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In April, we partnered with El Tímpano and Bay Nature to host a bioblitz in Dimond Park, where participants documented 114 different species through photos, using iNaturalist. Bioblitzes offer a valuable snapshot of local biodiversity while also fostering public engagement with nature and strengthening community connections to our local ecosystems.
Photo by Hiram Durán
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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
Austin Square 1-Year Anniversary Workday and Potluck
Sunday, June 8, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. | E 22nd St. & Austin St.
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June's workday will mark one year of neighbor-led restoration at Austin Square, a small creekside lot in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood. Over the past year, volunteers have made big strides in transforming this space and supporting habitat for abundant native plant and animal life.
Come celebrate on Sunday, June 8th! There will be a regular workday followed by a potluck party at a nearby location.
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Insect Walk and Talk with Eddie Dunbar
Saturday, July 12, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. | Dimond Park
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Join FOSC and guest educator Eddie Dunbar, a professor at Merritt College’s Landscape Horticulture program, for a hands-on exploration of the fascinating world of insects in the Sausal Creek Watershed.
Sausal Creek Watershed is home to approximately 2,600 documented species of flora and fauna. Insects, though comprising just 583—or 22%—of recorded species, are by far the most abundant and diverse organisms in the watershed. Their small size and elusive behavior, however, make them difficult to observe, study, and photograph.
| | This up-close and personal exploration will help uncover the hiding places and intricate lives of Dimond Canyon’s most obscure and under-appreciated creatures. | |
Spring Stream Team 2025 Wrap Up
Youth Leading the Way in Watershed Stewardship
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We’re wrapping up this year’s Spring Stream Team, our paid youth stewardship program in collaboration with Youth Employment Partnership!
Over the past two months, we’ve led 24 Oakland high schoolers in experiential learning about our watershed—teaching hands-on job skills, helping them build college and career resumes, and connecting with various environmental professionals.
Alongside weekly restoration projects like removing invasive plants, transplanting natives, and monitoring water quality, students also covered topics on key components of riparian and marine ecology.
They visited restoration sites up and down the watershed—including Fruitvale Bridge Park, Barry Place, Monterey Redwoods, Dimond Canyon, and FOSC’s Native Plant Nursery, expanding their understanding of the ecological relationships between local habitats, native flora and fauna, and their own neighborhoods.
Alex, a junior at Fremont High, shared, “The last 8 weeks with the Spring Stream Team have been filled with fun, learning, and doing work in nature that feels fulfilling to me. I like that I’m actually doing something in nature that has a positive effect on biodiversity.”
We’re proud to support the next generation of watershed stewards! We’re grateful for the support of our generous donor community and the California Natural Resource Agency Youth Community Access Grant for helping to fund this transformative program.
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Join Team Oakland 2025!
Paid Summer Internship for Oakland High Schoolers
| | | | Looking for a meaningful way to spend your summer? Youth Employment Partnership (YEP) is now hiring for Team Oakland! This program offers Oakland teens and young adults the chance to gain hands-on job experience while giving back to their community and environment. Participants are placed with various partner organizations—including FOSC—and engage in city cleanups, park maintenance, habitat restoration, community outreach, and trainings on job readiness, life skills, and environmental topics. | | |
Program Dates: Mid-June through August 1st
Pay: $17/hour for crew members, $17.50/hour for assistant team leaders
Who Should Apply: Oakland high school students (rising sophomores through recent grads) interested in environmental or outdoor-based work
To apply, fill out the Summer Job Application and check the box for “environmental or outdoor-based crew.”
Interested in a leadership role? Apply to be a Team Leader here.
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Site of the Month
Snowberry Preserve
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Meet the stewards behind Snowberry Preserve, a quarter-acre site nestled at the corner of Skyline Boulevard and Castle Drive, in a residential neighborhood bordering Joaquin Miller Park and overlooking a busy boulevard. This City-owned parcel, long overlooked and overgrown with flammable and invasive vegetation, has faced numerous threats—from wildfire and potential development to routine maintenance practices that unintentionally harmed native habitat. At the same time, pollinators have been in decline due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. Concerned by these threats, a small group of neighbors came together in 2017 with a shared vision: to restore the area into a healthy natural space that supports pollinators and wildlife while also educating and inspiring the community.
Thanks to the steady efforts of Doug Mosher, Sylvia Sykora, and Carla Din, meaningful progress has been made—clearing fire-prone vegetation, planting native species from our nursery (with a nearly 100% survival rate!), and providing critical habitat.
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Native Plants for Your Garden
Iris douglasiana - Douglas Iris
| | | | Readers of the FOSC newsletter may recall from an article by volunteer Peter Van der Naillen that iris is also the name of the Greek goddess of the rainbow. Thankfully more common in the East Bay than actual rainbows, these lovely flowers are a treat to see in the wild and the garden. Douglas Iris grows in a range of habitat types, from grasslands to shaded woodlands, is evergreen, and blooms from March through May. In the East Bay, plant Douglas Iris in an area of your garden with dappled sunlight. In sunnier spots, it will do best with supplemental water during the summer. | | |
True to its name, Douglas Iris flowers come in an impressive array of color, from rich purple to pale lavender or yellow to white. But even with this variety, the lower petal always contains a yellow stripe down the mid-vein, a guide that serves like a neon sign to bees which see ultraviolet light, pointing the way to nectar and pollen.
Douglas Iris makes a wonderful understory plant. Plant it alongside other plants that prefer part shade and occasional summer watering, such as fringecups (Tellima grandiflora), western columbine (Aquilegia formosa), small-flowered alumroot (Heuchera micrantha), and ferns. We'll have Douglas Iris at the FOSC plant sale this fall!
—Kristy Brady, FOSC Board of Directors Vice President
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Give Today, Get Limited-Edition FOSC Swag!
Help Us Reach Our Mid-Year Fundraising Goal
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Grassroots action powers everything we do—from bringing watershed education to over 1,400 Oakland students this year, to undertaking an ambitious plan to restore 50 acres of redwood forest in Fern Ravine. This work is only possible because of supporters like you.
Amid shifting federal priorities, we’re counting on your continued partnership to sustain and expand these vital projects. As a special thank you during our mid-year campaign, you can get a free limited-edition Friends of Sausal Creek t-shirt or hat with a donation of $75 or more, or BOTH for a donation of $125 or more—while supplies last.
Whether it’s a one-time gift or a monthly donation as a “Steady Stream Supporter,” your contribution keeps this momentum flowing.
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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:
Hiram Durán, Ryder Diaz, Elizabeth Cash, Eliana Thompson, Elena Stenger, Kate Berlin, Carla Din, Kristy Brady
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