By Linda Elder, BPA Native Habitat Committee
The BPA Native Habitat Committee works with many groups that want to help out in the garden and elsewhere in Bol Park. Our goal is to promote the development of native habitat within Barron Park through example, education, and volunteer activities in a public-facing garden. All the groups we work with help us meet our goal, and their service work enhances our community.
We routinely work with Grassroots Ecology (GrE), a nonprofit whose mission is caring for the public lands and waters of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Ecologist Shelley Pneh provides us with and supervises Grassroots fellows and volunteers. This year, the GrE Fellows were Halle Donovan and Saleem Mokatrin, both California Climate Action Corps Fellows. We met first in the early Fall to identify tasks and projects that could be done through Spring. Planting a five-gallon oak tree and cleaning the bird boxes were among the many tasks they completed this year.
Halle and Saleem also accompanied High School Stewards (9th-12th graders) several times to weed and refurbish the Native Garden paths by spreading mulch to paths and replacing old border logs with new ones. In April, about 12 Scouts spread mulch near the farm equipment and along the bike path during a community service day. Under the supervision of Jeff Burch, Melanie Cross, and Richard Elder, they moved a LOT of mulch that morning!