The Urban Creeks Department

As you will learn in other points on this tour, Strawberry Creek has been put through the wringer on numerous occasions. At various points in its history, it has been turned into an open sewer, forced underground, filled in to make way for building projects, and reshaped with check dams that threaten native fish populations. Still, the creek before you is teeming with life. The water quality was marked as “good” by the Family Biotic Index scores for the aquatic macroinvertebrate community in 1991, and many native species have been successfully reintroduced into its waters. The revitalizing of the creek is thanks in large part to the effort of the Urban Creek Department on UC Berkeley campus, founded by Robert (Bob) Chardeneau. Chardeneau was hired out of grad school in the 1980s after writing his thesis, “Strawberry Creek Management Plan.” Today Creek restoration continues with bank stabilization, replacements of check dams, planting natives, and the education of Cal students on continued restoration and history of the creek.