Taking a walk through UC Berkeley’s campus, it is impossible not to pass over the iconic Strawberry Creek. The creek begins miles above campus, winding through Strawberry Canyon where it dives underground near Memorial Stadium, and reappears by the Women’s Faculty Club. The south fork joins with the north fork under the shade of the Eucalyptus Grove, and then promptly disappears under the Earth again just before Oxford Street. On campus, the creek serves as a hotspot of biodiversity. Twisting, meandering, jumping off of cement terracing, the creek feels dynamic and alive. The banks are lined with numerous woody plants, from oaks and redwoods, to California walnut and bay laurel. American robins, dark-eyed juncos, and white-crowned sparrows inhabit the overhead canopy of these trees. Walking closer to the water’s edge, a skunk or squirrel may run past in the understory, and a crawfish may wave from the depths of the shallow creek. This is a place to disconnect, reconnect, and appreciate the unexplored natural world so seamlessly embedded into campus.

However, as idyllic as the creek may be, its history and relationship with the school and the city of Berkeley have been tumultuous. In fact, without local community organizers and landscape architects who spearheaded Strawberry Creek Park, the Berkeley campus would likely be the only area within the city of Berkeley where the creek still remains above ground. The majority of the creek currently resides beneath sidewalks, roads, and buildings. Until recently, the creek was plagued by chronic pollution and mismanagement.

Strawberry Creek once experienced a reciprocal relationship with the people who utilized its waters. Up until the early 1700s, when the Spanish introduced cattle and horse grazing, the creek was almost exclusively used by the Huchin-Ohlone speaking peoples of the area. During this period numerous species of now locally absent fish, including steelhead trout, salmon, and shellfish could be found in the creek. The remnants of a shellmound, a collection of empty shellfish shells and other bones used for both burial and ceremonial purposes, sits at the point where Strawberry Creek meets the San Francisco Bay. The shellmound, considered a Berkeley Landmark, was destroyed following colonization and was, until recently, covered by a restaurant parking lot. In 2024, it was returned to the Ohlone and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.

Once cattle and horse grazing was introduced, the health of the creek deteriorated quickly, marking the beginning of decades of ecological decline. Not only did grazing and subsequent overgrazing have a negative effect on hillside structure and soil composition, runoff of animal waste into the creek also killed native species. Disturbed soil prevents insect reproduction, which is vital to riparian ecosystem balance. Years of dairy and cattle farming, as well as settlement of miners created an excess of nitrogen and silt, undermining the stream’s original ecological integrity.

By 1857, University of California regents were searching for a location to establish a campus. Allured by the prospect of a year-round water supply and irrigation source, UC Berkeley was established around Strawberry Creek. Changes happened rapidly. The urban development of the Berkeley hillside led to an increase in impervious surfaces, therefore increasing rainwater runoff, which in turn led to greater erosion and flooding. Because of this, in 1882, five check dams were installed, but this only added to the erosion problems and resulted in the loss of many native trees. Eventually, the middle fork was filled to make way for a running track (now Weill Hall), and the Eucalyptus Grove which still exists today, was created as a wind buffer. Five years later, the channel was straightened, which created a 20-foot incision through the middle of campus.

By the 1890s and into the 1900s utilization of the creek had become standardized; water was taken from the cleaner upstream, and downstream became an open sewer system. Foul odours emanated from the campus, and waste was readily dumped into the Strawberry Creek waters. Channelization of several parts of the creek coupled with growing urbanization and failing retaining walls exacerbated the worsening condition of the creek. High winter water levels increased bank erosion, and these deepening incisions in the stream made way for even faster moving water. The hydrological regime was completely altered from what it once was, and the city suffered from clogged culverts, stream riprap, and occasional flooding in the northside and downtown.

Instead of addressing the contamination and mismanagement issues, most of the creek was moved belowground. Installing more culverts and pouring concrete over the top of the creek did not solve the pollution problem, and pollution risks grew alongside the development of the Radiation Lab (now Lawrence Hall of Science), built in close proximity to the creek, where waste handling practices raised concerns about contamination. It was around this time, the 1920s, that steelhead trout ceased using Strawberry Creek altogether. The construction of Memorial Stadium prompted moving a section of the south fork to run through a culvert. In 1952 a tentative sewage treatment plan was implemented by East Bay Municipal Utilities, rerouting the majority of the campus’s sanitary sewer drains to a treatment plant. While this helped somewhat, because some sewers still drained into the creek, the ecosystem continued to degrade and the area was considered a public health risk.

The first step toward actively restoring the health and integrity of the creek came in 1987 with the development of the Strawberry Creek Management Plan (SCMP) by Berkeley’s Office of Environment, Health & Safety. This was a multi-pronged approach, beginning with finally rerouting all remaining sewer pipelines out of the creek. The results of this plan are still felt today - solidifying structural changes has made way for restoration efforts to be focused on returning the creek ecosystem to primarily native inhabitants - for both animal and plant. Return of fish, increased levels of macroinvertebrate diversity, and other health markers reflect the sustained effort to improve the health of the creek. The Strawberry Creek Restoration Program, created in conjunction with the 1987 SCMP, now primarily led by students, continues to actively work on creek restoration today.

Talking with a former student employee of the SCRP, the depth of this creek’s impact on its community becomes clear. Alessandra Lucchessi, 22, is a senior at UC Berkeley who worked for the restoration program her sophomore and junior years. To her, the creek represents so much more than a component of a watershed - it is a symbol for community to be built around, for tangible action to be taken, a representation of how the hard work of dedicated people can make actual positive environmental change, and furthering that sense of connection to a place. The creek is grounding. In conversation with Alessandra, she talks about the importance of education. A lack of public outreach can make outside recruitment and getting more people excited about becoming involved with a local project much harder. The backbone has been motivated students, who bring, “renewed intention, better communication, and stronger community engagement.” The key to maintaining this, Alessandra says, is continuity, which is something the SCRP has been able to foster throughout the last 20 years, in large part thanks to Tim Pine, the program’s current director.

From an ecological standpoint, the creek has changed substantially. Many banks once choked with English Ivy (Hedera helix) and invasive grasses, now host native shrubs such as California toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) thanks to the work of the SCRP. An increase in fish and diversity of macro invertebrates speaks to the wider health of the creek, a reflection as well on the greater Strawberry Creek watershed.
‍

However, there is still work to be done. Ivy still lines many segments of the creek. Trash can still be found floating through the waters. Additionally, the creek does not only run through campus. There’s restoration work to be done off campus too. An inspiring example of this is the Kingman Hall Creek Restoration project, which, started by a group of dedicated students, has been tackling a segment of the North Fork which runs through Kingman Hall. 

On campus, off campus, there are numerous ways to become involved in this dedicated and passionate community. As students, the history of Strawberry Creek may go unnoticed, right under our feet, so to speak. Understanding the complex journey that brought the creek to its current state helps contextualize this landscape beyond what we see on a daily walk to class, as well as provide an opportunity to invigorate the community landscape through local action and organization. Strawberry Creek not only connects the campus to the greater Bay ecosystem, but the people who inhabit it too.