Fifth instar of a Western Tarnished Plant Bug, Lygus hesperus,
on a tarweed flower at the Bridgeview pollinator garden.
Photo by May Chen.
|
|
Friends of Sausal Creek is a volunteer-based, community organization. We appreciate your support of our education, monitoring, and restoration programs in the Sausal Creek Watershed. |
|
FOSC 16th Annual Native Plant Sale
Mark Your Calendar
The pandemic has once again altered our native plant sale plans, however, we are excited that we can still offer you a wide range of healthy natives. This year, the 16th Annual Native Plant Sale will be online with easy curbside pickup -- safe and convenient.
Check out the online store now; browse and make your shopping list of beautiful natives for your yard and as gifts for friends and neighbors. Online ordering will start at 5:00 p.m. on October 22. Mark your calendar!
Thank you for supporting Friends of Sausal Creek and for contributing to the health and resilience of the environment.
|
|
Explore the Watershed
Choosing Plants for a Changing Climate
|
|
With FOSC’s 16th Annual Native Plant Sale opening for online purchases on October 22, you might be wondering: Are native plants a good choice for a changing climate? Capturing (and storing) carbon is something that we all want to do for the health of our planet. Oftentimes, when we think about carbon capture, we tend to picture trees; and it’s true that the extensive root systems of trees do allow for a large amount of carbon to be stored deep in the soil. Some of our native tree species, like oaks (live, valley, blue, to name a few) are excellent carbon storers. However, trees are not the only plants that do this -- there are also a large variety of native shrubs and grasses that sequester carbon, and in fact all plants sequester it to some degree. How does this work?
|
|
Frangula california (Coffeeberry)
Available for purchase at our plant sale!
|
|
Kudos Corner
Summer Volunteers
|
|
Thank you to all the 30+ youth volunteers who have worked in the watershed as part of their community service hours! Volunteers such as Matt (pictured left) and Corydon (pictured right) tirelessly pulled weeds, peeled invasive acacia trunks to keep them from re-sprouting, washed pots, and helped with seed collection. Many of these jobs take place in very sunny and hot places, which can be challenging. We are super grateful for all their hard work! |
|
|
|
Thank you, also, to all the 70+ volunteers who came out to work and celebrate Creek to Bay Day on September 18! Teams participated at several sites including Fern Ravine, the Pallid manzanita colony, Dimond Park, Dimond Canyon Park, Bridgeview Trail, and Jingle town. Volunteers removed dead debris and invasive plants, weeded around native plants, and picked up garbage. |
|
Friend of the Month
Sara Marcellino
|
|
On this 25th--year anniversary of the Friends of Sausal Creek, we want to spotlight the stories of some of the founding members and their vision for the future of the watershed.
Sara Marcellino, the first executive director for FOSC (2004 - 2009), is currently the Director of the Contra Costa College (CCC) Foundation, connecting people, ideas and resources in support of the hard-working community college students from Richmond and San Pablo at CCC. She loves to camp and hike with her teenage boys and husband, tend to her garden, and in her spare time sings in a local rock and roll cover band.
|
|
|
Sara was kind enough to share her recollections of the early days of Friends of Sausal Creek.
Friends of Sausal Creek (FOSC): What were you doing in your life when you first became involved with Friends of Sausal Creek, and what inspired you to be a part of this organization?
Sara Marcellino (SM): Being a part of a group which was preserving nature in an urban environment launched my sense of self in many ways. In 2004, I had finished my Master's degree in Geography at San Francisco State, and had worked in communications with two environmental nonprofits. When the job of FOSC's first Operations Director came to my attention, I jumped at the chance to work in partnership with a strong board, on behalf of such an important watershed. FOSC was the premier neighborhood watershed group, known throughout the Bay Area. I loved the various hats the job asked me to wear: Community ambassador, newsletter producer, board liaison, fundraiser-in-chief, manager to the then one field/nursery staff, event and operations organizer, to name a few.
FOSC: What projects or events in FOSC's history have been important or memorable for you?
SM: The regular education workdays coupled with the larger ones like Creek to Bay Day, which had elected officials coming through, were memorable - and productive in terms of invasive biomass and garbage removal! We also started a volunteer appreciation potluck event and created fun t-shirts for volunteers. Nursery plant sales mushroomed at that time. FOSCs 10th anniversary party in 2007 at the Joaquin Miller Community Center was a highlight, with over 150 people coming to celebrate, and with two notables, Wendy Tokuda and Malcolm Margolin, also in attendance. We received front page SF Chronicle press the week prior with a beautiful article entitled “Creek’s Beauty Again Beckons” that required me to throw together a workday on six hours’ notice for the press crew on a random weekday! (Editor's note: You can access that article here.)
FOSC: Do you have a proudest accomplishment from your time working with FOSC and in the watershed?
SM: Overall, I’m most proud of two things. First, the growth during my four-year tenure to professionalize FOSC. Thanks to our successful fundraising efforts, the budget more than doubled, allowing for more field staff and a dedicated nursery staff. The position I held was renamed Executive Director, which it still is today.
Second, a winning 85-page Proposition 84 grant that I wrote and that FOSC won, and which gave life to the Sausal Creek Restoration Project in Dimond Canyon. At the time, the budget for the grant was well beyond FOSC’s coffers, so understandably there was trepidation about a large-scale project like this. But the RFP fit so well with the mission and history of FOSC. Plus, FOSC’s great relationship with the City of Oakland and other consultants and scientists made a large-scale project like this possible. The State needed six copies of that long grant – I spent a long time at Kinko’s photocopying and compiling those for the snail mail and grant readers!
At its core, though, FOSC is about the people: The board members who work tirelessly, the volunteers, and the partners and donors. Working with founders like Mark Rauzon, Michael Thilgen and Eleanor Dunn, Helen McKinley, as well as Karen Paulsell, Kristin Hathaway, Harry Schrauth, Sheelah Weaver, volunteer bookkeepers and graphic designers - so many people with so much heart for the Sausal Creek Watershed.
FOSC: What are your hopes for FOSC and/or the Watershed looking forward for the next 25 years? What challenges and opportunities do you see on the horizon?
SM: That over the years, decades, and dare I say generations, locals continue to nurture and steward places like Dimond Park and Sausal Creek, and maintain the deep connections FOSC has helped many make. With climate change here, we all need to stay local and nurture these places, as it may be the only way we can cope with what’s coming.
|
|
To keep our community safe, please come prepared to wear a mask and social distance.
Pollinator Garden Workday
Sunday, October 3 and 17, at 9 a.m.
Bridgeview Trailhead
Marj Saunders Park Monthly Cleanup
Monday, October 4, at 11 a.m.
Marjorie Saunders Park, Oakland
Native Plant Nursery Volunteer Drop-In Hours
Wednesdays in October, 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Friends of Sausal Creek Native Plant Nursery
Native Plant Nursery Volunteer Drop-In Hours
Saturday, October 9 and 23, 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Friends of Sausal Creek Native Plant Nursery
Oak Tree Rescue
Sunday, October 10 and 24, at 9 a.m.
Bridgeview Pollinator Garden
16th Annual Native Plant Sale (ONLINE)
Online Sales open Friday, October 22, at 5 p.m. and end Tuesday, October 26, at 5 p.m.
Curbside pickup on October 30-31; choose time at checkout
Location: FOSC Native Plant Nursery in Joaquin Miller Park
Beaconsfield Canyon Restoration Workday
Saturday, October 30, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Beaconsfield Place at Keswick Court
Trail Stewardship Crew
Sunday, October 31, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Meet at the Scout Hut in Dimond Park
We need volunteers in the watershed now more than ever! Join us for one of our many workdays this October.
|
|
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. |
|
 |
Amazon Smile purchases donate 0.5% to FOSC --
|
|
|
|
Contact:
Anna Marie Schmidt
Executive Director
510-501-3672
Jay Cassianni
Restoration and Nursery Manager
510-325-9006
Satoko Mills
Restoration and Stewardship Intern
Elizabeth Boegel
Communications and Community Education Intern
|
|
|
|
Photo Credits: Elizabeth Boegel, Anna Marie Schmidt, Jill Flanagam, Sara Marcellino
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
