San Lorenzo Earth Team Is Back to Work Transforming Oyster Bay

San Lorenzo High School’s Earth Team Interns have been hard at work transforming Oyster Bay in to lovely park full of native plants and a full disc-golf course. In March, interns traveled to the park twice and planted a total of 20 trees at the site.

Interns planted Torrey Pines and Incense Cedars to complement and expand the other planted sites at the park. They also caged the saplings to protect them from curious or hungry animals.

At the site, interns were able to check in on the plants they planted last semester, which have since become established and vigorous after the wet winter we had. We will have to come back in a few years to check in on the trees we have planted at Oyster Bay this month.

Special thanks to Pamela Beitz of East Bay Regional Parks for bringing gear and all of the plants. Pamela gave the students demos on how to properly plant and also provided some context for the future of the park.

Situated near the Bay Trail, the planting site saw a lot of traffic. Interns saw a lot of people ride by, all of whom will certainly appreciate the work they are doing. Keep up the good work, San Lorenzo Earth Team!

San Lorenzo Earth Team Cleans Trash Along Bay Trail

San Lorenzo High Earth Team Interns spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day helping to clean  the area around Hayward Shoreline Regional Park. Partnering with groups like Friends of San Lorenzo Creek and others, interns spent a beautiful day cleaning up all kinds of litter. 

The day started with a quick overview of the work we were going to do and some introductions. The interns then cleared out the area near the mouth of San Lorenzo Creek.

It was a beautiful Monday morning at Hayward shoreline as interns moved along the shore of the bay, picking up as much trash as they could along the way. By the end, they had collected over 150 pieces throughout the area.

As the event wrapped up, the interns got the chance to hike around the site a bit and admired the many plants and birds they saw. All in all, interns had a wonderful day helping clean their community.

San Lorenzo Interns & East Bay Parks Team Up for Plantings at Oyster Bay

San Lorenzo High School’s Earth Team Interns have been hard at work the last few week at Oyster Bay. The interns are working with East Bay Regional Parks to restore Oyster Bay, once a garbage dump, to a beautiful park for the people of the East Bay. They started by planting native sage brush, which will serve as a habitat for migrating monarch butterflies.

The Interns also worked to set up caging around recently planted trees to protect them from disc golfers, eager to try out the East Bay’s newest disc golf course. The work the interns are doing will ensure that the young trees can grow to maturity while still allowing people to have a great time disc golfing as well.

With some help from Skyline High School’s interns, the team was able to plant over 30 plants and protect 8 trees. They were able to see the growth on the plants the interns had planted last year, and can expect from their plants this year as well.

It was a great experience for the interns and the Park looks great. The interns can’t wait to return in the spring and see how their “babies,” as they called the plants, are doing.

 

Meet the Interns!

Akiyah Jones – Hi! I’m Akiyah. I’m 16 years old and I’m a junior at San Lorenzo High School. I hope to one day be a fashion designer and make a line of environmental clothes.

Ariana Umildad – Hello, my name is Ariana Umildad. I am currently 17 and a senior at San Lorenzo High School. This is my second and sadly last year in the Earth Team program. I spend my time watching SpongeBob and I love dogs.

Cuc (Cece) Nguyen – I am Cece Nguyen and I am an avid supporter of BTS, my favorite member is J-Hope because he is a very high energy and positive person like me. I love making jokes and making my friends laugh. I also love almond milk, hazelnut flavored snacks, Korean BBQ, and Asian snacks. Fun fact! I can play the recorder with my nose. I swear it’s not a gross as it sounds. I also need someone to manage my money because I keep spending it on my friends.

Diana Venegas – Hi! My name is Diana Venegas. I am 16 and am an intern at San Lorenzo High School. I love plants and animals. I enjoy the outdoors. I’m also an avid fan of horror movies. I’m weird, funny and different. I enjoy photography, drawing, and other kinds of art. I love meeting new people. I stan cacti, pugs, and pineapples (not on pizza, though).

Eduardo Castro Leon – My name is Eduardo Castro Leon but I go by Eddie. I go to San Lorenzo High School. I’m 15 and a half years old while writing this. That’s crazy. I like sunsets on the beach. I’m energetic but can be calm if I need to.

Elly Su – My name is Elly Su! I am currently a junior at San Lorenzo High School. I am generally an awkward person, even when I am with close friends, but after awhile I become more comfortable and start to show my true colors. I identify as a unicorn, so I apologize if my glitter gets into your clothes! My interests are anime, Kpop, fashion, sewing, reading, and being with nature. I’m the kind of person who is always outside doing something, like hanging out with friends or running errands.

Gracy Mora – My name is Gracy Mora I’m from San Lorenzo High School, and I’m 15 years old. I really enjoy directing my energy towards bettering my community and those around me. I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow interns at Earth Team to make a positive change in the world!

Isabella Marquez – My name is Isabella Marquez, i my free time I like to draw and listen to music. I have 4 lizards, 2 dogs, and a parrot. I also enjoy going to concerts and hanging out with my friends. I joined Earth Team because I’ve always been passionate about the environment and its issues.

Israel Diaz – My name is Israel Diaz, but my real amigos call me Is. I’ve been through a lot, good and bad. I believe that after everything bad there is always good after it. I’m learning the guitar at 15 and I think that’s late. 

Leilana Teneza – My name is Leilana Teneza. I love meeting new people and learning new things. Personally, I want to be able to spend more time away from the city and in nature. I want to learn more about our environment and find ways to create sustainable living as a career. Along with this, I am also a feminist and open minded to new things. I also love to sing, dance, write, draw, paint, and listen to music. My favorite foods are ramen, pozolle, and rolled ice cream. Oh, and I love boba and horchata.

Liza Saeteurn – Hi, I’m Liza Saeteurn. I’m a 16 year old and this is my second year with Earth Team. Through Earth Team I have grown so much as a person. I has helped me with my communication skills and helped expand my knowledge and teach others about it as well. The experience was great and I hope to have an even greater experience this year.

Marianna Lopez – I’m Marianna Lopez, I’m 16 and I really enjoy being outdoors and with nature. I love creating films and going on car rides to enjoy the scenery. I really want to help change the environment and improve all of the damages humans have done to the world. I also like dream pop and indie music. 

Nayla Latic – My name is Nayla Latic and I’m an 11th grader at San Lorenzo High School. I like Earth Team because it educates you about many things that impact your community and teaches you skills that you can use to help your community as well. Although you do work hard, there are many fun events and experiences that you will remember forever.

Roberto Ramirez – My name is Roberto Ramirez and I am 17 years old. I like to go biking and hang out with my friends. My favorite artist is The Weeknd. Chicken nuggets from Wendy’s has to be my favorite food. I joined Earth Team because I like to be outdoors and wanted to learn new ways I could help the environment.

San Lorenzo Earth Team Interns Speak at Wildland Volunteer Network Seminar

Two Earth Team Interns spoke at the Wildland Volunteer Network’s annual conference in Oakland. The conference dealt with ways to engage and retain volunteers interested in wild land management, and featured speakers from a variety of organizations.

The two San Lorenzo Earth Team Interns, Liza and Nayla, gave brief summaries of why they joined Earth Team and what they have liked about the program. This gave the other attendees a better idea of what they can do to engage youths in traditionally under-served communities.

The event was also a great networking opportunity for the interns, as they were able to connect with professionals in environmental stewardship. All in all, everyone came out ahead and the conference was a great success.

Great job, Liza and Nayla!

Welcome San Lorenzo High School’s Urban Forestry Task Force!

San Lorenzo High School’s Earth Team Internships are well underway this semester. Students started the semester with some team building and setting group agreements, and learning about the program.

Campus coordinator Ben McLaughlin has been helping the interns learn the tree species that are most common in their communities. Students have been honing their identification skills in order to be able to complete the Tree Inventory of San Lorenzo that our interns have been working hard on for the past few years.

We are excited to welcome our San Lorenzo Interns to the Earth Team Family!

 

Celebrating a Year of Success with San Lorenzo Earth Team

The year has come to an end! This year San Lorenzo High School’s Earth Team met 46 times, completing over 110 hours of education and training. Meetings included 21 class visits, 18 field visits, and 7 public events (one of which they hosted)! Together, we reached approximately 956 community members and classmates. The team inventoried 1,918 trees, planted 164 native plants, picked up 624 pieces of litter, and removed 2,500 square feet of invasive species!

The highlights of our projects were..

• YES Conference Presentation: At the end of February, our interns had the opportunity to attend and present at the Youth for the Environment and Sustainability (YES) Conference. This annual conference is designed to bring together students, teachers, and youth leaders from around the Bay Area to discuss topics surrounding climate change and transportation issues. San Lorenzo interns presented to their peers about the importance of urban forestry and their tree inventory project in addition to exploring the rest of what the conference had to offer.
• Community Restoration Work Day at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline: After several weeks of learning restoration techniques and participating in planning and outreach activities, the team hosted their own community workday at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline. With the help of dedicated employees of the East Bay Regional Parks District, the interns were able to learn about the ecology of Oyster Bay and the importance of their hard work at the park. Over 25 volunteers attended the community workday and helped with restoration efforts including native plantings and invasive species removal.
• Presenting at the City of San Leandro City Council Meeting: To educate the community about their work at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline, several interns from the team had the chance to present a short slideshow about their accomplishments at Oyster Bay to the San Leandro City Council on May 21st. Although they were nervous, the presentation went very smoothly and everyone on the council had beautiful and encouraging comments on all the hard work the team has put into the project. They even got to take a picture with the mayor for the paper!
• Weekend Tree Inventory: Although the interns spent a lot of time out inventorying trees, they only had one weekend during which they did tree inventory. Eager to get further in their competition, each inventory team worked hard and efficiently! Together, all inventory teams entered a record amount of trees in one session for the year. And to celebrate their work, we finished the meeting with burgers from In-N-Out. Yum!!

This is why Earth Team is so important to me. It’s a way of learning how getting involved locally can have an impact that is potentially global. It’s because of Earth Team that I will not stop working towards environmental justice in our community and for our world. In the future I believe that the Environmental Leadership and Action class will be an option for San Lorenzo High students. Until then, I am proud to be a part of environmental organizations such as Druids and Earth Team that strive to keep the movement for sustainability going and give me hope for our future.

– Aubury Freed

I know about the trees around me and how they positively benefit us. I feel like now I can educate my family on environmental topics and show them accurate examples. I enjoyed meeting the different people and being active in my community. Working with Earth Team has inspired me to spread knowledge.

-Akiyah Jone

Great job San Lorenzo interns!

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Learn to Conduct Tree Inventory (Video)

Starting this upcoming week, Earth Team interns will once again be spending meetings surveying neighborhoods in unincorporated Alameda County for tree data! As a refresher, our team from San Lorenzo High has been inventorying as many trees as possible in these county areas using a map called OpenTreeMap. Not only does this map allow anyone to see the data we’ve collected, but it also has built in calculators that can quantify the large number of benefits the trees provide.

As part of their presentation at the YES Conference, some of the interns made a short video that shows how anyone can take part in tree inventory. Click here to check out the video and start logging trees near you!

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Surveying and Educating the Public

Educating and engaging the public in restoration work at Oyster Bay has been a large focus of San Lorenzo High Earth Team’s project at this site. Although many people already enjoy using Oyster Bay for it’s walking trails, bike paths, and off-leash dog policy, it is still a relatively unknown recreation area.

To get a better understanding of who uses the park and what they know about its evolution from a landfill, our students decided to take a survey. They spent a Saturday morning interacting with the public at Oyster Bay and asking them to fill out short surveys on iPads. Question categories included demographics, usage of the park, restoration knowledge, and opinion scales.

Many people were happy to take the survey and had questions about what Earth Team is doing at Oyster Bay. As it turns out, most people visit the park for its awesome dog related perks! Additionally, about half of participants reported that they would be interested in volunteering at a restoration event. A handful of visitors declined to take the survey for various reasons but we hope next time they will stop and share their opinion! This activity definitely got the interns out of their comfort zones. However, by the end of the day they were pros at approaching passerby. We hope to use the data from the surveys to figure out how to best get people interested in the park and the work we are doing there.

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