Creek to Bay Day brings volunteers to cleanup Oakland waterways

Creek to Bay Day brings volunteers to cleanup Oakland waterways Hundreds of Oakland volunteers cleaned shorelines, collected water samples, and improved public spaces during the Creek to Bay Day.

Key points

• Richie Flores, public space manager for the Jack London Improvement District and a board member of Keep Oakland Beautiful, supported with painting.
• He has served as the Berkeley Free Clinic's Outreach Coordinator, and additionally worked as an information technology professional at Chevron, Sybase, and Wells Fargo.
• At Lake Merritt's Boating Center, the Rotary Nature Center Friends (RNCF) led hands-on environmental quality lessons.
• "We have been clearing the shores for over 10 years, " remarked Mary Spicer, founder of I Heart Oakland Alameda Estuary (IHOAE).
• Howard additionally attended the Starr King School at the Theological Union in Berkeley.

Hundreds of volunteers throughout Oakland's parks, shorelines, and creeks rolled up their sleeves on Sept. 19 for Oakland's 31st annual Creek to Bay Day.

Residents pulled invasive weeds, cleared waterfront debris, and tracked the health of the estuary throughout 46 sites. Lake Merritt Boating Center.

At Lake Merritt's Boating Center, the Rotary Nature Center Friends (RNCF) led hands-on environmental quality lessons. Youth colleged water and plankton samples to assess the health of the estuary.

"We're teaching young people that water level changes in the lake with the tides every day, and that it's also subject to global processes like global warming, " RNCF Director Katie Noonan remarked. "In 2100, you're going to be wet here. But when we have flooding, major storms, and high tides, it's going to be even worse, " she stated of future flood projections. Jack London Aquatic Center.

Volunteers on kayaks and canoes hauled debris from the shoreline near the Jack London Aquatic Center. Some focused on marine cleanup and others focused on neighborhood beautification.

"We have been clearing the shores for over 10 years, " remarked Mary Spicer, founder of I Heart Oakland Alameda Estuary (IHOAE). "For our last big cleanup for MLK Day, we got 5, 600 pounds of garbage."

While local community leaders worked on neighborhood revitalization, the East Bay Rowing Club cleaned out boathouse facilities and prepared boats to launch.

"It's about making the district and neighborhood feel welcoming and feel safe, " Flores remarked.

Editor's Note: The contributor applied TurboScribe to transcribe recorded interviews and Google Gemini to assist organize reporting materials and identify potential quotations. The contributor reviewed and corrected transcripts and selected material for the story. A human editor reviewed the story before publication.

Howard Dyckoff has lived in Oakland for over 40 years and has been involved with plenty of community groups, including Oakland Digital and Oakland Local, Block by Block, the East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA), and CBE. A Brooklyn, New York, transplant, and an Aerospace Engineering graduate of NY Polytechnic, Howard additionally attended Laney College, where he wrote for the Laney Tower newspaper and was elected editor. Howard additionally attended the Starr King School at the Theological Union in Berkeley.

He has served as the Berkeley Free Clinic's Outreach Coordinator, and additionally worked as an information technology professional at Chevron, Sybase, and Wells Fargo. He worked in both the 2010 and 2020 Census. Howard has been a regular contributor to Oakland Local and online publications such as TechTarget and Linux Gazette and at present writes for Oakland Voices. He at present does event photography and portraiture around the Bay Area.

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