In January and February of 2016, our Pinole Valley High School interns have had the opportunity to work with EBMUD Ranger Virginia Northrop to harvest and stake Willow plants in the headwaters of Pinole Creek. Over the course of four visits, interns learned about the history of restoration projects on the land owned by EBMUD, harvested willow for future staking projects, and staked willow into two waterways to limit erosion with the intention to keep sediment from entering Pinole Creek. With their new skills, our interns will be able to harvest willow from around their school to enhance biostabilization efforts on creek banks along Pinole Creek. Interns also learned how to construct a fascine, or dam like structure that will root and grow, trapping sediment that is eroding from the banks.
While out in the watershed our interns also saw several wildlife species including Coyote, many species of Hawks, Newts, waterbirds, and Cattle grazing on the EBMUD land.
A huge thanks to Ranger Virginia for sharing her knowledge and experience with our interns from Pinole Valley High School!