August 2025 Watershed News | | |
This special edition of the FOSC newsletter features articles and contributions from a
few of our incredibly talented and environmentally active young community members,
as well as outreach and stewardship opportunities designed for youth.
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| Photo by Devin Cadwallader, 2025 Team Oakland participant. |
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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.
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Upcoming Events
El Tímpano Bioblitz
Saturday, September 13, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Dimond Park
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Join El Tímpano and Friends of Sausal Creek for a bioblitz at Dimond Park!
We’re celebrating Latino Conservation Week and California Biodiversity Week, honoring the critical intersection of community, cultural heritage, and environmental stewardship.
A bioblitz is a community event where participants document as many species as possible in a designated area. Using the iNaturalist app, you'll help identify and record local plants, wildlife, fungi, and more, contributing valuable data to scientists.
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Creek to Bay Day
Friday, September 19 – Sunday, September 21 | Multiple Watershed Sites
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Join us for the 30th annual Creek to Bay Day! Volunteer to help keep our city and waterways clean—from creek to bay and beyond.
Saturday, September 13
Saturday, September 20
- Beaconsfield Canyon: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Dimond Park/Dimond Canyon: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Jingletown: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Marjorie Saunders Park: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Wood Park: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Barry Place: 1 - 4 p.m.
Sunday, September 21
- Bridgeview Trailhead: 9 - 11 a.m.
- Monterey Redwoods: 1 - 3 p.m.
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Save the Date! 20th Annual Native Plant Sale and Open House
Saturday, October 25th, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. | FOSC Native Plant Nursery
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Our 20th Annual Native Plant Sale and Open House is happening on Saturday, October 25th at the FOSC Nursery in Joaquin Miller Park—come celebrate with us!
This is the one day a year that we sell our native plants to the public—providing on-site plant expertise and guidance, workshops, presentations, and live music for local eco-conscious (and eco-curious!) community members from all over the Bay Area.
To help spread the word, you can share the Facebook event with friends and neighbors. Stay tuned for updates on plant availability as the day approaches.
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Breathing Through the Soil
Amphibians as Indicators of Ecosystem Health
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During one of my volunteer days, I came across a Yellow-eyed Ensatina: a small, terrestrial salamander with rust-colored skin and striking yellow eyes. This was my first time seeing one in person, and it served as a reminder of the often-overlooked wildlife that benefits from habitat restoration.
The Yellow-eyed Ensatina is native to California and lives in moist, shaded areas like under logs, leaf litter, and rocks. Unlike many other animals, it does not have lungs but instead, it
breathes through its skin and the lining of its mouth. This unique trait makes it especially sensitive to environmental changes, and a valuable indicator species for ecosystem health.
–Laila Robinson, Student Board Member
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Friend of the Month
Ebube Okereke
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Meet Ebube, an Eagle Scout from Scout Troop 202, who recently refurbished five benches for the FOSC native plant nursery for her Eagle project.
Ebube’s project upgraded the nursery benches by replacing old wooden tops with weatherproof, drainable surfaces and reinforcing rotted footings with pressure-treated wood. These improvements make the benches more durable and easier to clean—reducing the risk of disease among the thousands of native plants grown each year for restoration.
FOSC: What inspired you to choose FOSC for your Eagle Scout project?
Ebube: “Joaquin Miller Park has played a big role in my life. As a kid, I attended summer camps and after-school programs in the surrounding area. During COVID, I would go on walks there to clear my head. Joaquin Miller Park is the meeting point for my troop before our out-of-town outings, so it’s always felt like a second home.
I had seen other Eagle projects at the park and even at the Friends of Sausal Creek nursery itself. It was only natural that when it came time for my Eagle project, I would reach out to FOSC because I wanted to give back to this park which has been a big part of my growing up in Oakland[…]This project combined my love for the outdoors with my new passion for hands-on construction—culminating in a project that helps preserve the environment around us.”
Are you an Eagle Scout interested in doing a project that supports FOSC’s restoration efforts? Fill out this interest form!
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Student Voices from the Watershed
Spring Stream Team: Student-Created Short Video
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This past spring, 26 Oakland high school students participated in the Spring Stream Team—our paid youth stewardship program.
Over eight weeks, they restored habitat across the Sausal Creek Watershed, explored careers in the environmental field, and built real-world job skills—all while deepening their connection to local ecology and community.
Check out this short video created by the students to share reflections on their experience, what they learned, and their favorite parts of Spring Steam Team.
| | Discoveries and Reflections from Team Oakland | | |
This summer, Oakland high school students joined us again for our 10th consecutive year of Team Oakland—a citywide program led by Youth Employment Partnership offering students hands-on job experience while giving back to their community and environment. Students placed with FOSC explored the Sausal Creek Watershed through water quality testing, stewardship projects, and guided hikes. Their reflections—from poetry, to observing creek health challenges, to quiet moments among redwoods—show the power of nature-based learning and youth leadership.
Hannah Jenkins, a 10th grader from Oakland Technical High School, shared this poem:
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We pulled ivy from the wall,
its grip was strong, its vines were tall.
I watched it fall, a tangled art,
Still loving nature from afar
The green was pretty, wild and free
But not the safest friend to me
I’d itch and sneeze
and swell and wheeze
A meadow war with every breeze
Now it's gone,
The ivy’s through
But I’d still wave at skies so blue
Admire the bloom, just not so near
With tissues, cream, and bug bite fear.
| | Both Spring Stream Team and Team Oakland are offered in partnership with Youth Employment Partnership and made possible with support from the California Natural Resources Agency Youth Community Access Fund. We’re deeply grateful to these young environmental leaders—and to the community of supporters who help make their growth possible. | |
Opportunities to Engage
Become FOSC’s next Student Board Member
| | | | We’re looking for a passionate, dedicated student to join our Board of Directors! This flexible volunteer position is a great opportunity to gain leadership experience, support local environmental stewardship, and learn about organizational governance. Student Board Members will attend meetings, participate in volunteer events, and help shape the future of Sausal Creek. | | | | |
As the new school year kicks off, it’s the perfect time to schedule a field trip or classroom visit with Friends of Sausal Creek. Our programs include engaging, hands-on lessons in biodiversity and pollination, birds of the watershed, redwood ecology, native rainbow trout, water connections, and water quality monitoring.
Bring your students out to explore the Sausal Creek Watershed—or invite us into your classroom!
All programs are FREE for Title 1 schools.
| | Join FOSC’s Lower Watershed Committee | | | | |
Do you live in or spend time in Jingletown or Fruitvale? Are you passionate about restoring green spaces and building community? Friends of Sausal Creek is forming a new Lower Watershed Committee—and we’re looking for neighbors who want to make a difference. As a member, you’ll help continue restoration work, deepen local partnerships, and promote equitable access to nature. The commitment includes monthly virtual meetings and participation in Lower Watershed events and workdays.
Interested? Email elena@sausalcreek.org to get involved.
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We need volunteers in the watershed now more than ever!
Join us for one of our many workdays.
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Friends of Sausal Creek is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 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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Photo credits:
Ivan Reiger, Malcolm Amado, Jaden Shochet, Kate Berlin, Susan Bowyer
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