News

Another nesting sesaon (February 1- August 31) for the endangered California Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) has come to an end. Western Stege Marsh at the Richmond Field Station has had successful clutches of rails documented in past seasons and on August 26, 2011 a juvenile rail was observed at the Bay Trail crossing of Meeker Slough.

Early fall is a good time to observe rails in the Western Stege Marsh area as they emerge from nesting and begin to disperse for the winter. The best times to see the rails along Meeker Slough are at low tides near sunrise or sunset.

Beginning June 20, 2011, environmental consultants for Zeneca will be drilling borings to collect groundwater sampling in thirteen locations on the Zeneca site along the property boundary between the RFS and neighboring Zeneca property between Buildings 194 and 163. See the DTSC Work Notice for more information.

The final sampling report for the first phase of groundwater monitoring in the wells installed in Fall 2010 has been placed on teh Techical Documents page of this website and is available at the following link: Phase 1 Groundwater Sampling Results Technical Memorandum

The State of California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has issued a Work Notice that describes work to begin in the vicinity of the southeast parking lot of RFS B478 (Forest Products Laboratory) starting Wednesday May 4, 2011. Environmental Cconsultants working for the owners of the neighboring former Zeneca property will complete 12 additional soil borings as part of a treatability study.

The second round of groundwater monitoring of RFS groundwater monitoring wells installed in Fall 2010 will occur the weeks of April 11 and April 18, 2011. Water levels and samples for chemical analysis will be collected by campus consultants. Work is expected to take a week and a half.

UC Berkeley staff from the Office of Environment, Health & Safety captured more video of the endangered California clapper rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) in Western Stege Marsh at the Richmond Field Station on December 9, 2010. You can view the video on the Restoration Page or go directly to the Youtube link at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/karlclappereel#p/a/u/0/CqQP61zhR2g

Hydrogen Fueling Station Installation October- December 2010

Installation of 52 groundwater monitoring wells at the Richmond Field Station begun in July 2010 is mostly complete. Environmental consultants are now beginning groundwater sampling for chemical analysis. In addition, around seventeen exising research water wells that are no longer needed will be closed through gouting beginning in late August. For more information on the scope of work, see the July 19, 2010 news item below.

Environmental consultants for UC Berkeley will begin implemenation of the Final Phase 1 Groundwater Investigation Field Sampling Workplan (FSW) starting Friday July 23, 2010. The investigation includes installation of temporary groundwater monitoring wells and closure of existing research groundwater wells no longer needed. The current schedule calls for utility clearance to begin Friday July 23, 2010 and drilling to begin Monday July 26, 2010.

Beginning today, the RFS Environmental website has transferred its previous domain from rfs.berkeley.edu to the RFS Operations website. The new domain for the RFS Environmental website is rfs-env.berkeley.edu.

This switch was made to establish the RFS Operations website as the primary portal for all RFS acitivities and news, including environmental concerns. This website will still serve as a principal and current source for environmental news, monitoring data and resources.

The subsurface borings in the B478 as reported below (see March 15, 2010 news item) have been rescheduled to April 13 and 14, 2010.

Contractors for Campus Bay are currently mobilizing to begin removal of a stockple of soil that will be disposed of as hazardous waste at a State approved off-site disposal facility. Approximately 20 to 40 truckloads of soil are expected to be removed on Wednesday December 23, 2009. More soil will be hauled off site during the week of December 28, 2009. A total of approximately 80 truckloads will be removed. Following disposal of this stockpile, additional non-hazardous stockpiled soil will be graded on-site to level an area to prevent ponding.

Environmental consultants working for CSV at Campus Bay have completed groundwater injections on the Richmond Field Station along the fence line east and south of B478 as part of the treatibility study being completed at Campus Bay. The work included injection of an environmentally safe compound that promotes activity of soil bacteria to enhance natural degradation of solvents in soil and ground water. With injections complete the wells will be monitored periodically for up to a year with the first monitoring to be completed in January 2010.

Beginning Wednesday December 2, 2009, environmental consultants working for CSV at Campus Bay will begin work on the Richmond Field Station along the fence line east and south of B478. As has been occurring for about two weeks at the former Zeneca site and along South 46th St., workers will complete injection of an environmentally safe compound that promotes activity of soil bacteria to enhance natural degradation of solvents in soil and ground water. Work on the RFS property will take about three days to complete and is expected to be finished by the end of the week (December 5, 2009).

As described in the September 22, 2009 news story a pilot treatibility study designed to degrade residual solvents in the soil and groundwater is being completed near the RFS front gate enterance. Workers at the trucks seen at the former Zeneca site this week began injection of an environmentally safe compound that promotes activity of soil bacteria to enhance natrual degradation of solvents in soil and ground water. The injection work will continue for the next two weeks.

On October 13, 2009, the largest October storm to hit Northern California since the infamous Columbus Day Storm of 1962, walloped the Bay Area with heavy winds and record rainfall. At the RFS, a storm total of 4.2 inches of rain was collected in the EH&S rain gauge.