March 2026 Watershed News | | |
California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are on full display at the FOSC nursery. Each flower has two sepals fused into a cap that pops off as it blooms, revealing the four delicate petals. These petals close up at night, and often stay tucked in on cloudy days.
Photo by Elena Stenger
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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
Echoes of the Forest: A Hike through Fern Ravine
Saturday, March 28, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
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Join us for a guided hike through Fern Ravine, one year into our 50-acre redwood forest restoration project. The hike will be led by ecologist and botanist Russell Huddleston, of FOSC's Board of Directors, with guest researcher Alexis Flores, a UC Berkeley PhD candidate studying urban bat ecology.
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Earth Day
Multiple Dates and Watershed Sites
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Volunteer with Friends of Sausal Creek and partners for an Earth Day restoration weekend to ensure the health and vitality of Sausal Creek and Oakland parks for future generations.
We have a variety of service opportunities for all skill levels that span locations across the watershed:
- Barry Place - Saturday, April 11, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Dimond Park/Canyon - Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Wood Park - Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
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- Beaconsfield Canyon - Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
- Monterey Redwoods - Saturday, April 18, 9 - 11 a.m.
- Fern Ravine - Saturday, April 18, 1 - 4 p.m.
- Bridgeview Trailhead - Sunday, April 19, 9 - 11 a.m.
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FOSC's 30th Birthday Bash
Save the Date: July 25, 2026
| | 2001 Dimond Canyon Restoration | | |
Friends of Sausal Creek is turning 30, and we’re celebrating creekside!
Join us this summer for a lively, all ages fair in Dimond Park featuring custom blockprinting, a native bird program, live music, and more! It's a chance to gather the volunteers, neighbors, and community members who have shaped our watershed over three decades, and to welcome new friends into the fold.
| | More details to come soon. For now, mark your calendar, because we’d love to celebrate with you! | |
From the Archives
A Way Cool Earth Day, in 2005
| | | | To celebrate our 30th anniversary, we’ll be dipping into the archives throughout the year, taking a look back at moments, stories, and snapshots from along the way. This one comes from the June/July 2005 edition of the FOSC newsletter, when foundational FOSC member Karen Paulsell recounted the scene on Earth Day that year. While the characters have changed through the decades, much remains the same. As always, we look forward to this annual tradition. Hope to see you there! | |
Friend of the Month
Paula Shadle
| | | | Meet Paula J. Shadle, Ph.D., a longtime donor and Friend of Sausal Creek. Paula has been part of the FOSC community since moving to the Dimond District in 2013. She shared with us stories of liberating her yard from concrete, guiding teen volunteers along the creek, and why she chooses to invest in her local watershed. Join Paula in supporting our work here. | |
Women's History Month
Alice Eastwood
| | This month Friends of Sausal Creek would like to recognize Alice Eastwood, a key figure in western North American and California botany from the late 1800s through the mid 1900’s. Over her career she would describe over 700 plant species, including pallid manzanita (Arctostaphylos pallida). Read a brief biography of her life and contributions by FOSC Board Member Russell Huddleston. | | |
Native Plants for Your Garden
Ribes sanguineum - Red Flowering Currant
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Brilliant cascades of red flowering currant flowers are a favorite sign of early spring in the watershed. As an early bloomer, it provides an important nectar source for hummingbirds and butterflies, and a welcome indicator that warmer spring weather is around the corner.
Red flowering currant is a member of the gooseberry family, which includes around 30 species in California.
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Several Ribes species have edible fruit, and the tart, blue-black berries can be used to make jam, juice, or syrup. Many birds also feed on the berries, including robins, towhees, and woodpeckers.
An easy-to-grow shrub that thrives in partial shade, red flowering currant is a popular choice for home gardens and habitat restoration sites. Plant one as a focal specimen, or group several along a fence to create a bird-friendly hedge. And if you notice any nibbled leaves, don’t fret—you may have a butterfly nursery in your garden!
We have red flowering currant growing in the FOSC nursery. Sign up here for email updates about our plant sale.
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FOSC Book Shelf
Community Recommendations
| | These works of nonfiction nature writing weave together natural history, storytelling, and poetic reflection, inviting readers to look more closely at the living landscapes around us. We'd love to hear your book recs too! Please email info@sausalcreek.org if you have suggestions to include in future newsletters. | |
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A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California — Laura Cunningham
- Is a River Alive - Robert McFarlane
- The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape – Katie Holten
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In Case You Missed It
Sogorea Te' Land Aquisition
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Last month, the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to allocate up to $843,875 in Measure DD funds to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust to protect 16 acres at the headwaters of Sausal Creek, including Cobbledick Creek.
Protecting headwaters is crucial to maintaining the health of the entire watershed, improving water quality, supporting climate resilience, and protecting native wildlife habitat downstream.
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We are so grateful to see this land returned to Indigenous care and are committed to continuing our habitat restoration work alongside Sogorea Te’ to safeguard the Sausal Creek watershed for generations to come.
For more coverage of this announcement, check out The Oaklandside article by Eli Wolfe.
| | FOSC Board Members Receive CBS Icon Award | | | | |
We’re thrilled to share that last month, Dr. Robert Leidy and Tim Vendlinski of FOSC’s Board of Directors received the KPIX CBS San Francisco/Bay Area Icon Award for their leadership in restoring Fern Ravine in Joaquin Miller Park.
Robert and Tim spearheaded the 2010 restoration of the 8.5-acre headwater wetland and upper Fern Ravine Creek.
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Building on that success, FOSC secured a competitive $400,000 grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Environmental Enhancement Fund to expand restoration across the entire 50-acre Fern Ravine basin.
One year into this expanded effort, visible progress is already transforming the landscape. Join Fern Ravine restoration workdays on the first and third Saturdays of each month to support the work.
| | Rare Video Captured of Rainbow Trout Spawning | | | | |
This video captured recently is a rare glimpse of wild rainbow trout spawning in Sausal Creek.
Watch to see the larger female trout building a redd (a nest in the creek gravel) where she will lay her eggs, while a smaller male waits nearby to fertilize them. Many thanks to Matt and Jen Spring for capturing this remarkable moment in the creek.
| | Join us for one of our many upcoming work days, or support this work with a gift. Your contribution helps support habitat restoration, environmental education, and community connection in the Sausal Creek Watershed. | | |
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:
Elena Stenger, Bat Conservation International, Mark Rauzon, Paula Shadle, Andrew Aldrich, Herman Knoche, Tim Vendlinski, CBS News Bay Area, Matt and Jen Spring
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