An altar for the movement for Black lives honoring Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at El Centro Trailhead, Dimond Canyon.
Photo by Mark Rauzon
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FOSC is a volunteer-based, community organization. Especially during these uncertain times, we need donors like you to support FOSC education, monitoring, and restoration programs in the Sausal Creek Watershed. |
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Mid Year Appeal
Thank You!
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Thank you so much to the many community members who have supported FOSC during this difficult time.
Your generosity supports FOSC efforts as we continue to work around the watershed and behind the scenes pursuing our mission of restoring, maintaining, and protecting the Sausal Creek Watershed. Among the many activities in the watershed, you help us:
- Implement the Native Rainbow Trout Conservation and Management Plan
- Support bird monitoring
- Protect the endangered pallid manzanita
- Provide alternative field trips for K-12 students
- Maintain 23 restoration sites in the watershed
- Operate and maintain the FOSC Native Plant Nursery
Our vision is a healthy riparian greenway from the hills to the bay where people, plant, and animal inhabitants can thrive. This requires steadfast advocacy and action over the long term—it’s a marathon not a sprint! Thank you for partnering with us on this journey.
If you have not yet donated and would like to, please consider becoming a sustaining donor. Click here to donate via our website or send your check to Friends of Sausal Creek, P.O. Box 2737, Oakland CA 94602.
Thank you!
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Explore the Watershed
Rubber Boas
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A rubber boa, Charina bottae, was recently spotted on the in Joaquin Miller Park by FOSC volunteers on a seed hike. Volunteers Hilary Powers and Camille Nowell and Nursery and Restoration Manager Jay Cassianni were out collecting seeds for the native plant nursey when they came across the snake, the smallest member of the boa family.
The rubber boa is one of only two boa species native to the U.S. The boa’s genus, Charina is derived from the Greek word χαριτωμένος (charitoménos), which means graceful. Don’t be alarmed to learn that boas live in your neighborhood! These small, friendly, nonvenemous snakes are much more likely to curl lightly around your wrist than to squeeze the life out of you. Rubber boas can be found throughout the West, including Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and southern British Columbia.
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Community Opportunities
Help out in the Watershed!
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Ready to tackle some restoration tasks? If you have been out and about in the watershed, you may have noticed that your crucial volunteer work is still very much needed. While we are not back to organizing group workdays, we can facilitate safe involvement for working in the watershed for individuals and existing pods/families.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us and we can help you identify locations and tasks that need attention. As always, face coverings and social distancing are key to safety.
Volunteer tasks available include:
- Trail map restocking
- Garbage removal
- Ivy removal
- Plant watering
- Nursery volunteering
- And more!
We have a limited number of slots available, please contact Jackie to get involved.
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Kudos Corner
buildOn Virtual Volunteers
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Kudos to the awesome and dedicated youth volunteers at buildOn. BuildOn youth are regular work-day and restoration volunteers during our normal operations. While we miss seeing them in the field, they have been hugely flexible and adaptive to the new normal. FOSC and buildOn worked together on a virtual volunteering day where buildOn participants created educational flyers featuring some of the most common invasive species you might come across in the Sausal Creek Watershed. Thank you, buildOn volunteers and staff, for your continued dedication and service to the watershed and community!
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FOSC Friend of the Month
Kathy Brown
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Kathy Brown has been volunteering at the pollinator garden for over six years. She is a dedicated plant rescuer, digging out native plants from being buried among the ivy and blackberry. Kathy has helped with creating and spreading mulch and getting areas ready for planting in the fall.
"I've been able to watch the project expand to open up so much of the field and one of my greatest joys is when people walk by exclaiming how great the garden is looking, and how grateful they are for our restoration work," Kathy observed.
Learning about native plants and pollinators in the garden is just one of the perks of volunteering. Kathy has also gotten to know so many volunteers over the years and cherishes her Sunday mornings working with team at the garden.
Thank you so much Kathy, for your dedication to the watershed.
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Online Events of Interest from Other Organizations:
Presented by Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and Green Foothills
August 5 at 6:00 p.m.
Online Event
Presented by NOAA, USFW and the Society for Ecological Restoration
August 20 at 2:00 p.m.
Online Event
Presented by Point Reyes National Seashore Association
August 22 at 10:00 a.m.
Online Event
Presented by the Greenbelt Alliance
Multiple dates
Online Events
All FOSC public events and group workdays continue to be postponed, in accordance with the county shelter-in-place order.
Please continue to practice safety by maintaining social distance, taking care of yourself, and staying healthy.
We will continue to update our event calendar as we monitor guidance for COVID-19.
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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 --
Amazon Smile purchases donate 0.5% to FOSC --
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Contact:
Jay Cassianni
Restoration and Nursery Manager
510-325-9006
Anna Marie Schmidt
Executive Director
510-501-3672
Jackie Van Der Hout
Education and Outreach
Nicki Alexander
Special Projects
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Photo Credits: Mark Rauzon, Camille Nowell, Gabriel Kasper, Kathy Brown
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