Berkeley's green calendar*

With sunny skies and 70-degree weather predicted for the next 10 days or so, this Saturday is one of many clement days to celebrate Berkeley's parks and watershed. Beginning at 10 a.m. tomorrow, join Robert Hass, US Poet Laureate 1995-97, Poetry Flash, EcoCity Builders, Ecology Center/Berkeley Farmers' Market for the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival. A Strawberry Creek Walk will begin at Oxford and Center Streets. The festival portion of the celebration will begin at noon at the MLK, Jr. Civic Center Park. For more details, visit the Poetry Flash website. In preparation for the event, the meander of the culverted creek on Center Street has been outlined in blue tape. I plan to walk with Berkeley Path Wanderers member, Susan Schwartz, on her tour of Berkeley's natural parks (natural parks - in Berkeley and elsewhere - will be the subject of future posts). The tour will begin at 10 a.m. at Live Oak Park, Berkeley's first natural park. For more details about the tour, visit the Path Wanderers website. There is a brief history of the park on the City's website. The natural park walk is one of the Centennial of Berkeley Parks Celebration events. The city's oldest park, San Pablo Park, will be specially honored on August 25. More details can be found on the Berkeley Partners for Parks news blog. You can also read more about the park's history and design collated by the Friends of San Pablo and UC Berkeley Landscape Architecture students as well as park information provided by the City. On a related note, the Solano Stroll will celebrate "Going Green" on Saturday, September 9. If you are interested in local environmental events, check out the Ecology Center's Eco-Calendar. I did not find information about the Parks Centennial on the City of Berkeley website, but here is a map of city parks. *Edited since original posting.