Berkeleyside reports
Last week, Tilden Park’s Jewel Lake was a dry meadow. After the weekend rainstorm, its watery glory was temporarily restored. In the long run, it’s shrinking.
Constructed in 1921, Jewel Lake suffers from a significant buildup in sediment from Wildcat Creek. The lake dam, originally meant in 1921 to catch water for human use, prevents fish like trout and salmonoids from migrating upstream. There are several schools of trout in the creek, but they are all located in different parts — some at Lake Anza, some at Jewel Lake, some elsewhere along the water. They don’t intermingle in part because of the dam that prevents upstream spawning.
Located near the Wildcat Canyon Trail and the Lower Packrat Trail of Tilden Park, the lake is on a trajectory to fill with sediment and become a sort of wetland-like area or meadow — and not just in drought years.
Four new concept plans commissioned by the East Bay Regional Park District show what might become of the lake.
Read more at What to do about Jewel Lake? Leave it, dredge it or reroute the creek?
Natural History Wanderings 
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