Category: Site_visit

24 May 2023, Wildcat Canyon (Regional Park, Contra Costa County)

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24.5.2023, Wildcat Canyon (Regional Park, Contra Costa County)

Wildcat Canyon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_Canyon (17.3.2023): … a narrow linear valley just east of the Berkeley Hills … The canyon is bounded on its east side by the San Pablo Ridge, and is drained by Wildcat Creek which runs northwest to its outlet in San Pablo Bay. Two minor lakes … along the creek: Jewel Lake and Lake Anza … An active tectonic fault, the Wildcat Fault, runs the length of the canyon. Wildcat Canyon was named for the mountain lions which used to be fairly common in the area …

Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_Canyon_Regional_Park (17.3.2023): … bordering the city of Richmond in Contra Costa County … includes a portion of Wildcat Canyon as well as a portion of the adjoining San Pablo Ridge … The area was inhabited by Native Americans until 1772 when a group of “Catalan volunteers” … came across the settlement … Wildcat has an abundance of wildlife both flora and fauna … there are coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, deer, California ground squirrels … Reptilian life includes gopher snakes, king snakes, western racers, garter snakes, rubber boas, ringneck snakes … Wildcat Creek Trail – Runs along Wildcat Creek from the Alvarado Park staging area in Richmond into Tilden Park’s Nature Area … The trail’s midpoint can be accessed via Rifle Range Road Trail … Nimitz Way – Starting at Tilden Park’s Inspiration Point … a mostly paved trail … with views of the San Francisco Bay to the west and EBMUD’s San Pablo & Briones Reservoirs and Mt. Diablo. Belgum Trail … ruins of the Belgum Sanitarium and the palm trees planted by its founder, Hendrick Belgum, are visible from the trail … San Pablo Ridge Trail … Alvarado Park, a National Historic Place is the northernmost portion of Wildcat Canyon … was a Nike missile base … decommissioned in the 1970s …

[Belgum Sanitarium, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgum_Sanitarium (18.3.2023): … also called the Grande Vista Sanitarium … health resort established by Hendrick Nelsen Belgum in 1914 to treat “nervous disorders” at 7010 Park Avenue in the East Richmond foothills … A brochure for the institution read: “To insure our guests an abundance of fresh, wholesome, nourishing food, so essential to the restoration of health, a select purebred dairy is maintained, also a poultry plan, an apiary, a fruit orchard, vegetable gardens, conservatories, private spring water system, etc.” … the facility … closing … in the mid-1960’s … The building was … destroyed by arson in 1965 … Today the land is part of the Wildcat Canyon Regional Park … the Belgum trail … the foundation, stubs of former stone walls, and a few fruit trees and palm trees are all that remain …]

East Bay Regional Park District („Healthy Parks Healthy people“): Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, www.ebparks.org/parks/wildcat-canyon (18.3.2023): … along the Wildcat Creek watershed and the surrounding hills and ridges … extends from the Tilden Nature Area above the Berkeley hills in the south to historic Alvarado Park at the north end in Richmond … Large coast live oaks [Virginia-Eiche], bay laurels [Echter Lorbeer], and a scattering of bigleaf maples [Großblättriger Ahorn] and madrones [Amerikanischer Erdbeerbaum] grow on the park’s east-facing slopes. North-facing hillsides support … stands of bay laurel, fringed with coast live oak. Moist chaparral of coyote brush [Baccharus pillularis], poison oak [Gifteiche], elderberry [Holunder], snowberry [Knackbeere], bracken fern [Adlerfarn], and blackberry [Brombeere] grow in thickets high on the north-facing slopes. In the gorge of bedrock-cutting Wildcat Creek grows a riparian forest of alder [Erle], willow, creek dogwood [Hartriegel], and bay laurel … The west- and south-facing canyon slopes are covered with introduced annual grasses (oat, rye, barley, etc.). A few stands of native bunch grasses persist … many native wildflower species … Coyotes are a commonly seen throughout the Park with potential to see the … elusive mountain lion and bobcat as well … great horned owl …

Ressources:

23 May 2023 ff, ♣ Berkeley Rose Garden

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23.5.2023 ff, ♣ Berkeley Rose Garden

„Parks make life better!“

Berkeley Rose Garden, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Rose_Garden: … a city-owned park in the North Berkeley area … in the form of a terraced amphitheater located in a small canyon … has views of the city and bay of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. More than 100 rose varieties grow along the terraces, with maximum blooming occurring in mid-May … Construction … began in 1933 with funds provided by the federal Civil Works Administration … continued in subsequent years with funding from the California State Relief Administration and the federal Works Progress Administration … opened on September 26, 1937 … has been the site of a number of rose shows …

23 May 2023, Φ SF Bay: Risk assessment-based fish consumption advice

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23.5.2023, Φ SF Bay: Risk assessment-based fish consumption advice

Tran Pham H, Chumney L (2023): Health Advisory and Guidelines for Eating Fish from San Francisco Bay (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma Counties). Updated April 2023. Fish, Ecotoxicology, and Water Section / Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency, https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/advisories/fishadvisorysfbayreport2023.pdf:

  • (p.3) The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA … is responsible for evaluating potential public health risks from chemical contamination of sport fish. This includes issuing fish consumption advisories … for the State of California …
  • (p.13) This report … provides advice for safe consumption of eighteen species, of which four species were incorporated from the statewide advisory for fish that migrate … Separate advice is provided for the sensitive population (women 18 to 49 years and children 1 to 17 years) and the general population (women 50 years and older and men 18 years and older) … OEHHA compared chemical levels in fish caught from more than 200 sampling locations to levels that are considered safe for human consumption …
  • (p.29) The OEHHA fish advisory process considers the health benefits of fish consumption as well as the risk from exposure to the chemical contaminants found in fish …

23 May 2023, Point Pinole (Regional Shoreline), Richmond, CA

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23.5.2023, Point Pinole (Regional Shoreline), Richmond, CA

As for current Pt. Pinole maps: instead of „Parking areas“, the maps indicate „Staging areas“ [Sammelpunkte] – a subtle but meaningful shift in terminology.

1988_11 Point Pinole (Richmond, CA) & Mt.Tam

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Pinole_Regional_Shoreline (17.3.2023): … on the shores of the San Pablo Bay … (the northern arm of the San Francisco Bay) … operated by the East Bay Regional Park District … located in the city of Richmond, California … on the site of a number of former explosives factories … little trace of it now remains … The facility’s former tramway grades provide a network of nearly 20 kilometers … of gently sloping paths … The other relic of the park’s industrial past is the large number of eucalyptus glades groves which were planted around the factory site to buffer against potential explosions … The park features the promontory of Point Pinole … offers superb views across the bay in all directions, towards San Francisco to the southwest, Mount Tamalpais and the Marin Headlands to the northwest, inland across San Pablo Bay to the north and east, and Mt. Diablo inland to the southeast. Fresh and ocean waters mix at this point, so the marine life is rich … The park is a mixture of grassland and woodland, with beaches and low cliffs … has a particularly rich bird life … is located on the Pacific Flyway … is located on the Hayward Fault … The San Francisco Bay Trail runs through the park …

East Bay Regional Park District („Healthy Parks Healthy people“): Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, www.ebparks.org/parks/point-pinole (18.3.2023): … views of Mt. Tamalpais, the Marin shoreline, and San Pablo Bay with its sailboat and shipping traffic … In April 2017, the Park District completed major restoration and public access enhancements … NOTE: Dogs limit to 3 dogs per person. No commercial dog walking trails are available …

[From the flyer, www.ebparks.org/sites/default/files/Point-Pinole-map_0.pdf] … The Dotson Family Marsh habitat restoration project … funded by more than 10 agencies to mitigate sea level rise and coastal and inland flooding … renamed in honor of the Dotson family, longtime residents of adjacent Parchester Village, for their environmental legacy to save the Richmond shoreline from industrial development … The San Francisco Bay Trail project added 1.5-miles of new trail, extending the existing 4.5 miles of Bay Trail within the park … The Huchiun-Aguasto, an Ohlone-speaking tribe, thrived in this area for many generations, in part due to their ability to both manage and harvest shellfish by the bluffs in a manner that increased shellfish abundance … From 1881 to 1960, the point was the site of four dynamite companies, including the Giant Powder Company …

19-21 May 2023, Φ Esalen Retreat and Institute (Big Sur)

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19.-21.5.2023, Φ Esalen Retreat and Institute (Big Sur)

Esalen Institute, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esalen_Institute: … a non-profit … retreat center and intentional community in Big Sur, California, which focuses on humanistic alternative education … played a key role in the Human Potential Movement beginning in the 1960s. Its innovative use of encounter groups … and their … experimentation in personal awareness introduced many ideas that later became mainstream … founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price in 1962 … to support alternative methods for exploring human consciousness … Over the next few years, Esalen became the center of practices and beliefs that make up the New Age movement, from Eastern religions/philosophy, to alternative medicine and mind-body interventions, from transpersonal to Gestalt Practice … Alan Watts gave the first lecture at Esalen in January 1962 … Abraham Maslow, a prominent humanistic psychologist, … happened to drive into the grounds and … became an important figure at the institute … Early leaders included … Ansel Adams, … Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary, … Linus Pauling, Carl Rogers, … B.F. Skinner, and Arnold Toynbee … In 1964, Joan Baez led a workshop entitled “The New Folk Music”… Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, … Gary Snyder and others held poetry readings and workshops.

On the way to Esalen: Bixby bridge.

Excerpt: Jeffrey J Kripal, Glenn W. Shuck (eds.) (2005): On the edge of the future. Esalen and the evolution of American culture. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, USA:

  • (pp.1ff Introducing Esalen) p.6: two Esalen … mantras – „No one captures the flag“ and „We hold our dogmas lightly“ …
  • (pp.45ff Catherine L. Albanese: Ch. 2, Sacred (and secular) self-fashioning: Esalen and the American transformation of Yoga) p.73: … when the …Institute opened its doors in 1962, it took to heart its mission of exploring the „human potential“ …
  • (pp.165ff Gordon Wheeler: Ch. 6, Spirit and shadow: Esalen and the Gestalt model) p.170 … founding of two of the most remarkable … and alternative projects of those times. One was the Esalen Institute … in 1962 … The other was the Gestalt model of psychotherapy, first articulated by Frederick (Fritz) Perls and Paul Goodman … in the early postwar period … the Gestalt approach would continue to color (and be colored by) the development of the Institute over the next several decades … p.172 Gestalt… is the psychology of constructivism … p.194 … the urgent task at hand: the co-creation of a sustainable, livable world …
  • (pp. 197ff Robert C. Fuller: Ch. 7, Esalen and the cultural boundaries of metalanguage) p.208 … Attending Esalen links one to a community that spans generations – a community including Native Americans, beatniks, literati, and countercultural rebels … pp.211-214 Carl Rogers … Esalen connections …
  • (pp. 250ff Don Hanlon Johnson: Ch. 9, From Sarx to Soma: Esalen’s role in recovering the body for spiritual development) p.256 … Esalen was in some ways like a Wild West version of the 1920s German Bauhaus … p.260 … Esalen’s role … is due in part to its extraordinary natural beauty … p.265 … unique … place on the edge of the Western world that is closer to Kyoto than to Athens …
  • (pp. 268 ff Marion S. Goldman: Ch. 11, Esalen Institute, essence faiths, and the religious marketplace) p.268 Esalen brings together essence faiths from both eastern and western spiritual traditions. These religions do not have deities who reveal ultimate truths … Instead, … posit ephemeral … supernatural essences within individuals and, in some traditions, … in the natural world … p.287 … consider Esalen as a spiritual retreat, think tank, and pilgrimage center and as an example of … personal growth centers … p.287-288 Informal exchanges link Esalen with … the California Institute of Integral Studies … p.292 Landscape is Esalen’s keystone …