Restoration Courses at UC Berkeley
Departments throughout the University of California at Berkeley offer restoration-related courses for undergraduates and graduate students who are interested in acquiring academic and practical knowledge of restoration science.

Introduction to Environmental Science (ES 10)
The foundation course Introduction to Environmental Studies is taught both spring and fall terms. In 1999, instructors Bill Berry and Matt Kondolf redesigned the course to include weekly field and laboratory studies of Strawberry Creek, which flows through campus. With public access points available from its headwaters to its mouth, the creek’s interface with Berkeley exemplifies the integration of the physical, biological, and social components of science-based approaches to environmental management. During the field laboratories, students conduct macroinvertebrate surveys, assess the channel’s geomorphic features, and observe restoration interventions. Lectures feature UC faculty and staff who are conducting research on urban watersheds, including Bob Charbonneau and Vine Resh’s case history of urban stream restoration using Strawberry Creek as a basis (1992). About 150 students from diverse departments, including non-science majors, enroll in this course every year.

San Francisco Bay Area Environments (ES 125)
Bill Berry’s class San Francisco Bay Area Environments has been involved in restoration-related studies of Tennessee Hollow Creek in the Presidio of San Francisco since 1998. Of the 80 students in the class, typically 8-10 do their term projects on Tennessee Hollow each year. Over a period of years, students have created a data set of water quality measurements (e.g., temperature, turbidity, pH, nitrates and phosphates) and aquatic macroinvertebrates. Perhaps of equal importance, the visibility of the students’ annual creek studies has helped to put Tennessee Hollow ‘on the map’ as a potential restoration site, and probably influenced the National Park Service and the Presidio Trust in the decision to restore the creek. Since 2001, field studies at Tennessee Hollow with Berkeley students has been a component of the curriculum at an innercity San Francisco high school. In 2004, Bill Berry broadened the term project scopes to include watersheds throughout the Bay Area, so that students could draw comparisons between creeks and land use impacts. Students refer to the disciplines of historical ecology and urban design to develop restoration strategies for urban creeks impacted by channelization, urban runoff, and invasive species.

Biology of Aquatic Insects (ESPM 115B)
Identification and ecology of aquatic insects, including their role as indicators of environmental quality.

Ecological Engineering for Water Quality Improvement (CEE 113N)
Use of the campus’ Strawberry Creek as a study area for teaching the fundamental processes that govern the effectiveness of complex natural treatment systems. Students enrolled in this course develop campus applications for managing urban runoff to Strawberry Creek, such as constructed wetlands, waste stabilization ponds, and stormwater bioretention basins.

Research in Environmental River Planning, Management, and Restoration (LA 228)
This course consists of presentations by students of thesis/dissertation proposals, progress reports, and final results of their independent research projects, and reviews of recently published research papers in the field. Students review recent issues of specific journals for all papers relevant to environmental river planning, management and restoration, and report on the papers to the seminar, broadly reviewing all the relevant papers and going into depth on one. Emphasis is on research methods and new findings.