Valley Wilds
Volume 21 | Issue 9
September 2012
A publication of the LARPD Open Space Unit
Failure is Not An Option
By Ranger Patti Cole
Cigarette butts, wet and yellowed, floating down the Arroyo
Mocho. Plastic shopping bags trapped in tree roots and
branches along the Arroyo Del Valle. Fast food wrappers, bags
and cups “decorate” the sand, pebbles and plants of the Arroyo
Las Positas.
Why is this still happening? Don’t
we know better?
Over the past several years,
the LARPD Park Rangers have
presented a series of water
programs to students throughout
the Tri-Valley area, made possible
through a grant from the
Alameda Countywide Clean Water
Program. The programs cover
related concepts of watershed,
water cycle, stream ecology, water
pollution and much more. Other
local agencies, including the City
of Livermore and Zone 7 Water
Agency, also provide educational
opportunities for students to
learn about water from more
IN THIS
Issue
Failure is Not An Option
This Month’s Ranger-led
Programs and Activities
Autumnal Equinox
Livermore Area Recreation
and Park District
4444 East Ave. Livermore, CA 94550
www.larpd.dst.ca.us
Ranger Office: 925.960.2400
urban impacts and water delivery
perspectives. With all these
educational opportunities – much
of it hands-on, too – why are we
still seeing so much trash in and
around our creeks? Why are our
efforts failing?
Perhaps what is failing is the
follow-through. We provide
the basics for learning about
water and the necessity of clean
water for life, but then we walk
away. Maybe what is missing
is a continuing effort to keep
awareness up and actively engage
the community in keeping our
creeks clean. That’s where “Adopt
A Creek Spot” comes in.
A little more than a year ago,
representatives from several
local agencies, including LARPD,
the City of Livermore Water
Resources Division, Zone 7
Water Agency, Alameda County
Resource Conservation District,
Alameda County Watershed
Council, the Livermore school
district (LVJUSD), and Friends of
the Arroyos, began meeting to
develop what would become the
Adopt A Creek Spot program in
our community.
Today, you’ll find many cities have
Volunteers removing trash from
Arroyo Mocho
similar programs through which
community members can adopt
streams and commit to doing
some type of periodic trash cleanup and/or restoration work. Our
local “adopt” program has those
elements, too, but we take it one
step further. In addition to the
clean-up work, Adopt A Creek
Spot will also incorporate an ongoing water quality monitoring
component for middle and high
school students. These students
will be conducting rigorous
scientific testing of select creek
sites, learning how to use and
interpret various measurement
equipment, honing their
observation skills by noting and
analyzing what is around, on and
in the water (both living and nonliving), and then combining all
their data to determine the actual
water quality over time.
Ultimately, by community
participation and on-going
education, our goal is to achieve
clean water in our streams. The
positive impacts of this effort
(Continued on Page 3)
Ranger-led
Programs
Experience nature and history in a special way. Programs are
generally 1 - 2 hours in length. A $2 donation is requested. A $5
parking fee is charged at both park entrances.
September
Programs
Quick Look:
Creepy Creek Creatures
Sunday, Sept. 2nd
2:00 pm
Bears
Saturday, Sept. 8th
10:00 am
Applefest!
Sunday, Sept. 9th
1 - 3 pm
Sunday, Sept. 16th
10:00 am
Equinox Evening Walk
Saturday, Sept. 22nd 7:00 pm
Harvest Moon Hike
Sunday, Sept. 30th
6:00 pm
History of Olivina
Creepy Creatures of the Creek
Sunday, September 2nd
2:00 pm
Where do science fiction writers get ideas for scary creatures? Quite
possibly from critters found in creeks, lakes, and rivers. Do you dare take
a chance at capturing some sci-fi look-alikes? Nets, containers, and other
equipment will be provided. Please wear shoes that can get wet or water
footwear with closed toes. Bring a towel, sunscreen, a hat and drinking
water. This program is appropriate for all ages.
Ranger Patti Cole
Sycamore Grove Park Map it!
Wetmore Road Entrance
Bears
Saturday, September 8th 10:00 am
Bears come in many sizes and colors. They are revered in some areas
and feared in others. Join us to talk about bears found around the world
today and even some from pre-historic times. Feel free to bring Teddy
along too.
Ranger Dawn Soles
Sycamore Grove Park Map it!
Arroyo Road Entrance
Applefest!
Sunday, September 9th 1 pm – 3 pm
Join us for our annual Applefest! Come to Ravenswood Historic Site to tour the
orchards and taste antique apple varieties you can’t find in stores. Find out what an
“apple slinky” is, help make cider and play some old-fashioned games. Ravenswood
Progress League docents will be leading tours of the main building. Orchard tour
begins at 1:15 pm and other activities will be ongoing.
Ranger “Apple Amy” and friends
Ravenswood Historic Site
2647 Arroyo Road Map it!
Programs continued on Page 3
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More September Programs
A History of Olivina
Sunday, September 16th 10:00 am
People usually come to Sycamore Grove to enjoy
nature but not all that long ago the park was a
thriving estate producing wine, olive oil and other
products. Join us for a slow paced, one mile walk
back through time as we learn the history of this
estate and the man who created it and helped start
Livermore wine country. We will take a van out to the
site of the estate so please RSVP at (925) 960 2400 to
reserve a seat.
Ranger Darren Segur
Sycamore Grove Park
Map it! Wetmore Road Entrance
Equinox Evening Walk
Saturday, September 22nd
7:00 pm
Failure is Not an Option (Continued)
locally are obvious: aesthetically more attractive
area, favorable habitat for a wider variety of plants
and animals, higher property values, and, of course,
safe water for all of us. But the impacts go well
beyond our city.
The Pacific Garbage Patch is a growing ocean cancer.
The California Ocean Plan Triennial Review Workplan
(2011-2013) states that, “There are estimates that
approximately sixty to eighty percent of marine
debris in the world’s oceans emanates from landbased sources.” Others estimate that up to 80%
of trash on California beaches actually comes
from inland areas. Our responsibility goes beyond
Livermore. As we tell students when discussing
watersheds, “What happens upstream, happens
downstream.” If clean water -- non-polluted streams,
rivers, bays, and oceans – is in our future, it must
start with each of us … now.
As summer gradually turns into fall it is a great
time to beat the heat and come out to the park
Together we can do this. Failure is not an option.
in the cool of the evening. Watch the deer browse
after a long day hiding away from the busy trails
and watch the raptors out hunting in the fields. As
it gets darker we will be
stopping along the way
to observe the autumn
constellations. This walk
will be approximately 2.5
miles round trip.
Ranger Glen Florey
Sycamore Grove Park Map it!
Wetmore Road Entrance
Students examine the organisms they found in the
Arroyo Mocho to monitor stream health.
Harvest Moon Hike
Sunday, September 30th
6:00 pm
The Harvest Moon is rising on this last night of
September. We’ll welcome autumn with a hike to
the hills (the upper part of the park) to watch this
storied moon rise. Along the way we might spy
some of the park’s inhabitants readying themselves
for the night. This will be an approximately 3 mile
hike with some moderate elevation gain.
Ranger Pat Sotelo Sycamore Grove Park Map it!
Wetmore Road Entrance
The Livermore Adopt A Creek Spot program
is officially kicking off on Coastal Clean-up
Day, Saturday, September 15, 2012. If you are
interested in participating in the clean-up
event on that day, or if your group or business
is interested in a one year adoption of a creek
spot in Livermore, please visit the web site
www.trivalleycreeks.org for more information.
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The Autumnal Equinox
September is a moody, temperamental month.
Like a struggling adolescent, it never seems quite
sure of its identity. Some days can be blazing hot,
reminiscent of the baking days of summer. Other
days may be unsettled, overcast and cold, the nights
crisp, hinting of the advent of autumn.
September is indeed trapped between two seasons,
as summer slips into fall during this troubled month
and leaves poor September with a serious identity
crisis. The autumnal (or fall) equinox, marking the
end of summer and the start of autumn, falls this
year on September 22 at 7:49 a.m. PDT.
The reason for the seasons (and the equinoxes) is
due to the tilt of the earth’s axis, the line running
from the North to South Pole. The spin of the earth
on its axis causes night and day. But this axis is tilted
23.5 degrees in relation to the earth’s orbital plane.
For part of the year, as the earth moves through its
orbit, the northern hemisphere leans toward the
sun while the southern hemisphere leans away
(our summer, their winter). When the earth is on
the opposite end of its orbit around the sun, the
northern hemisphere leans away and the southern
hemisphere leans toward the sun (we’re bundled
up against the cold; they’re getting out beach
umbrellas).
By Ranger Pat Sotelo
due, in part, because
sunset (and sunrise) is
measured from when
the sun’s edge, and not
the center, dips below
(or, for sunrise, peeks
above) the horizon. The
moment of equinox,
however, is measured
relative to the center
of the sun. Livermore’s
autumnal equilux
occurs this year on
September 25, when
the sun rises at 6:58 a.m. and sets at 6:58 p.m.
An interesting myth more commonly associated
with the vernal equinox (when eggs are left in yards
and houses by a mysterious bunny) is that one
can balance a raw egg on its end on the equinox
because the earth is in balance and the gravitational
pull of the sun is equal. It’s a very nice story but, alas,
untrue. One can balance an egg on its end any day of
the year; all it takes is patience, practice, and several
tries (and possibly several eggs).
For thousands of years ancient and modern cultures
have noted and celebrated this significant turn of
the seasons, and taken pains to ready themselves for
The equinox (Latin for “equal night”) is that moment
the upcoming trials of winter. The full moon closest
during the earth’s orbit when both hemispheres are
to the autumnal equinox is known as the Harvest
equidistant from the sun. This event occurs in the
Moon, which falls on September 30th this year. In
spring as well and is known as the vernal equinox.
Europe the arrival of the Harvest Moon signaled the
At the vernal equinox we look forward to longer and
start of harvest festivals, where the harvesting and
warmer days, but the autumnal equinox heralds the
storing of crops coincided with festivals of feasting,
inexorable movement toward the shorter and colder
dancing, and other celebrations. Ancient cultures
days of winter.
(including those of Native Americans) tracked the
movement of the sun and celebrated their own
If you wish to know the direction of true East and
rituals for the equinoxes and solstices.
West, the equinox is the day to do it, for on this day
the sun rises exactly in the East and sets exactly in
Enjoy these last, warm days of September for, as
the West. Another benefit of doing this is that you’re
surely as the earth moves around the sun, the days
likely to see an awesome sunrise and sunset.
will grow shorter and colder, and we’ll all be wishing
Many believe that on the day of an equinox the day
for the return of the vernal equinox and that eggand night are of equal length, but that isn’t true.
dropping bunny. Fiat lux!
That event is known as the equilux, which is Latin for
“equal light.” In our neck of the woods the equilux
Please join us for the Harvest Moon Hike on Sunday,
occurs a few days after the autumnal equinox
September 30, right here in Sycamore Grove Park. See
and a few days before the vernal equinox. This is
the Programs page for more information.
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