FOSC's 15th Annual Native Plant Sale
Photos: Maribel Garcia, Jeff Stephens, and Anna Marie Schmidt.
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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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Community Talk
Prescribing Nature: ParkRx
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How can nature support our health? Join FOSC and the East Bay Regional Parks District on November 18 at 7:00 p.m. to learn about the Healthy Parks/Healthy People initiative.
EBRPD staff Mona Koh and Morgan Guenther will talk about the Stay Healthy In Nature
Everyday (Rx SHINE) partnership with healthcare providers, as well as the benefits of spending more time outside.
Connecting with the outdoors and the natural world is even more important during the pandemic. Learn about innovative ways that EBRPD continues to connect the community to the outdoors.
Register at the link below to receive the Zoom link and join in on the conversation!
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Explore the Watershed
Urban Ecology and Racism: A Challenge from the Scientists
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As we continue the ongoing dialogue around race, the outdoors, and access, FOSC Board Member Barry Stenger was inspired to summarize a recent article from Science and identify connections to the Sausal Creek Watershed and the work of our organization. For too long, urban environmentalism has not attended to systemic racism. This article demonstrates that the important issues of our day not only can but must be approached collaboratively. Follow the creek: It links diverse communities.
Here at Friends of Sausal Creek, we are not exempt from the current challenge to examine the racism embedded in our political, economic, and social structures. We have been aided in taking on this responsibility by a recent article in the journal Science entitled “The Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Systemic Racism in Urban Environments” [C. J. Schell et al., Science 10.1126/science.aay4497 (2020)] . The article is directed to scientists and thus involves some highly technical terms. We would like to summarize it for our readers, present the gist of its findings, and consider them in light of our work in the Sausal Creek Watershed.
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Success and Thank You!
The 15th Annual Native Plant Sale
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A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the FOSC native plant sale this year! In our first-ever online plant sale, FOSC sold 1,321 native plants, the most ever sold during our 15 years of plant sales. We sold just over $10,000 in plants to 130 customers. These funds contribute to the support of our restoration, education, and nursery programs allowing us to:
- grow and maintain a healthy inventory of watershed natives through seed and stake collection, propagation, and the many tasks involved in running a nursery
- supply 1,500-2,500 free native plants to over 20 Adopt-A-Spot restoration sites throughout the watershed, as well as to schools and other nonprofits
- support field trips, service days, and citizen science monitoring (native rainbow trout, bird, pallid manzanita, water quality)
We are thrilled to think of all the plants from our nursery rooted, thriving, and creating habitat in their new homes across the bay area.
A special thanks to our plant sale sponsors: Ruth Stroup of Farmer's Insurance and Savemore Market. We are grateful to La Farine for supplying volunteers with morning pastries. And finally, a huge thanks to our amazing volunteers and board members who made it all happen- Nancy, Steve, Carl, Beth, Jeff, John, Morgan, Karen, Kathleen, Alan, Laurie, Chris, Barry, Tara, Annette, and May.
If you have any feedback about this year's online plant sale experience that you think we should hear, contact us at [email protected]
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Kudos Corner
Skyline Fuel Reduction Project
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Thanks to Wendy Tokuda, who spearheaded the California Fire Foundation grant awarded to FOSC for debris removal and tree thinning in Joaquin Miller Park by the Redwood Bowl Staging Area (Sept 14-17). This area is impacted by down and dead wood, with dense stands of pine seedlings. The project successfully removed about 200 small trees, debris, and dead understory.
The goals of this project included fuel reduction, habitat restoration through removal of non-native, non-local trees, and cleanup of neglected understories to help the return of native plants. With her media experience, Wendy managed to generate a media buzz for this project. The first story on CBS KPIX5 aired at 11:00 on September 17 and ABC7 news aired their report on the 6:00 news (September 19). The Montclarion also ran the story (September 2020).
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FOSC Friend of the Month
Friends of Dimond Park
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Friends of Dimond Park, a volunteer group founded in 2016, has partnered with FOSC on countless endeavors and projects in the heart of the Sausal Creek Watershed. The group initially rallied around accessibility issues in the park, namely the lack of disabled parking for swimmers. Since then, FODP has grown into a small but dedicated group that stewards the 13-acre park in the heart of the Dimond District. Given cuts in city staffing and budgets, volunteer groups like FODP have stepped in to support local parks.
Over the course of the summer, FODP volunteers worked with FOSC Nursery and Restoration Manager Jay Cassianni to learn about native and invasive plants so as to be better ecological stewards of the park. Since then, FODP has worked to maintain native plants in the garden plots along the creek and remove invasive French broom from other areas of the park.
Currently FODP is working on resurfacing the tennis court, renovating the park's historic picnic tables, advocating for park services, and removing vegetation to reduce the fire load. Thank you Friends of Dimond Park for all you do for the watershed!
If you would like to stay updated on FODP's activities and upcoming work activities, visit friendsofdimondpark.org .
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FOSC Events in November
November 18 at 7:00 p.m.
Online lecture
Native Plant Nursery Workday
Saturday, November 14 from 1:30 – 4:30pm
Restoration Workday at Dimond Park
Saturday, November 14 from 9:00am – 12:00pm
Beaconsfield Canyon Restoration Workday
Saturday, November 28 from 9:00am – 12:00pm
Online Events of Interest from Other Organizations:
Presented by SF Bay Area Latino Outdoors
November 7 at 11:00 a.m.
November 19 at 1:00 p.m.
Presented by Michael Wilken-Robertson
Online lecture
Weekly on Mondays at 1:00 p.m.
Presented by Jocelyn Perez-Blanco and SocietyX
Weekly, every Thursday from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. through December 17
Presented by the U.C. Berkeley Fire Research Group
Online series
Please continue to practice safety by maintaining social distance, wearing a face covering, 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
Community Education and Restoration
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Photo Credits: Anna Marie Schmidt, Maribel Garcia, Wendy Tokuda, Jeff Stephens, Friends of Dimond Park, Mark Rauzon
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