News

Golden Gate Audubon Society has launed the Bay Area's first live Osprey nest cam!  Two high definition cameras allow for close up views of the Osprey pair ("Rosie" and "Richmond") and they incubate eggs and raise their young on top of a World War II crane in the Richmond inner harbor. Osprey's are often seen fishing in the Stege Marsh area or perching on poles at the Richmond Field Station and the individuals may be these birds or some of the others that have moved into the Richmond area.

March 27-31, 2017 is Tsunami Preparedness Week in California. Strange as it may seem, the Richmond Field Station marsh edge is a tsunami zone. While a significant tsunami is not as likely to happen along the Bay Trail at the RFS as it might be on coastal beaches, it is a possibility and therefore we are asking you to take some time to be aware of tsunami preparedness resources and to plan ahead in the event of a large earthquake.

Sampling results for Western Stege Marsh Near-Surface Sediment Samples January 18, 2017, Sampling Event, available. Annual marsh monitoring conducted as part of RFS public health assessments have been completed since 2005. This report provides a description of this year's sampling completed January 18, 2017.

Final 2016 Groundwater Sampling Results Technical Memorandum and Cover Letter.

The final report for field sampling activities conducted in Fall 2014 is available on the Technical Documents page of this website, including the report without appendices, full report with appendices, and DTSC review l

Environmental consultants for both the University and for the neighboring Campus Bay property owners will commence annual site-wide Spring-time groundwater monitoring on both properties beginning Monday April 4, 2016. Work will take approximately a week and a half to complete.

March 20- 26, 2016 is Tsunami Preparedness Week in California, coordinated by the National Weather Service, NOAA, USGS, Cal OES and other state and federal agencies.

The technical memorandum for evaluation of four metals which occur naturally in BGC/RFS soils at concentrations greater than site-specific screening levels has been finalized and approved by DTSC. Copies of the report and DTSC approval letter can be found on the Technical Documents Page of this site, dated December 11, 2015.

The Final 2015 Groundwater Monitoring Technical Report for the RFS Site is now available on the Technical Documents Page. This report provides a description of water level measurements and chemical analyses reported for the fiscal year 2014-15 sampling which was the seventh round of groundwater sampling completing since started in 2010.

The East Bay Regional Park District will close the Bay Trail on Tuesday October 27, 2015 for repairs to the asphalt. The Connecter Trail through Gate 4 will also be posted with the closure. Bicycle and walking access to the RFS will require entry off Meade Street that day.

See the attached flyer from EBRPD for more information.

This is an update to last Friday's email (see 8/28/15 news item below) regarding the schedule of September activities. The reported Department of Homeland Security fly-over of the RFS will take place tomorrow afternoon Wednesday September 2, 2015. The helicopter will do a fly-over of the Berkeley campus in the morning and then travel to the RFS in the afternoon.

To BGC (RFS) Community,

Welcome back to the school year. September will be a busy month at the BGC (RFS) and this email is being sent to inform you about planned or expected activities at or around the RFS. Included as an attachment to the email is a Department of Toxic Substances Control Work Notice regarding upcoming field environmental investigation activities being conducted under the DTSC site investigation Order.

Drilling contractors working for UC Berkeley will install four monitoring wells along the edge of Western Stege Marsh beginning January 28, 2015. Well development and follow-up sampling will be completed in approximately a week.

BGC Operations and Facilities Management staff will commence digging two ~100 meter long shallow trenches to the west of the NRLF starting approximately Tuesday December 9, 2014. The trenches are being excavated for placement of burying fiber optic cable as part of the LBNL Fiber Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensor project. Once cables have been placed in the trenches they will be backfilled with the excavated soil. The campus Office of Environment, Health & Safety has sampled soils in the area.

On Wednesday October 29, 2014 environmental consultants for the University will use excavation equipment to determine the source of metal leading to a magnetic anomaly found during a magnetometer survey by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Work is expected to be completed the same day. For more information, see the DTSC Work Notice.

The fourth phase of field activities at the RFS Site will commence in mid- to late- October 2014. Sampling activities include soil sampling in the coastal terrace prairie, installation of passive soil vapor monitors in the field to the east of B280 to investigation carbon tetrachloride in groundwater, installation of four groundwater monitoring wells along the edge of Western Stege Marsh, and exploratory excavation in the Bulb to determine the source of a magnetic anomaly. These activities are expected to begin the week of October 20 and take two to three weeks to complete.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control has issued Work Notices for the September 30, 2014 Magnetometer Survey in the Bulb at the Former RFS and for Field Sampling Activities at the RFS and Zeneca.

Work plans for these activities are expected to be available the second and third weeks of October and will be posted when final.

The DTSC approved July 18, 2014 Final Removal Action Workplan, University of California Berkeley, Richmond Bay Campus, Research, Education, and Support Area (RES) and Groundwater within the Former Richmond Field Station Site (RAW) is now available for download from the