Moving Ahead with the Lab Report

Hi Everyone,

I hope that you are all working away with the data relevant to your hypotheses and experiments.
To stay on track with this assignment, you should have the first drafts of the Performing the Experiment (Experiment Explanation) and Data Analysis completed on Monday. If you are falling behind, please check in with me on Monday.

As part of the Performing the Experiment section (Experiment Explanation), It was mentioned that you should describe the sites at which the data were collected that you are using. The following are some brief descriptions of the sites. Please feel free to use these descriptions if they help - also add your own observations if you were at the site.

Strawberry Canyon
This site is in the upper part of the watershed, just below the University of California Botanical Garden. This stretch of Strawberry Creek is in a narrow forested valley without development upstream. There is a narrow, rocky creek bed, and the banks range from about 10 feet to 30 feet in height. An unpaved recreation trail runs alongside the creek. This trail is primarily used for runners, walkers, and dog walkers (lots of canine evidence left behind).

University of California
After leaving Strawberry Canyon, Strawberry Creek flows underground in a culvert before resurfacing on Cal's campus. On campus, the main branch flows primarily through shaded areas. Near the western edge of campus, in a grove of massive eucalyptus trees, this main branch of Strawberry Creek merges with the smaller north branch, which surfaces as it exits a culvert near the north gate of campus. This north branch runs through more developed areas upstream. On campus, the north branch runs through redwoods and the lawn area near the science building before entering the eucalyptus grove. Below the confluence of the two streams, the creek flows in an exposed shaded creek bed until leaving campus and flowing underground through a culvert. It resurfaces in Strawberry Creek Park.

Strawberry Creek Park
This is a short daylighted stretch of Strawberry Creek, which extends for about 150 yards before again flowing under the city. The creek bed is mostly shaded, and consists of smashed pieces of the culvert that formerly contained the creek in this area. This area of Berkeley is urban with a mix of residences, businesses, streets, sidewalks, and the park, which does provide some protection for the water. After leaving the park, the creek again goes underground, and doesn't surface again it exits the culvert into San Francisco Bay at the bottom of the watershed.

Where Strawberry Creek Meets the Bay
The last stretch of the creek is underground as it passes through the industrial area with warehouses, manufacturers, railroad tracks, the freeway, and traffic congestion. This bottom area of the watershed - where the Amtrak station and Truitt&White are now located - was the site of a large Huichin (Ohlone) shellmound. This mound was built over the 3,700 years that these people inhabited Strawberry Creek before European settlers took over the area. The actual spot where the creek hits the Bay can only be sampled when the tide is low. Otherwise, the tidal influence mixes salt water in with the creek's freshwater, and results are not accurate.