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A big thank you to everyone who volunteered on Earth Day!
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Help FOSC Win $3,000 (or More!) on Thursday, May 4th
For the third year, FOSC is participating in East Bay Gives instead of our usual appeal for support this time of year. Each hour on May 4, cash prizes will be awarded to nonprofits meeting certain donation criteria. From 4-5 p.m. is the Environmental Hour, during which the environmental organization with the most individual donors will win $3,000. What a way to leverage your donation to FOSC! The minimum donation is only $20.
All you have to do is visit our website,
www.sausalcreek.org, on Thursday, May 4, and click on the DONATE button. You will be linked to
FOSC's East Bay Gives page and an online donation form will appear. If you are able to donate more than $20, consider donating on the hour at 6 a.m., 11 a.m., and 9 p.m.--donations will be matched until the limit is reached! Want to play an even bigger role? Click
here for the full list of prizes we're going for.
If you haven't already, please Like Us on
Facebook and Follow Us on
Instagram and
Twitter. Each year we have expanded our donor base thanks to FOSCers helping us amplify via social media.
Last year Friends generously donated $16,500 during East Bay Gives and earned $5,433 in cash prizes for FOSC. With your help, we can achieve our goal of raising $25,000 this May. We will use these gifts for our year-round environmental education programs, to grow native plants and provide other support for restoration sites throughout the watershed, and to move forward with the first
Walkable Watershed pilot projects.
If you cannot give online on May 4, mid-year
donation checks are still very much appreciated. Thank you!
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Sausal Creek Watershed is home to some of the last remaining stands of pallid manzanita (
Arctostaphylos pallida). The state-listed endangered and federally-listed threatened pallid manzanita is only found in the maritime chaparral habitat of western Alameda and Contra Costa counties. This graceful woody shrub has smooth red bark, urn-shaped flowers, and berries reminiscent of little apples or manzanitas, but it is distinguished from closely related species by a pale white or "pallid" bloom on young leaves. For thousands of years the fire-adapted pallid manzanita thrived in the East Bay hills, but today it is threatened with extinction.
Discover this rare beauty on Endangered Species Day with an interpretive pallid manzanita walk during which we will discuss this fascinating endemic species and efforts to restore it. Meet in front of the Chabot Space and Science Center. We will tour the Chabot stand before heading over to the Big Trees Trail pallid manzanita site. Walk time is approximately one hour, and total walk distance is less than .5 mile; participants are welcome to drive between sites.
Pallid Manzanita Walk
Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Boulevard, Oakland
Friday, May 19, 10-11 a.m.
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Shepherd Canyon Geology Walk: Rocks of the Dinosaur Era
If Your Parks Are Gneiss Don't Take Them for Granite!
We quickly reached the 25-person limit for the May 6 geology walk. (This walk is in lieu of an indoor meeting this May because of the ongoing Dimond Library renovation.) If you want to be added to the wait list, please email
[email protected] or call (510) 501-3672. Those on the wait list will have first dibs if another geology walk is scheduled.
If you have recommendations for speakers or walk docents for future meetings, please
email.
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Join Our Small But Incredible Team
Are you a passionate environmental educator, tireless community organizer, and creek lover? We are looking for a great team player to lead this summer's outdoor environmental education programming and continue the Fruitvale community engagement process so we can start working on pilot projects in the Sausal Creek Walkable Watershed Concept Plan. Check out (and share) the job announcement.
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Friend of the Month: David Bolaños
I am sad to share that Fruitvale Friend David Bolaños passed away on April 12. David contacted me about his vision of daylighting the creek near International Blvd. after helping at Fruitvale Bridge Park on Earth Day 2012. Eventually our conversations helped lead to the Walkable Watershed process, in which David was involved every step of the way. David truly believed FOSC to be the organization to bring the creek to life in his neighborhood, and he worked hard to help FOSC foster community connections. I will miss his humor and his insight. I look forward to creating more green space and sharing creek love in his neighborhood to honor his memory.
I thought there would be much more time to honor this passionate Friend. I hope this message reminds all Friends to daily thank those around us whose dreams are infectious and whose kindness makes life easier.
--Kimra McAfee
"There are unpaved and asphalted lots but no buildings in this stretch, which is the natural end of Sausal Creek's channel. A park with a playlot and maybe even a wading pool ending at International Blvd. would do wonders for this area, which desperately needs more green space west of Fruitvale Avenue. A path along the restored channel would link this to Josie de la Cruz Park ... I realize there's not much money around for projects like this, but it's never too early to start dreaming." --David Bolaños, April 21, 2012
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Explore the Watershed
Mooove Out There and See It in Bloom
Scientific name:
Heracleum maximum
Plants that are at the large end of the spectrum for their families seem to get names like "cow parsnip," "elk clover," or "bull thistle." Cow parsnip, an extreme cousin of a carrot, is no slouch. It dies to the ground after it makes its seeds in the summer, but it grows back in the next rainy season, topping out at six to seven feet. The leaves are huge, the flower heads are huge, and it produces huge amounts of thin, ligh
t brown seeds.
Check out web sources for ethnobotanical information, including food, flutes, weaving material, and medicinals.
If you do decide to harvest some, be sure you can tell it apart from its evil cousin, poison hemlock, a nonnative that is all too common in the watershed. The purple spots on the hemlock are a "dead" give-away! Also, the poison hemlock has divided "ferny" leaves, while cow parsnip's leaves are entire. (Of course, it's against park rules to pick the plants in the park.) Actually, if you're restoring a creekside area by removing poison hemlock, cow parsnip is a good replacement plant; it loves the same kind of damp soil conditions.
So if cow parsnip likes it wet, why is it growing in the hundreds and hundreds, a hundred feet up, on the north-facing slope in Beaconsfield Canyon, way above the creek? There's a fault between two different rock units on that hill, giving rise to wet soil conditions most of summer. If you like cow parsnip, do check out Beaconsfield Canyon in a couple of weeks. The cow parsnips should be in full bloom!
--Karen Paulsell
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Team Oakland: Summer Jobs for Oakland Youth
Team Oakland is a city-sponsored summer employment program for Oakland youth between the ages of 15 and 24. Team Oakland participants gain practical job training experience through meaningful city beautification and cleanup projects. The program seeks to provide a formative experience for young people through participation in city cleanups, park maintenance, habitat restoration, community outreach, and trainings on work and life skills and environmental topics. Those interested may complete an application at the office of the Youth Employment Partnership (YEP), 2300 International Blvd., Oakland. Applicants should be sure to note their interest in the environment/outdoors and Team Oakland. Applicants interested in participating in FOSC workdays and trainings should also specify this on their application. YEP is also hiring team leaders for Team Oakland; click here for the job announcement.
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We so appreciate the scores of volunteers who helped at the eight Earth Day sites in the watershed on Saturday, April 22. They kept trash from flowing to the bay, liberated native plants while reducing fire fuel, removed graffiti, and improved trails--basically loved our planet. Kudos! Thank you to Bakesale Betty, Batch Pastries, La Farine-Dimond, Little Caesar's-Dimond, Noah's Bagels-Montclair, and Peet's Coffee & Tea-Dimond
for fueling the workers in the watershed.
A hearty round of applause and a week's worth of gold stars to Karen Paulsell for her awesome Native Plant Week posts on FOSC's Facebook page from April 15 to April 21. You don't have to have a Facebook account to enjoy them, so check 'em out here. Or just keep reading the monthly newsletter as we'll be shamelessly reusing them (like this issue's cow parsnip feature). Karen, thank you for bestowing your vast knowledge of the watershed's flora with us in such delightful expositions!
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Event Calendar
Beaconsfield Canyon
(last Saturdays)
Sat., May 27, 9 a.m.-noon
Bridgeview Trail
(2nd Sundays)
Sun., May 14, 10 a.m.-noon
Bridgeview Trailhead Pollinator Garden
(1st & 3rd Sundays)
Sun., May 7 & 21, 10 a.m.-noon
Dimond Park
Sat., May 20, 10 a.m.-noon
Marj Saunders Park
(1st Mondays)
Mon., May 1, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Montclair Railroad Trail
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., May 20, 9-11 a.m.
WD Wood Park
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., May 20, 9-11 a.m
TRAIL CREW
Location TBD
Sun. May 28, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
PALLID MANZANITA CREW
Chabot Space and Science Center
Sat., May 13, 9 a.m.-noon
Email Jill for details on becoming a pallid manzanita crew member.
PALLID MANZANITA WALK
Chabot Space and Science Center
Fri., May 19, 10-11 a.m.
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FOSC Native Plant Nursery
Joaquin Miller Park
(2nd and 4th Saturdays)
Sat., May 13 & 27, 1:30-4:30 p.m.
SEED COLLECTION HIKES
Location TBD
Thurs., May 25, 10 a.m.-noon
J
oin the Seed Hike Google Group
here
GEOLOGY WALK
Rocks of the Dinosaur Era in Shepherd Canyon led by Andrew Alden
Sat., May 6, 2-4:30 p.m.
Be added to Wait List
WEED MANAGEMENT TRAINING FOR VOLUNTEERS
East Bay Workshop on Sat., June 3
FLYER
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Get Involved
Our mission is to restore, maintain, and protect the Sausal Creek Watershed. We educate future generations, involve the community in local environmental stewardship, and collaborate with agencies and other nonprofits to have a positive impact on the local ecosystem.
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FOSC needs your support --
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Contact:
Jill Miller
Restoration & Education Manager
510-853-3533
Kimra McAfee
Executive Director
510-501-3672
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Photo Credits: Andrew Alden, Chelsea Feldman, Michelle Krieg, Kimra McAfee, Jill Miller, Karen Paulsell, Mike Perlmutter
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