URBAN RIPARIAN RESTORATION: AN OUTDOOR CLASSROOM FOR COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COLLABORATING IN CONSERVATION

ABSTRACT Despite the biological, social, and physical challenges that exist in urban creek restorations, there are opportunities to effectively involve local residents in ecological rehabilitation projects. An urban riparian restoration project along Strawberry Creek (Berkeley, CA) began with the goal of removing exotic vegetation and restoring native plant coverage. However, through the involvement of local high school and college students, the project accomplished an additional goal of educating the local community about restoration and conservation. Undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley conducted pre-restoration vegetation surveys of species richness and cover in order to assess initial species composition at the restoration site. Berkeley High School students, under the guidance of UC Berkeley graduate student mentors, removed exotic vegetation from an 800 m2 area of the riparian zone and replaced exotics with over 500 individual native plants. Post-restoration vegetation su...