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Willow stakes ready for volunteers to install along the creek bed in Dimond Canyon
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FOSC is a volunteer-based, community organization. Your donations go directly to support our projects and programs in the Sausal Creek Watershed. Check out the multiple ways to support FOSC, including contributions to our For the Future endowment fund!
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Watershed Overview Puts Volunteers' Successes and Enthusiasm on Display
At this year's State of the Watershed meeting on January 17, site leaders from 16 of FOSC's 23 restoration sites presented a remarkable array of photos and information, detailing their goals, accomplishments, and challenges. We heard inspiring stories of overgrown creek banks reclaimed, former garbage dumps transformed, and endangered species brought back from the brink. From Fruitvale Bridge Park, where Sausal Creek meets the estuary, to Shepherd Canyon in the Oakland hills, the range of stories, successes, and setbacks was dramatic.
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Now Hiring Education and Outreach Coordinator
FOSC is looking for an Education and Outreach Coordinator who is both an environmental educator and an engaging community organizer. This self-directed team player will implement our K-12 education programs and engage the community through our newsletter, social media, community meetings, and other activities. He or she will also take the lead on expanding our Walkable Watershed program in the Fruitvale community. If you know someone who's passionate about the local ecology, loves kids, and has community-building skills, please pass on this job announcement. Thank you!
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Our Wild Rainbow Trout Need Your Help
A routine assessment of Sausal Creek immediately upstream of the El Centro Avenue bridge and culvert revealed good news and bad news for our rainbow trout.
On a positive note, the massive oak tree that fell into the creek last year has created a natural settling basin that has trapped sand and sediment and has arrested the erosion of the creek bed (down-cutting). This has stabilized the creek and has allowed for the presence of deep and cool pools of water that are crucial to the survival and reproduction of our fish.
The bad news is that the sensitive stream bank next to the pools is showing signs of increased trampling and compaction from human activity. This is limiting the growth of plants, shrubs, and trees that stabilize the creek, provide cool shade and complex habitat for the fish, and shelter a diversity of insects that comprise their diet.
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Seeking YouTube Aficionados
FOSC is looking for a few amateur videographers to help capture the enthusiasm of our volunteers. Videos are anticipated to be 15-30 seconds and shot with mobile phones or similar equipment. Story boarding and post production experience welcome. Send inquiries to Board Member Jeff Stephens.
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Friends of the Month: Keep Dimond Clean and Dimond Park Litter Walk
A huge shout out to two ongoing Dimond Improvement Association (DIA) projects that, week in and week out, help keep litter out of the creek: Keep Dimond Clean and Dimond Park Litter Walk. Keep Dimond Clean is composed of about 20 dedicated volunteers who collect 12,000 pounds of litter (six tons!) every year. In 2009 Kathleen Russell had the idea to organize litter walks, and together with Stan Dodson she forged the group and the schedule that continues to this day--Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Thanks to sponsor La Farine, volunteers have been fueled by coffee and pastries as they remove litter from public sidewalks and gutters in the Dimond business district, preventing it from entering the storm drains and ending up in our creek, our bay, and our ocean. A big thank you to DIA Board Member Zandile Christian for now chairing this ongoing project. For the Dimond Park Litter Walks, Marion Mills is the driving force, leading volunteers monthly (first Mondays) November-March, then weekly on Mondays from April-October. In addition to picking up trash in the park, volunteers report repairs needed to Oakland Public Works Department. Thank you to all who volunteer with both of these "love our creek" projects!
Keep Dimond Clean and Dimond Park Litter Walks are listed on the Dimond Calendar.
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Scientific name:
Thamnophis atratus zaxanthus
Common name:
Diablo Range gartersnake
Often during a warm spring morning, while hiking or leading a workday at the Fern Ravine picnic area, I glimpse a small, bright, yellow- or orangish-striped snake quickly slithering from a patch of sun-flecked ground into the adjacent wetland or creek. This striking serpent is the endemic Diablo Range gartersnake, a subspecies of aquatic gartersnake that frequents creeks, ponds, wetlands, and adjacent uplands here in the Sausal Creek Watershed and in other parts of central and southern California.
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In January Oakland Volunteer Park Patrol logged their 5,000th volunteer hour since June 2016. Thank you to the dozens of park patrol volunteers! In addition to being a smiling face with trail map in hand, these folks are collecting valuable data long desired by FOSC: In 2017 they encountered 7,259 dogs, 74% of them off-leash. The tremendous efforts from the patrol not only contribute to the resiliency of Oakland's beloved trails but bring attention to the need for improved public education on these environmental issues.
Thank you to Ratcliffe Architects for printing the updated, poster-sized FOSC sites map for our State of the Watershed meeting. And thank you to La Farine-Dimond for once again providing goodies for the meeting.
The amazing and talented Eagle Scouts of Oakland strike again! Last month Sean Johnson and Zach Jolly completed their Eagle Scout projects at the FOSC nursery.
Sean and his amazing crew constructed a new run of steps to the nursery hillside trail to make it accessible for volunteers and visitors alike. This will allow us to expand our demonstration garden plantings inward towards t
he nursery grounds and create a stronger weed buffer.
Zach's project focused on updating nursery sanitation practices to prevent the spread of Phytophthora. He and his crew power-washed and sealed two propagation tables, five shade house benches, and the sink area. This will prevent Phytophthora and other water-borne pathogens from contaminating the wood, and it will make them easier to clean.
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Event Calendar
RESTORATION WORKDAYS
Beaconsfield Canyon
(last Saturdays)
Sat., Feb. 24, 9 a.m.-noon
Bridgeview Trail
(2nd Sundays)
Sun., March 11, 9-11 a.m.
Bridgeview Trailhead Pollinator Garden
(1st & 3rd Sundays)
Sun., Feb. 18 & March 4, 9-11 a.m.
Dimond Park and Canyon
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., Feb. 17, 9 a.m.-noon
Dimond Park Native Plant Demonstration Garden
(1st Saturdays)
Sat., March 3, 10 a.m.-noon
Marj Saunders Park
(1st Mondays)
Mon., March 5, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Montclair Railroad Trail
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., Feb. 17, 9-11 a.m.
Wood Park
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., Feb. 17, 10 a.m.-noon
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TRAIL CREW
Meet at Dimond Park Scout Hut
(last Sundays)
Sun., Feb. 25, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
NURSERY WORKDAYS
FOSC Native Plant Nursery
Joaquin Miller Park
(2nd and 4th Saturdays)
Sat., Feb. 24 & March 10, 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Save the Date
MEMBER MEETING
Dimond Library
Wed., March 21, 7-9 p.m.
Leanne Grossman,
Hummers Delight: A Brief Look at the Lifestyle of the World's Smallest Birds
Thank you to all of our nursery volunteers!
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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
Education Manager
510-853-3533
Freddy Gutierrez
Fruitvale Outreach Coordinator
Kimra McAfee
Executive Director
510-501-3672
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Photo Credits: Andrew Aldrich, Stan Dodson, Sean Johnson, Dr. Robert Leidy, Jill Miller, MIke Petouhoff, Jill Sunahara, Erin Todd
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