Strawberry Creek
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Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills, part of the California Coast Ranges, forming a confluence on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, then running westward across the city to discharge into San Francisco Bay. The north fork has also been called "Blackberry Creek"[1], which is also the name of a different creek in Berkeley.
Strawberry Creek was the first water source for the University and parts of the city of Berkeley. A reservoir was constructed in the late 19th century in Strawberry Canyon, above the site of U.C.'s Memorial Stadium. The reservoir was replaced in the early 20th century by the system of the East Bay Municipal Utility District whose source reservoir is located in the Sierra Nevada.
The creek has over the years been culverted in several places, but has remained open through most of the U.C. campus, except in the central glade where the two small middle forks were long ago filled in. The south fork of Strawberry Creek has some riparian coast redwood groves on the university campus and is also suitable habitat for the California slender salamander and arboreal salamander.[1] Efforts to re-open ("daylight") the creek throughout its natural course through Berkeley continue to this date (2006), and have so far resulted in the establishment of "Strawberry Creek Park"[2] in West Berkeley on the site of what used to be a small freight yard of the Santa Fe Railway. The creek is also open through several private yards in the blocks east of the park, starting just below (west of) Sacramento Street.
Strawberry Creek serves as a significant marker for the movement of the Hayward Fault. The creek is offset at the mouth of Strawberry Canyon, precisely at the locus of Memorial Stadium. The filled-in middle forks are thought to represent remnants of the former course of the south (main) fork of the creek, which has moved northward by fault action.
In the latter half of the 19th century, a road bridge and a railroad trestle crossed Strawberry Creek in the downtown section at what is now the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way.
At the mouth of Strawberry Creek where it enters San Francisco Bay, the local indigenous people built up a shellmound. There was also a small wood of native willows here which was used in the late 19th century as a park.
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[edit] See also
[edit] Line note references
- ^ J.Torrey, A.Kratter et. al., Environmental Impact Report for the Business Administration Building, University of California, Berkeley, Earth Metrics Incorporated, California State Clearinghouse, April, 1989
[edit] General references
- Strawberry Creek - UC Berkeley Office of Environmental Health and Safety
- Strawberry Creek Watershed - Oakland Museum of California Guide to San Francisco Bay Area Creeks
[edit] External links
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