Theme: Habitat Restoration & Native Landscaping

These projects focus on bettering the natural environments on or near campus, through native gardening/landscaping, education around habitat restoration, or other related projects that improve ecosystem health in or around campus. 

Strawberry Creek Ecological Stabilization Project

Project Description

This Ecological Stabilization Project will help Strawberry Creek regain ecological stability by applying basic LID strategies and habitat restoration measures. Grant funding will finance the design phase of the project.

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Restorative Ecology Training Program

Project Description

The Restorative Ecology Training Program will develop an intensive training course for UC Berkeley undergraduate students geared toward young ecological professionals interested in sustainable soil use and habitat restoration. The training program will include lab, field, and outreach components.

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Hearst North Field Soil Restoration

Project Description

Hearst North Field Soil Restoration project will eliminate the amount of synthetic leachate washed off from the field, and greatly reduce the watering needs of the field by 20%-30% with an estimated captured savings of over 250,000 gallons annually. The management methodology consists of covering the field with high quality compost, working the compost into the soil, and regularly applying a liquid compost brew to the turf.

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Fitting Plant to Place: Site-Specific Restoration Planning on Strawberry Creek

Project Description

Fitting Plant to Space will refine the trait-based approach tested by the 2012 TGIF Grant by measuring soil characteristics (moisture, organic matter content, nitrogen, texture and pH) and landscape factors (proximity to road, slope, and surrounding vegetation communities) at each site before planting. Fitting Plant to Space will also engage 500 volunteers and improve the efficiency and standards of the Strawberry Creek volunteer program.

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Campus Tree Inventory

Project Description

This project will inventory the main campus trees to create a tree database system for campus maintenance and to apply for tree campus USA status.

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Strawberry Creek Water Quality Probe

Project Description

This grant will be supplemented by funding from EH&S and allow the Strawberry Creek Restoration Team to purchase a water quality probe that will assist with sediment and erosion research along Strawberry Creek.

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Strawberry Creek Planting Resilience Project

Project Description

The goal of this project is to reduce the mortality rate of Strawberry Creek restoration plantings and increase awareness of creek restoration activities through the use of a plant protection system called Combi-guards. This system uses a biodegradable mat in conjunction with a recyclable plastic sleeve to help seedlings overcome many of the disturbances and barriers to survival that urban plants face including herbivory, wind, trampling, and desiccation. Increasing survival rates will decrease the economic and social costs plaguing campus creek...

Blake Garden ADA Path with Native Plant Garden and Viewshed

Project Description

Blake Garden is currently building an ADA accessible path connecting the event lawn to a new handicap-accessible bathroom in the education center in hopes to expand equal opportunities for environmental education and direct experiences with nature. UC Berkeley landscape design students will use the TGIF funding to purchase native plants to plant a native and drought tolerant habitat around the path.

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Sustainable Water Infrastructure Campus Tours

Project Description

Grant funding is requested to create a book and online tour with new material about sustainable water infrastructure on campus, innovative design features that treat and/or detain runoff, and campus ecological restoration projects that maintain creek water quality as well as provide habitat for native plants and animals on campus.

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Blake Garden Adaptive Restoration Project

Project Description

UC Berkeley’s Landscape Architecture Water Savvy Garden Design class is working on a design/build adaptive restoration project sited within Blake Garden – a design and research laboratory for students, open to the public, and owned and operated by the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. The installation will include two separate components based on student-generated design and research: (1) slope-stabilization using sustainable methods and (2) a viewing platform made of locally-sourced materials, providing an inspiring...