Strawberry valley watershed

At this point, find the Wax Myrtle (Myrica californica) tree that grows just east of the walkway. The ramp to the overpass gives us a special access to the tree’s canopy. Reach out to feel the leaves and berries. What do you notice? All senses are valuable to the naturalist. Peer further within—do you see any insects or other animals within the tree? Native plants tend to have more intimate relationships with native animals due to their long shared histories in the same place. This tree represents a species that is a native stalwart on the Pacific coast. It will grow in brackish mud from Vancouver Island to as far South as the 30th parallel. For shore birds and mussels, the marshland is a fertile oasis, but for plants, life here is more hostile. Wax Myrtles crowd along these shores because of their ability to tolerate the wet, gray soil that does not freely yield its rich nutrients, as well as the steady onslaught of salt-laden air. Wax Myrtle can flourish in these soils because it has made a pact with nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Actinobacteria of the genus Frankia). The bacteria make themselves at home in the roots of the tree in specialized nodules. The Frankia bacteria have the ability to harvest nitrogen from the atmosphere, and they provide this to the plant in exchange for carbon-based sugars that the plant forms during photosynthesis. The Wax Myrtle produces small, hard berries in tight clusters that look something like black peppercorns. The berries are inedible to humans, but provide a source of food to many birds, such as the Yelow-rumped (“Myrtle”) Warbler (Setophaga coronata), and rodents such as squirrels love to file through the hard seeds with their sharp, sturdy incisors.

Now gaze over and beyond the tree to the hills in the distance. Look beyond the buildings to the Berkeley Hills and the canyonlands that forms the headwaters to Strawberry Creek. That watershed is called Strawberry Valley on the old maps. All of the watershed of Strawberry Creek lies in front of you, and the headwaters are up in those hills. All the rain that falls on the western slope of the hills, and in Berkeley, drains through Strawberry Creek to the Bay. But today you can see very little of this long creek system, as it lies hidden beneath the asphalt on its path to the shore. You can imagine eras of higher rainfall when Strawberry Creek was a vigorous small river, and the estuary at the marsh was fed by significant freshwater input. The last salmon to run up past the Campanile left its remains in those hills about one hundred years ago. Please make your way across the bridge, stopping to consider the flow of traffic, if you wish to do so.