by Nina Suzuki, Waterway Steward

The Arboretum is still open

The majority of the Arboretum is still open for walking, jogging, strolling, smelling the flowers (yes, there are still so many flowers blooming!) and all the other activities you normally enjoy in the Arboretum. Everything from the Redwood Grove to the Shields Oak Grove is open. In other words, everything is open to the west of the intersection of Old Davis Road and Arboretum Drive. Also, note that the Arboretum GATEway Garden on the east end, near the Davis Commons Shopping Center is open as well. Please see the detour map above for the exact locations of path closures in the construction area.

We’re fine tuning the pump

At certain times of the day, water can now be seen moving through each of the new weirs in the Phase One project area (see videos below), but we are still tweaking the timing and making adjustments to ensure everything functions properly.  As you may know from previous project posts, movement of the water over the weirs will help prevent surface algae build-up and add oxygen to the water for fish and other aquatic species. To fine tune the system, we will be adjusting the water flow and weir height (the weirs can be adjusted between 0-6 inches). Just like in the past, you may notice the water level is lowered in advance of potential rain events. This will also affect when we run the pump.

There is still work to do

The contractor will continue to work on the universally accessible path along the south side of the Waterway, including installing new pavers and handrails. Due to a delay in the availability of the pavers that match our existing pathway, this portion of the project was delayed a few weeks. They are also installing new irrigation in an area of the Arboretum where we did have any! This will allow for some wonderful new plantings along the new paths.

The contractor has planted the wetlands adjacent to each weir. These natural water filters will consist of a variety of beautiful California native wetland plants: torrent sedge (Carex nudata), slender sedge (Carex praegracilis), Baltic rush (Juncus balticus), Pacific rush (Juncus effusus) and spike rush (Eleocharis macrostachya).

During winter quarter 2018, our Learning by Leading Waterway Stewardship Interns will be planting thousands of native sedges and rushes along the banks between each weir.