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Fern Ravine Trail in Joaquin Miller Park
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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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State of the Watershed 2019
This year's theme for our annual State of the Watershed event is Citizen Science in the Sausal Creek Watershed. Leaders of various FOSC-affiliated citizen science teams will share details about their projects, their results, and how they got involved. Restoration site leaders from throughout the watershed will share their current projects and priorities for the year during a poster session from 6:30-7 p.m.
Please come to learn more about Friends of Sausal Creek's work and volunteer opportunities. If you want to help organize your neighbors, get involved in local citizen science efforts, or adopt a spot, don't miss this meeting.
Citizen Science in the Sausal Creek Watershed
Dimond Library, 3565 Fruitvale Avenue
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 6:30
-9 p.m.
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The Tides They Are a-Changin'
Join us for our third annual King Tides Walk Along the Waterfront. Local historian Dennis Evanosky will share the fascinating history of the waterway along the Oakland shoreline. FOSC Education and Outreach Coordinator Nicki Alexander will discuss how sea level rise is expected to impact our city and the local ecology. This event takes place during one of the King Tides of 2019, so bring your camera to help document what our daily tides might look like in the future as a result of a rising sea.
King Tides Walk Along the Waterfront
Fruitvale Bridge Park
Sunday, January 20, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
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Explore the Watershed
Rainbow Trout Respond to Creek Connectivity Changes
How Rainbow Trout Have Responded to Changing Stream Connectivity in the Sausal Creek Watershed
by Robert Leidy, EPA
Common Name: Rainbow Trout
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Figure 1. View of a natural, physically connected reach of Sausal Creek in Dimond Canyon, 1901 (photo from Nourse). |
Scientific Name: Oncorhynchus mykiss
Natural streams typically form a dendritic pattern on the landscape similar to the branching twigs of a tree that eventually connect to form a primary or trunk channel. An important ecological characteristic of this natural dendritic pattern is connectivity, or the state of being physically joined together. Sausal Creek was characterized by a dendritic pattern with strong longitudinal and lateral physical and ecological connections before the drastic changes brought to the Sausal Creek watershed by European settlers. These connections allowed for the unimpaired longitudinal (up- and downstream), lateral (floodplain), and vertical (the hyporheic zone, or the area beneath the stream bottom containing porous sediment where shallow groundwater and surface water mix) movement of water, sediment, nutrients, and organisms (e.g. resident and anadromous rainbow trout, or steelhead) (Figure 1).
Rainbow trout and steelhead are the same species, Oncorhynchus mykiss. The anadromous (ocean-going) form of O. mykiss are called steelhead, and the resident or nonanadromous form are called rainbow trout. Both types can live and reproduce in the same stream. Historically Sausal Creek supported spawning migrations of steelhead. After hatching, juvenile steelhead were reared in the creek for two to three years before migrating into San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, where they continued to grow for several years before returning as large adults to spawn again in Sausal Creek. Some juvenile steelhead likely never migrated to sea but remained in Sausal Creek to live their lives as resident rainbow trout.
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FOSC Friend of the Month: Bruce Rucker
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| Bruce (right) with wife Jeannine (left) |
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Though Bruce is a relative newcomer to the FOSC family, he is a long-time resident of the Sausal Creek Watershed. He and his family (wife Jeannine, daughter Mayfair, and dogs Dexter and Maybelle) consider Joaquin Miller Park and Woodminster Ampitheater their backyard.
A licensed geologist who investigates and remediates hazardous waste sites, Bruce has a bachelor's degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia, and a master's degree in Geology from California State University, Hayward (now East Bay).
He has found at FOSC productive and satisfying outlet for his love of nature and community. He loves getting dirt under his fingernails at the native plant nursery and taking on the myriad maintenance and restoration projects available to volunteers.
Bruce would like to thank Executive Director Anna Marie Schmidt for the suggestion to volunteer, and Nursery and Restoration Manager Jay Cassianni for integrating him into the FOSC family.
Bruce's high energy and hard work have marked him as a stellar FOSC volunteer. Thank you, Bruce, for your hard work this fall and winter, especially during our October native plant sale preparations.
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Phillip and helpers building stairs
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Eagle Scout candidate Phillip Ku from Troop 234 in Moraga completed his Eagle Scout project in Beaconsfield Canyon. Phil designed, built, and installed a series of redwood steps up a steep incline that had been difficult for volunteers to navigate. He sunk 4" x 4" redwood posts in the ground connected to a riser and filled in the treads with dirt and gravel--some of the sturdiest steps in the watershed!
Thank you, Phil, for a great job and big contribution to our restoration efforts.
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Our spring Education and Stewardship Internship begins February 1! Check out our
Job Announcement
for more information, and please distribute throughout your networks.
If you are interested, please email a thoughtful cover letter and a resumé to education@sausalcreek.org by January 18. Priority will be given to earlier applications.
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Introducing the 2019 Board of Directors
All 14 FOSC board members have elected to continue to serve for 2019. See the bios of each of our fabulous board members
here.
As you know, all FOSC board positions are volunteer positions. We are grateful to Jeff Stephens for donning the mantle of president this coming year, veteran Eleanor Dunn for lending her experience as VP, Beth Keer for assuming the role of treasurer, and Ricky Jacobs for continuing to serve as secretary.
The next FOSC board meeting is February 13 and, as always, is open to the public. The board meets every other month. See the Event Calendar for details.
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Event Calendar
RESTORATION WORKDAYS
Beaconsfield Canyon
(last Saturdays)
Sat., Jan. 26, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Bridgeview Trail
(2nd Sundays)
Sun., Jan. 13, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
Bridgeview Trailhead Pollinator Garden
(1st and 3rd Sundays)
Sun., Jan. 20 & Feb. 3, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
Dimond Park Native Plant Demonstration Garden
Sat., Feb. 2, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Mon., Feb. 4, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Montclair Railroad Trail
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., Jan. 19, 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
Wood Park
(3rd Saturdays)
Sat., Jan. 19, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Trail Crew
Palos Colorados Trailhead at Joaquin Miller Court
(Last Sundays)
Sun., Jan. 27, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
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PLANTING IN DIMOND CANYON
Sat., Jan. 12 & 26, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
FOSC Native Plant Nursery
Joaquin Miller Park
(2nd and 4th Saturdays)
Sat., Jan. 12 & 26, 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
STATE OF THE WATERSHED
Dimond Library
Wed., Jan. 16, 6:30-9 p.m.
Citizen Science in the Sausal Creek Watershed
KING TIDES WALK ALONG THE WATERFRONT
Fruitvale Bridge Park
Sun., Jan. 20, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
MLK DAY OF SERVICE
Jingletown Native Plant Garden and Murals
Mon., Jan. 21, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
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| A monarch catapillar on a milkweed plant. Photo by May Chen. |
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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:
Nicki Alexander
Education and Outreach Coordinator
510-853-3533
Anna Marie Schmidt
Executive Director
510-501-3672
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Photo Credits: Richard Kauffman, Kathleen Harris, Jeff Stephens, Nicki Alexander, Bruce Rucker, Mark Rauzon, May Chen
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