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June 2015 Save Mount Diablo Monitors the Mountain’s Natural Regeneration By Jody Morgan
One month after the September 2013 Morgan Fire left 3,111 acres of the Diablo Wilderness black and seemingly barren, new growth was sprouting. Once firefighters from dozens of agencies had put down the blaze without loss of homes or human life, scientists felt free to celebrate the remarkable opportunity presented to study the natural succession of regeneration. Ongoing
Serving Alamo and Diablo Plans Proceeding for Westside Park By Sharon Burke
Exciting plans are underway for the newest park in Alamo, at the corner of Danville Boulevard and Hemme Avenue. The three quarter acre site was purchased last year by Contra Costa County using Alamo Park District (R-7) funds. The Alamo Municipal Advisory Council has been working with County Public Works on the design and choice of amenities at the park. No one wants to put more traffic at this busy site, so current plans call for a trailside park with amenities to serve the hundreds of people who pass by on the Iron Horse Trail daily. No parking is planned, and the park will be deemed a passive park, with no active sports activities or community-wide events to be held. Preliminary plans include restrooms, water fountains, picnic tables, a shade structure, a small tot lot, many trees and a large meadow area. Plans are also being made to incorporate an educational element with a storyboard giving the history of the area. The park is across the street from the historical location of Hemme Station, the freight depot in Alamo which was used not for passengers but for shipping out the pears and walnuts which grew all over the westside of Alamo in the late 1800's. A fruit packing shed and freight depot were located where Creative Learning Center now stands. To honor this history, the landscape architecture and design of the park will reflect railroad themes and elements.
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Counting species during BioBlitz 2015 are Joan Hamilton, environmental writer for Bay Natures Magazine and husband Bruce Hamilton, Deputy Executive Director for the Sierra Club with SMD Board President Scott Hein down photographing (photo by Paul Salemme,paulsalemme.com)
research confirms their belief that allowing the mountain to heal itself without human intervention is a boon to the biodiversity of healthy ecosystems and a blessing to species that depend on the effects of fire to restore their populations. Save Mount Diablo (SMD) is sponsoring study of the effects of the conflagration on ecosystems within the footprint of the fire through several three-year projects funded by the Mary Bowerman Scientific Research Grants introduced in 2014 and focusing their annual species count known as BioBlitz on that area. Overview of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition Exhibit Continues in Danville By Jody Morgan
Celebration of the 100th anniversary of San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) continues at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley (MuseSRV) through June 21st. The exhibit arrived May 5th in Danville after a yearlong run at the Capitol Museum in Sacramento. How did the San Ramon Valley’s own museum manage to acquire the Sacramento presentation? MuseSRV Executive Director Daniel Dunn explains, “We became aware of the exhibition ‘California Invites the World: the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition’ at the Capitol Museum due to our partnership with the PPIE100 organizing body.” After Dunn and several MuseSRV Board members visited Volume XV - Number 6 One month after the Morgan Fire, new growth sprouts in the natural process of regeneration the impressive display, they discovered 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, on Mount Diablo (photo by Brad Heckman) Alamo, CA 94507 that once “California Invites the World” See Regeneration continued on page 21 closed in Sacramento, no plans existed Telephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 Fax (925) 406-0547 for continuation at other venues. PRSRT STD Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher “I contacted Renato Consoli who is U.S. Postage Editor@yourmonthlypaper.com PAID Local the Exhibit Designer/Coordinator at the Sharon Burke ~ Writer Permit 263 State Capitol Museum,” Dunn recalls. The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do Postal Customer Alamo CA necessarily reflect that of Alamo Today. Alamo Today “As museum professionals, we have not is not responsible for the content of any of the advertising ECRWSS herein, nor does publication imply endorsement.
See PPIE continued on page 25