Day 4

Food Web

Novato, as compared to the rest of Marin, is fairly rich in biodiversity. Driving down highway 101 one will see mountains with trees and shrubbery in abundance. The further North you drive, you will begin to see cattle and wetlands, you will also encounter vast open areas. This shows that the land is fairly undeveloped and barren in comparison to the rest of your drive down 101 coming from north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Directly in my backyard there is a creek, Novato creek, which is a main creek running through the city. Over the years the area surrounding it has become abundant with non-native species, grasses, and weeds. Unique to the section of the creek behind my house is a numerous amount of trees and shrubbery that are in fact native to California. I have participated in several cleanup days in the creek to remove non-native sepcies es. scotts broom. There are also several wetlands and marsh lands in the area that are very well protected by the city. The Marsh land here in Novato is right in the center of the action. Scotts Marsh is located right next to the Mall and there is another one behind the Mall. Despite efforts to developed the land, environmental activists (including my 5th grade class) protested.

My first hike I did was over spring break through a pipe that flows water into my creek. At this time water was not flowing through it steadily, however, water often rushes through it at alarming speeds often as much as a medium river current. My journey through here revealed a fews things: 1. People need to be more aware of what they dispose of near a creek 2. People need to put some effort into clearing invasive species and weeds from their back yards 3. Something needs to be done about erosion control. These three things jumped out at me and were all pretty alarming how people in my community can just turn a cold shoulder to these issues.

My second hike just last week was through the Marsh lands in Novato. "While the scenery still remains beautiful, traffic along the freeway has had a dramatic effect on the species that live in the marsh land," said neighbor Ron Moats, who was kind enough to go on a hike with me AND allow me to record our conversation. "Development has really hurt the wetlands marshes and forrests here in Novato over the past 50 years, although I have seen a dramatic change in the way people see the environment out here in the past ten."