Pictures of Arrow Head Marsh Inhabitants

A red hot poker plant growing inland.




Just two of way too many ground squirrels running about everywhere. It seemed like the marsh belonged to them more than anything else.


Besides the squirrels there were gophers that looked more like hamsters. This one is a Botta's Pocket Gopher.










Here are a few of the many varieties of wild flowers I passed on my way.



There were a lot of protected wading birds. I caught sight of a clapper rail but it seemed to disappear too quickly.

Works Cited

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22. then, it had already been 15 years since Carleton had introduced a synthetic chemical plant-growth regulator known as 2, England, corn, 2, and 4-D instantly spawned one of the greatest perceived advances in farming technology in a generation.. "NatraTurf .... Isn't It Time?: Science." NatraTurf .... Isn't It Time?. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2011. .

23. us, a few of. "Water Stiders." KaweahOaks.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2011. .

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Interview with Big Mama and her son Elder Titus

Big Mama is my pastor's wife from the Church of the Living God in Oakland. Elder Titus is one of her 9 children. It was impossible to record what they were saying word for word because it was very conversational, since I've known them most of my life. for that reason, I am not 100 percent sure who said what at times but Elder Titus did most of the talking. The following is paraphrased as close to the original as possible.

Question: How has the landscape changed?

1. Its changed so much until l I don’t even recognized some places anymore. There’s no more street cars a lot of the old buildings have been torn down. There was an avocado orchard near the car lot. Titus: train tracks going down 14^th street. Train going right down the middle of 105^th. Roasted peanuts. a lot of greenery used to be here. Alameda used to have a board walk and a fun-house. That’s where we used to go. You didn’t have to go to San Francisco. Lake Merritt used to be a great place to be. Huge bag of cookies at Mother’s Cookies for 25 cents. This more recent generation is deprived.

Question: What animals have came and gone?

1. 2. Same animals. Bad dogs and bad cats. This is not prehistoric age. Nothing has gone extinct! The farms have gone. Down 98^th where there are car places and buildings all of that was farm land for as far as the eye can see. Mostly greens and lettuce and a school. Over the ramp from Sobrante Park was what was then dag.

Question: What developments have made big impacts?

2. Kaiser hospital has expanded exponentially. It was that one only Kaiser building and now it’s a Faviola building and another over there . The coliseum was not there originally. The Oakland airport expanded tremendously. There’s been a migration of .. there are a lot of Caucasians on the flat lands and now they’ve moved up back to the hills but that’s coming back around again. There’s been a change of demographics in Oakland. There used to be a lot of Black owned business and now there aren’t anymore. There are Mexican businesses, and Chinese. There are a lot of churches. You have churches and liquor stores. A church on every corner and a liquor store on every corner. Port of Oakland has expanded exponentially. It’s a whole lot bigger than it was back in the days. They were able to dredge to make it bigger to get the large ships in. Down town Oakland has a lot of hotels. There used to be motels by the DMV and shortcuts also. A lot of business have moved in. Clorox building, URS, a lot of businesses have moved down town. Downtown used to be shopping and now its more commercial businesses, not retail anymore. The addition of free ways, because there are a lot more connections now. To go to San Francisco 580 connects to 880. Then the BART. They started building late 60s early 70s. Finished late 70s. from Oakland to San Francisco. They expanded from there. It was moved then further out to Hayward. Since 1947 for Big Mama and 52 years for Elder Titus.

Question: How has traffic and population changed?

3. When the businesses come in the people came in. People came here because the prices were reasonable. People who lived here moved out and people from different states moved in.

Question: Are than any policies to control population growth?

4. Nope. I don’t think so. Not here in Oakland not that I ‘m aware of.

Question: What is your favorite part of Oakland?

5. Big Momma: I don’t know. Elder Titus: A lot of people move here because its right off the water. It never gets too hot or too cold. Oakland technically is a very beautiful city. So many parks in the same area. Oakland if you think about it is a gorgeous city. Only problem is all these knuckleheads running around the city. People will not leave Oakland because, it has so much to offer.

Sulfur Cycle within Oakland

Sulfur a very useful nonmetallic element is used for many things in the United States once it is combined with other elements. Sulfuric acid is a very useful compound. (Oxygen Family)

Sulfur comes from the earth's crust and reaches the atmosphere often when a volcano erupts. It can be found in animals, plants, soil and microorganisms. When these creatures die that sulfur is released back into the atmosphere with their decomposition. The sulfur in the atmosphere becomes sulfur dioxide when it reacts with oxygen and once it reacts with the water vapor rising from the earth it becomes sulfur acid and comes back as acid rain or snow. The law of conservation of matter says that no matter is ever lost or created and the sulfur cycle proves this as it is absorbed back into the ground and it completes its rotation through its environment, in which no new sulfur is made and none of it is destroyed.

In my home in particular a lot of hydrogen sulfide is released into the air from all the hard boiled eggs me and my mom eat, especially around Easter. I am pretty sure the neighbors' cats contribute to the releasing of atmospheric sulfur by killing birds. Apparently birds require a lot of sulfur to form feathers. The same two neighbors also have two hens that lay eggs for them, which most likely adds to the sulfur the same.
As far as I know there has been no acid rain in Oakland so most of the sulfur would have to complete its rotation through the decay of other organic matter.

The San Leandro Creek

The San Leandro Creek travels through my neighbor hood from San Leandro to the Oakland airport and carries life with it, like this native water strider. To reach the creek all I have to do is walk about 300 feet and I am there.

Feral Cats in Oakland

It is believed that 70 million feral cats are living in the United States at this moment and their numbers are increasing because most of them are not spayed or neutered. The feral cats of today are descendent of domesticated cats brought to North America that have been lost or abandoned.

They are a problem mainly because they kill wild life and it is estimated that in urban areas there are 100 cat per square mile, which is more than nature can support according to National Geographic. The cats being on their own and independent kill many species of birds and other small mammals, even the endangered species such as the California least tern, which is a federally endangered bird. What makes matters worse is that they have been estimated to kill 2 whole colonies of these endangered tern a year.(U.S. Faces growing Feral Cat Problem).

American Jackals, Welcome

Oakland welcomes a few families of harmless and healthy coyotes to move in. With rolling hills and meadows and forests filled with delicious squirrels, grasshoppers, trash and the occasional rabbit it is exactly the place to be for a coyote raising young or just any coyote. As long as there is no prolonged contact with any of the local humans or their structures, life will run smoothly in this wild paradise.
Other options include making a trek across Oakland's plains to get to the marshes but that is not ideal, because of the varieties of protected bird species and the perils a coyote could face getting there. Though the humans in Oakland are sympathetic for their wild neighbors all most of these inter-species interactions should be avoided. (Coyote Facts)