Codornices Creek - Waters of Connection

Cordornices Creek

Welcome to the wiki page for Codornices Creek!

Watershed Name

Codornices Creek Watershed

Location
Codornices Creek flows through residential neighborhoods of north Berkeley, defining the Albany-Berkeley border for about one mile of its reach. Tributary Capistrano Creek joins Codornices in its upper watershed. Marin Creek joins Village Creek via an artificial diversion channel, which then meets Codornices Creek near its outlet at San Francisco Bay. Codornices Creek takes a 90-degree turn at Golden Gate Fields and enters San Francisco Bay at the Albany Mud Flats in Eastshore State Park.

Subwatersheds/Tributaries:

Middle (Blackberry) Creek, Village Creek, Marin Creek, Capistrano Creek

Risparian and Wetland Areas Worth Visiting

• Eastshore State Park
• Codornices Park, Codorinces Creek (Euclid Ave., Berkeley)
• John Hinkel Park, Middle Creek (San Diego Rd., Berkeley)
• Thousand Oaks School, Middle Creek (Tacoma Ave. at Ensenada Ave., Berkeley)

Active Creek and Watershed Groups

Friends of Capistrano Creek

• Contact: Roger Moss
• Website: None
• Mission
• Meetings
• News
• Nonprofit Status: Affiliate of Urban Creeks Council
• Founded:
• Partner:Friends of Five Creeks, Urban Creeks Council
• Annual Budget:
• Funding Sources:
• Paid Staff:
• Stewardship Activities
  
• Assessment Activities:
  

Urban Creeks Council

Friends of Five Creeks

• Contact: Susan Schwartz - 510-848-9358
• Email: F5creeks@aol.com
• Mission: Friends of Five Creeks is a group of volunteers who seek to protect and restore the watersheds and aquatic and riparian habitat of the of North Berkeley, Albany, Kensington, and southern El Cerrito and Richmond.
• Meetings: 7 PM, 1st Monday of the month (second Monday if the first is a
  holiday), downstairs at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave.
  
• Newsletter: none
  
• Nonprofit Status: Affiliate of Urban Creeks Council
• Founded: 1997
• Membership: 30 active members; 500 non-active
• Partner:Urban Creeks Council, City of Albany, City of Berkeley, Berkeley Path Wanderers, Partners for Parks, Seventeen Reasons, Pacific East Mall, local churches and synagogues
• Stewardship Activities:
  • Codornices Creek restoration west of San Pablo Ave.
  • Cerrito Creek restoration from Ohlone Greenway to Pierce Street,including projects at El Cerrito Plaza Shopping Center and Pacific East Mall
  • Albany Salt Marsh
  • Daylight mouth of Schoolhouse Creek
• Education Activities: Informational plaques and quail sculptures on Ohlone Greenway at Codornices Creek; Host information booths at local events
• Assessment Activities:
  • Water quality monitoring: Monthly measurements of temperature, pH, conductivity, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity in Codornices Creek.
  • Automated monitors: Flow, temperature, and conductivity measures taken in Codornices and Cerrito Creeks.
  • Frog survey: Annual spring survey trains volunteers to identify calls of the Pacific chorus (tree) frog, red-legged frog, foothill yellowlegged frog, western toad, and bullfrog.

• Other Activities: Advocacy (e.g., participating in creek-related planning, promoting restoration work)

Plans

• Codornices Creek Watershed Restoration Action Plan - Urban Creeks Council and Kier Associates. 2003. Plan targets restoration of steelhead trout habitat and includes data from fish counts and baseline water quality assessment.
• City of Albany Watershed Management Plan. City of Albany (1998) - Includes specific recommendations for each of Albany’s creeks (Codornices, Village, Marin, Middle, Cerrito).

Projects

Codornices Creek Watershed Restoration Action Plan

Contributing Organizations:

• Urban Creeks Council
• Funded by CALFED

Lower Codornices Creek Restoration

Maps

• Oakland Museum Creek Map
• Maps with photos:
  • Condornices
  • Blackberry
  • Marin

Local Agencies & Contacts

• City of Berkeley - Daniel Akagi, City of Berkeley Clean Water Program, 510-981-6394

• City of Albany - Judy Lieberman, Community Development Department, 510-528-5766

Local Non-Creek or Watershed-Oriented Stakeholder Groups

• East Bay Regional Parks District/Eastshore State Park

Other References

• San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP). Baseline water quality monitoring in spring 2003.