Blog Post
Copeland Creek Restoration: A Model for Creek Restoration on a University Campus
Presented at the Science Symposium in April, 2017.
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Blog Post
Copeland Creek Work Day
After months of planning, on Saturday, March 25, a group of volunteers gathered on the Sonoma State University campus to start the “muddy boots” part of our project to restore the riparian habitat along Copeland Creek. Over the past couple of weeks, our SSU project team identified native plants that we want to keep, and today our work team pulled up invasive species around these natives, to give them the best possible chance to thrive, and to make certain they’re not accidentally pulled up during a future phase of restoration work. (All photos © the author, except where noted).
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Blog Post
Wildlife on Copeland Creek
On Saturday, March 25th, SSU collaborated with the California Conservation Corps’ Watership Stewardship Program to start work on our riparian restoration project (more details about the work we did on Saturday coming soon). One of the side benefits of working alongside the creek is encountering some of the wildlife that shares the campus with us. Here are a few of the highlights of our day . . .
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Blog Post
Copeland Creek
This is the stretch of Copeland Creek running through the Sonoma State University campus, right behind the Environmental Technology Center. In nearly 10 years on campus, I’ve never seen Copeland Creek with this much water, or running so fast. It was worth giving my Conservation Biology students a quick break Read more
Blog Post
Catching Critters in the Creek
By Amy Unruh: After weeks of logistical issues, we were finally able to get ahold of the Sherman traps from the biology department that we would be using to capture and analyze the small mammals along Copeland Creek. With the guidance of Biology professor Wendy St. John, we set out Read more
Blog Post
Problem Species
By Manuel Hernandez and Julianne Bradbury: Most problems are relative, right? In an urban creek like Copeland Creek, certain species are bigger problems than others. The Restoration Ecology class at Sonoma State has detected a whole spectrum of problem species living in and around the creek that might not be Read more
Blog Post
Blogging with Frogs- Acoustic Monitoring of Riparian Frogs
By Paolo Solari: Frogs are both terrestrial and aquatic animals, which means they live both on the land and in the water, making all parts of the riparian corridor and creek potentially critical habitat. Pacific Tree Frogs are noisy critters, especially the males, which make relatively loud breeding calls. Additionally, Read more
Blog Post
Who’s your neighbor? Wildlife Monitoring at SSU
By Danielle Wegner: Another viewpoint we wanted to incorporate when examining the Copeland Creek is how species with large ranges utilize the creek that cuts through the north end of Sonoma State. We grouped this category into the wide range apex species, which incorporates species such as mountain lion, bobcat, deer, Read more
Blog Post
Hide and Seek in the Creek – Coverboards
By Paolo Solari: Coverboards have been used in amphibian and other terrestrial vertebrate studies for many years, and can be a great way to determine which animals are present in an area. Coverboards offer suitable nest sites for terrestrial vertebrates (mostly amphibians) and offer protection from predators. They also are Read more
Blog Post
Copeland Creek Restoration Project: Monitoring and Assessing Water Quality and the Aquatic Community
By Niall Ogburn and Michael Lutz: This semester we were tasked with the responsibility of testing the water quality in Copeland Creek, as well as getting our hands dirty and finding out what kind or organisms live in the creek (and if they’re native or non-native). To test water quality, Read more