I have chosen to study Acacia Park in Fullerton, California. Acacia is a 8.6 acre (0.035 square km) park located within a neighbourhood in a dense, urban setting that was opened as a city park in 1977. A majority of the park is developed to be used as a standard city park with playgrounds, soccer fields, and large, hilly, grassy lawns. The lawns are populated with a variety of non-native, established trees such as Eucalyptus mannifera, American sycamore, and a variety of pine trees. The perimeter of the park is home to part of Fullerton Creek, which is part of the San Gabriel River watershed, and is one of the only parts of the creek that is protected to provide a natural ecosystem for Fullerton’s local wildlife. I plan to focus my studies and observations on this creek specifically.
The creek itself is a deep ravine, which is roughly 6m below the sidewalk/walking trail, so it is not common for people to walk along the water’s edge, although some of the trash that is left near the creek indicates that people go down there to drink beer. There is a walking bridge that is directly above the creek and a concrete drain that provides stormwater runoff into the creek during large rain events. The vegetation is very dense along the water, with overhanging trees, shrubs, and moss. The creek itself is home to schools of small fish, crawdads, invertebrates, and freshwater clams.
I started my observations at the end of the summer (August 20th, 2022) and I have decided to focus on the following questions throughout the rest of my research:
- How does climate/temperature change impact the animal and plant populations along the creek?
- How do rainstorms affect the water flow/water quality of the creek and how does that impact behavior of the animals that inhabit it and the surrounding area? (i.e. does polluted runoff from the neighbouring streets impact the population of the fish, do birds and other animals congregate more often when the water level is higher, etc.)
- How do the plant and animal populations that reside in this area of Fullerton Creek compare to other portions of the creek that were not maintained to protect the natural environment? (for example: further down the creek away from the park the creek was turned into more of a canal and stormwater management system, so instead of having soil and plants to avoid erosion, the bottom and sides of the creek are concrete to help promote the flow of water. Are there fish and crustaceans present there, if so how dense are the populations?)
