulations and incentives for property owners, are essential to achieving these positive benefits. Further, stricter state water-quality laws and regulations require creek protection and restoration.

The Sierra Club has been participating fully in the task-force process. The Northern Alameda County Group and individual members have expressed support for creek protection and restoration. In September the author of this article made a presentation to the task force, on behalf of several creek-advocacy groups, entitled "Creating Healthy Cities Through Healthy Watersheds".

I promoted restoration of "green infrastructure" as a key city goal, for both ecological and economic benefit. Green infrastructure includes healthy creeks, watersheds, and vegetation, and the many organisms that depend on them. These provide essential ecosystem services, including pollutant filtration, flood control, erosion control, and climate-change mitigation, at much lower cost and better long-term stability than the engineered solutions that we've imposed over the past 100 years. Equally important, a strong green infrastructure gives communities the wonderful benefits of wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, and beautiful places in our urban areas. The presentation narrative and supporting documents are available at www.urbancreeks.org/Creek_Watershed_Wildlife.html

The task force hired a team of expert consultants, coordinated by Balance Hydrologics of Berkeley, to gather and analyze a full set of data about the condition of Berkeley's creeks, including how far buildings and structures are currently set back from the creeks, the quality of habitat and vegetation along banks, water-quality and temperature, erosion problems, and flooding potential and problems.

Healthy creeks and watersheds are good for communities, wildlife, and our planet! While the experts all agree on this, the Creeks Task Force is still debating the need for setbacks, how wide they should be, and what should be included in Berkeley's creek policies.

WhatYouCanDo

The task force needs to hear from supporters - you! - of creek protection and restoration. Let it know that you support strengthening and improving our creek policies across the whole watershed to improve water quality, flood control, and urban wildlife habitat. Let them know that you support both strong regulations, and incentives for landowners to restore and protect our creeks and watersheds.

You can speak out at task-force meetings during public comments, or by writing to the task force via its secretary Erin Dando at edando-at-ci.berkeley.ca.us

Berkeley Planning Department
2180 Milvia St.
Berkeley, CA 94707

and to task-force chair Helen Burke at helenburke-at-earthlink.net

In particular, make sure to attend the public hearing scheduled for Wed., Feb. 15! Speak up for strong creek protections and restoration in Berkeley!

For the task force's schedule and agenda materials, as well as its draft recommendations and full hearing details (available in late January or early February), see its web site or contact Erin Dando (address above).

Juliet Lamont, member, Sierra Club Bay Chapter ExComm