Emergency volunteer services needed this weekend@ the Muwekma Ohlone Park on Islais Creek

We will need people (in order of priority) on November 13, 14 and 15, start time 10 AM.

Type of work will be:
1. Searching/ combing all areas of the dig site for any Pacific Chrous Frogs, which will be relocated to other areas in the Park.This work will also be photo documented and put on the web for the record.
2. Transplanting or potting plants in the dig site area. ( one bonus will be that a good deal of these plants will be free for the taking )
3. Miscellaneous related work to be determined including replanting the temporary frog pond areas.

Purpose of the work:
To salvage as many frogs as possible, as the area going under the bulldozer is the habitat is the last sliver of habitat for the last remaining colonies of Pacific Chrous Frogs on Islais Creek. (there used to be 10 of thousands a few years back)
To salvage and preserve as much habitat that we can.
To send a message to Muni, PUC, the Port and others that we believe that habitat and the environment is crucial, especially in these areas in the southern waterfront district.

Background information:
3 years ago this coming Thanksgiving, while Muni was drilling under Islais Creek (called Duct Banks, 3 total, each approx 5 feet in diameter) for what they described as providing power for the Third Street Light Rail project, the drilling undermined the sewage outfall line and caused it to collapse, resulting in millions of gallons of secondary effluent to flow into the Park and Islais creek. Emergency repairs began immediately which required approx 30% of the Park, and frog habitat to go under the bulldozer, meanwhile the effluent was diverted into the creek further upstream.
The Park had just been awarded $75,000 in grants for habitat restoration and environmental education, which had to be forfeited, and today has not been mitigated or reimbursed.
In addition, the Park has fallen into shambles and the previously frequent stewardship days no longer occur. During the past 3 years, the dig site has remained a gash in the ground , eroding into the Bay.

To make things worse, Muni has announced that the PUC Force main has failed again, which will require that they return November 15 to re dig not only the original site, but now everything else West which is the last sliver of habitat for the Frogs...which explains our call for volunteers.
Meanwhile we have constructed alternate ponds and habitat to relocate the Frogs.

To make things worse, as I suspected years ago, the Duct Banks are actually electric transmission lines, which have been re named the Islais Creek transmission lines, and in fact PGE has gone to court against the City rejecting this site based on studies indicating that the Lines failed and irreparable ,are flooded with mud and water, compressed, located on an extreme liquefaction and landfill area, and should never, ever have been drilled at this location. Meanwhile PGE has located several alternative routes, cost estimates are in the $20 to $25 million range currently. To sum it up, if Muni had never chosen this site to drill, the Park would still be alive, the Frogs alive, children would have a Park to visit,and millions of dollars of wasted tax and rate payers dollars would be saved.

More information can be found at the islais creek web site, and here related links on this subject:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/07/1690592.php
http://www.islaiscreek.com/islaiscr...inaldestructio.html
http://www.islaiscreek.com/sewerpip...lapseatislais.html
http://www.sfbayview.com/110304/po...lants110304.shtml
http://www.franciscodacosta.com/artic...pipe.html
http://www.monkeyview.net/zabudam@...ell.net/sewercollapse/index.vhtml

and general information and lots of nice photos:
http://www.islaiscreek.org/

also, here are directions to the site:
Map quest map:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp