Planet's volunteer stewards honored, get busy

Every day is Earth Day around San Francisco Bay as thousands of volunteers come out to build trails, pull weeds that clog waterways and pick up trash. Young and old from every neighborhood spread the word about recycling and energy efficiency, and congregate to plant native trees and flowers that attract pollinating bees, butterflies and birds.

This year's 39th Earth Day, officially celebrated Wednesday, honors the free workforce of millions of people worldwide who sweat and strategize on behalf of the planet, guarding turtle eggs on beaches, scooping up masses of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean and counting endangered tropical birds and plants.

In the Bay Area, Earth Day events are filling the weekend, most of them planned by volunteers and public agencies moved to find solutions for ecological problems.

In San Rafael, a high school teacher in a physics academy has figured out a way to maintain the wood and metal shop program by building bird boxes for raptors that feed on rodents, reducing the need for harmful pesticides.

In Pleasant Hill, a retired insurance man tends the slopes of Mount Diablo so hikers, wildlife and cattle can live in harmony, while neighbors of Oakland's Lake Merritt haul trash and scrape barnacles from aeration pumps to keep the tide-connected waterway a healthy home for walkers and wildlife.

Marin: Building homes for birds of prey

All her life, Alex Godbe had a deep love of wildlife. She signed up for an internship at WildCare, a San Rafael animal rehabilitation center, and was shocked to find that many creatures were being sickened or killed by pesticides put out to get rid of rodents.

Godbe started the Hungry Owl Project under the auspices of WildCare in 2002, with the mission of boosting the number of birds of prey, or raptors, that feed on rodents.

Her idea: building bird boxes as a way to increase nesting locations lost to urban development and other threats. Some species go to the boxes to lay eggs, roost and stay until the chicks fledge.

One thousand boxes later, Godbe has enlisted volunteers who continue the supply for barn and screech owls, bluebirds, bats and a new concern, the American kestrel. Some people put the boxes in their own yards while other boxes go to golf courses, vineyards and ranchers, all pestered by mice, rats and gophers.

One of the biggest box enthusiasts is Bob Holt, a teacher at San Rafael High School.

For Holt, the bird box is a way to teach students industrial arts skills that are fast disappearing in a world that has de-emphasized the value of knowing how to use tools.

His high school has a stash of table saws, mitre saws, nail guns, driver drills and routers, and the shop class teaches the tricks of the trades, turning out boxes along with regular academic classes.

-- Saturday: The Hungry Owl Project is hosting "An Afternoon With Birds of Prey," which includes a stroll through the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Allen Fish, director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, will speak, and raptors will fly in a demonstration. The cost is $45. For more information, go to www.hungryowl.org.

Contra Costa: Keeping Mount Diablo wild

When Dave Sargent rolls up remnants of barbed wire fences on the slopes of Mount Diablo, he thinks about the wildlife, cattle and hikers he's saved from wounds. He sees his mission as returning the mountain to its natural state.

Sargent retired from the insurance business four years ago and has probably put in 500 hours volunteering for Save Mount Diablo, a nonprofit that acquires and cleans up land before it's turned over for parkland.

He works harder physically than he ever has. "I love being out on the mountain," he said, knowing he's within 20 to 30 miles of 7 million people yet not seeing a single person. "There's a sense of peace with everything around you."