Ohlone Ethnobotany Garden Ariel Cherbowsky, B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies 2014 Antonio M, Advisor
Project Site
The project site is above the banks of Strawberry Creek in the Grinnell Ecological Study Area on the University of California, Berkeley campus.
Background and Purpose Previous ecological restoration efforts around Strawberry Creek have not prominently recognized the indigenous Huichin Ohlone people who resided within the Strawberry Creek watershed and other nearby watersheds of the East Bay before they were expelled from the area and largely taken to the Missions by the Spanish during the late 18th century and early 19th century. Furthermore, UC Berkeley fails to publically and physically acknowledge this history in its outdoor campus landscape. The Ohlone Ethnobotany Garden project aims to grow and maintain an educational landscape and gathering area to raise awareness about: • the ecological knowledge of the indigenous Ohlone peoples regarding their relationship with the native plants of the San Francisco Bay Area as well as their land management and subsistence practices • the history and presence of past and present Ohlone communities
Outreach and Participation We are a collaborative effort composed of members of the UC Berkeley and Ohlone communities and are continually working to increase participation in all stages of the project. The project website (ohloneethnobotanygarden.org) is one tool to raise awareness about the project, encourage diverse involvement, and facilitate collaboration. The Strawberry Creek Collective has been working with volunteers to remove invasive species from the site of the project in preparation for the planting that will occur in the fall of 2014. Currently non-native and invasive grasses like Wild oat (avena fatua), kikuyugrass (pennisetum clandestinum), and Panic veldt grass (erharta erecta) dominate the site.
Art depicting an Ohlone man and woman below the road bridge near the Berkeley Amtrak station