Reducing Impact on Water, Air and Land
UC Berkeley operations have direct impacts on local air quality, water quality, and ecosystems. In order to mitigate these effects, the University strives to limit its use of toxics, dispose of such toxics in a responsible manner, limit airborne emissions, improve the quality of stormwater runoff, and restore native species and ecosystems on campus in the Strawberry Creek Riparian Corridor and off-site at the Richmond Field Station prairie and marsh.
UC Berkeley Employs Alternatives to Pesticides and Other Toxins
The University continues to make progress in implementing non-toxic methods to control pests in and around structures by using Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM relies upon understanding the biology of pests in order to inhibit pest inhabitation and breeding and also using natural compounds to deter pests. Pest management personnel have explored methods such as the use of low concentration boric acid to control ants, working with landscape architects to limit plants habitable by rodents, using sprays of peanut oil and cloves to control insects, and exploring heat instead of chemical fumigation.
UC Berkeley Implements Vegetated Catchment Areas and Marshes
Stormwater runoff from paved surfaces and grounds may contain heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and pesticides that could impact the riparian ecosystem in Strawberry Creek and pollute the runoff that flows through storm drains to the San Francisco Bay. If surfaces are paved with permeable materials or runoff is diverted from a catch basin into a vegetated area, the water can be purified of contaminants as it percolates through the ground, reducing both the amount and toxicity of runoff. Two main campus parking lots, Wellman and Dwinelle, were re-designed to use permeable pavement and vegetated catchment areas to mitigate the runoff to Strawberry Creek. In addition, the Botanical Gardens entrance is serving as a demonstration project of permeable concrete.
The campus has restored approximately one acre of rare upland coastal prairie at the Richmond Field Station (RFS) and continues to implement a marsh restoration program that has led to restoration of five acres of tidal salt marsh.
CAMPUS LAND USE RESOURCES
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