October Bulletin:
Bay Street's Haunting History
Volume 97 | October 18th 2022
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Date: October 5th, 2022
Time: 7:00-9:00 PM
Where: Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve University of California at Berkeley West Circle, Berkeley, CA 94705
(This event has already passed, but you can still read about it. We will have more in the future!)
Join us for an exhilarating evening gall and moth hunt with expert naturalist, Damon Tigue! We'll be searching oaks leaves for galls and attract moths using a UV light setup. And who knows- we might even run into some luminescent creatures along the way!
Bring your camera (phone or otherwise), a headlamp, warm layers, and download the iNaturalist app onto your phone to document findings and add to the current biological record for Strawberry Creek Watershed.
We'll see you at the circle on campus. Expect to have an excitingly great time!
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ALBANY BULB BIRDING FALL BIOBLITZ |
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Date: October 23, 2022
Time: 9:30-11:00 AM
Where: The Albany Bulb 1 Buchanan Street Albany, CA 94706
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With over 150 known bird species documented at the Albany Bulb, we will be looking for a plethora of birds to observe and identify! The Albany Bulb is home to migratory species including White-Crowned Sparrows, Yellow-and-Black Townsend's Warblers, Black Oystercatchers, American Avocets, and so many more! The winter migration has already begun!
Bring your binoculars, scopes, or long lenses. We'll also have a scope on hand. For those with cameras, we'll be adding observations to iNaturalist and eBird. Also, make sure to invite family and friends, and get ready to learn and share your expertise! To get a jump start on recognizing the calls of some of the birds we will be exploring, feel free to peruse our interactive 28 Birds of NorCal bird call guide!
To register for this event, use this link or the "register" button above.
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What else are we up to? Wholly H2O regularly plans exciting environmental events throughout the year, including beach cleanups, walking tours, art projects, and nature observations (aka BioBlitzes). |
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NOVEMBER BAY STREET WALKING TOUR |
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When: Saturday, November 19th
Time: 11AM-12:30PM
Where: Meet in front of P.F Chang's at 5633 Bay St, Emeryville, CA
In this Walking Waterhoods tour, you will be able to learn about the forgotten history of the highly contested Bay Street in Emeryville. We will be revealing stories from years past along Temescal Creek, observing the Shellmound memorial, and talking about the rich history of Indigenous life in the area. You may also be able to spot some native species along the way! Make sure to bring a camera, water, friends, and family! Click the link here or use the "register" button above to sign up for this event!
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To see our future events, click the link here, or use the button below. If you'd like to stay tuned and get notifications about our events, feel free to use that same link to follow us on EventBrite!
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The Haunting History of Bay Street |
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The forgotten story of Emeryville's most controversial stretch of road |
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Photo courtesy of Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History |
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As this year's spooky season sets in, we here at Wholly H2O present a story you may not know: the haunting history of a local street in Emeryville. Now, unlike those horror films you may have cued up on your television, this story is entirely true.
From shellmound to strip mall, the piece of land that is now Emeryville’s Bay Street has seen considerable change during the last 200 years. The area is part of the unceded territory of the native Huichin Ohlone people, who have lived in the area for the last 10,000 years. The creek itself housed a large array of biodiversity, such as grizzly bears, tule elk, coyotes, beaver, and shellfish, with sparkling, clear water flowing straight into the San Francisco Bay. Huge flocks of migrating birds also passed overhead and spent winter in the area.
Now, the once massive and by all accounts, stunningly beautiful creek is culverted through a cement channel into a pipe, and there are definitely no grizzlies wandering Bay Street looking for lingerie or Apple watches at the recently added shops. And as for the Ohlone shellmound? Any remnants are buried below many feet of soil and construction, or dispersed to archeological catacombs at the University of California, Berkeley and beyond.
So, what happened here? You wouldn’t be faulted for wondering how such an important native landmark could be so easily demolished with hardly a trace. But too often Indigenous histories are erased both from the books and the land.
The area to the north of the mouth of Temescal Creek watershed was likely one of the largest Ohlone villages in the Bay Area, based on the impressive size of the shellmound. First colonized by Spanish missionaries and soldiers, followed by white settlers, the area changed drastically from an Ohlone managed ecological wonderland to a play area for the city's wealthy inhabitants.
The shellmounds themselved were human-made piles of earth and other organic materials that were created over thousands of years by the Ohlone people. But don’t be mistaken- these mounds weren’t merely little bumps in the ground. Many reached heights up to 30 feet, and the shellmound at Emeryville was up to 3 stories high and 350 feet across in diameter! In 1909, archaeologist Nels Nelson counted 425 shellmounds around the Bay Area, though there were believed to be more that disappeared due to erosion and land development. Now, there are just four around the Bay Area that can still be seen.
The tops of larger shellmounds, such as here at Temescal Creek, served as a location for villages, trade, ceremonial gatherings and burials. When burials took place, bodies were laid to rest among the mounds and then covered with soil, rocks, and shells. These mounds carry with them great cultural significance, along with the deep history of the Ohlone. Archaeologists have uncovered food remnants, fireplaces, and even homes amongst the shellmounds, and these items have helped paint the stories of daily Ohlone life, illustrating far too often forgotten history.
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Photo courtesy of Oakland History Room |
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The picture above shows one of the first stages of the Emeryville shellmound's demise, when developers in the 1920s cleared the area to make space for building development. Before that, in the late 1800s, the tops of the mounds were simply sheared off to build an amusement and horse racing park with dancing and gambling for city goers.
These insensitive endeavors were not limited to the 19th and early 20th century. In 1999, the city of Emeryville approved a plan to demolish the rest of the remaining shellmounds and replace them with a strip mall, now known as Bay Street. Despite objections, the city went ahead with the project and Bay Street’s retail section officially opened in 2002. If you were to head there today, instead of being able to see the lasting legacy of the Ohlone people, the only thing you’d be able to explore is the inside of retail stores. And that isn’t the only controversy over the Bay Street project.
According to archaeologist Sally Salzman Morgan, intact burials were found while clearing the area for shops. How many exactly? Morgan stated at the time, "It’s too inflammatory to say how many" before adding that most of the burials were disturbed. In other words, the city dug up historic graves so that visitors could shop over them. Plain and simple.
In any other context, exhuming sacred burial sites would be seen as immoral, even criminal. In fact, according to the law in effect at the time, California Health and Safety Code section 8101 (for legal nerds- this law has since been changed to California Penal Code section 594.35), the punishment for intentionally disturbing a grave in California was up to 3 years in state prison. Yet, Bay Street exists as proof that people are willing to go as far as destroy significant landmarks for monetary gain, and silence the voices of those to whose history they belong.
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Corrina Gould, Sogorea Te' Land Trust |
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One woman refusing to be silenced is Corrina Gould, co-director of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a Bay Area based organization working to reconnect Indigenous people with their lands, and tribal spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan. (The Lisjan are one of many individual tribes grouped under the broad term Ohlone). Outspoken and diligent, Gould has fought for the preservation of shellmounds, worked to reclaim ancestral Ohlone lands, and campaigned for change for decades. She has helped produce films, founded multiple organizations, and still is working tirelessly to educate others about her people’s history. Her activism had even inspired the city of Berkeley to refuse a proposal to build housing above the West Berkeley Shellmound. To support Gould and other Indigenous women’s incredible work, you can donate to the Sogorea Te’ Land trust using this link.
Centering Indigenous voices is crucial to the fight for Ohlone land reclamation and preservation. In a 2017 lecture on the West Berkeley Shellmound, Gould reminds us of the importance of this mission, stating, “If we don’t know in this generation where all of our ancestors are and all of those sacred places are, we cease to exist as people.”
We walk, eat, and shop above the very graves of the people that cultivated this land. We have forgotten and erased their history- either out of ignorance or ease, and have done them a great cultural disservice. While this cannot be undone, it is imperative that we uplift the Indigenous voices of today, and continue working to honor those of the past.
If you'd like to see Bay Street for yourself, check out our November Bay Street Walking Tour event, where you will be able to explore and learn even more about this highly contested area.
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Check out some of our open volunteer opportunities, like podcast producing, accounting, and content editing through our Volunteer Match!
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Our lives depends on healthy watersheds, and Wholly H2O depends on YOU!!!
Support Wholly H2O as we plan so many more events over the next year, like our super interactive watershed tours and BioBlitzes! We will (re)use your donations to pay a research-trainee to help us document the history of BIPOC groups in the East Bay!
Wholly H2O creates educational content that connects YOU to the watersheds you live in, and we love doing what we do! No matter how much you decide to donate, you will make an impact on what we can accomplish. Click the button above to contribute a tax-deductible donation or check out our fundraiser on our Facebook page!
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Our Interns Do Really Cool Stuff |
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We always have a pod of 10-15 interns researching creek histories, creating wildlife guides, editing livestreams, writing copy for our watershed tours, and more. We promise you will never be bored - lend your skills or add your curiosity to our work!
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Wholly H2O catalyzes dynamic, informed connections between people and their watersheds that yield proactive and appropriate water management through conservation and reuse. Our watershed-positive educational programs engage Californians in community , citizen science, art, and green infrastructure education.
Our activities - waterhood tours, bioblitzes, painting underground creeks on street surfaces, Moth nights, and art events - are bringing waterhoods to life for hundreds and hundreds of water users around the San Francisco Bay area. Join us for an event, follow us on social media, volunteer or intern (as 16 dedicated souls are doing right now) or donate to our fun and innovative work. (We love matched donations from your workplace!)
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