FRIENDS OF SAUSAL CREEK
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Mission Statement
The Friends of Sausal Creek (FOSC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) volunteer-based community organization founded in 1996. Our mission is to engage local citizens in the enhancement of Sausal Creek and its watershed as natural and community resources. We focus on restoring native habitat, educating children and adults about the benefits of a healthy local ecology, and working with government agencies to include best ecological practices in their landscaping, maintenance, and construction projects.
About This Cause
Over the last three decades, FOSC has grown from a small grassroots cleanup effort to a model civic and restoration organization. We have expanded our vision from restoring a single stretch of Sausal Creek (one of Oakland’s nine major creeks running from the hills to the bay) to the stewardship of an entire 2,600-acre watershed that is home to 27,000 people. The organization was formed in 1996 when a group of local residents decided to clear out a neglected and overgrown section of Sausal Creek that runs through Dimond Canyon, part of a large city park. After a few months of volunteer effort, the group was asked to partner with the City of Oakland in a major restoration of Dimond Canyon. The two-year, $500,000 project transformed ¼ mile of Sausal Creek and its banks, replacing invasive vegetation with thousands of native plants and trees and opening the area to recreational use. Today, Dimond Canyon is among the jewels of Oakland’s extensive park system. The creek supports a healthy population of native rainbow trout, and the diversity of bird species in the canyon has increased substantially. FOSC has three major program areas: restoration, environmental education, and monitoring, all of which are intertwined. Our restoration activities involve organizing, leading, and supporting regular volunteer workdays at about twenty restoration sites all located on City of Oakland public lands. During a typical workday, volunteers pull or cut invasive nonnative plants that destroy the habitat value and are often fire hazards. On planting days, we replace the invasives with native plants from our native plant nursery. This reduces erosion, re-establishes the native seed bank, and restores the habitat for wildlife. At the nursery, volunteers propagate plants from seeds and cuttings they collect within our watershed, helping to ensure the survival of species that over centuries have adapted to specific local conditions. Our education programs include in-class programs on a variety of environmental topics and field trips to our restoration sites and nursery. In the field, students of all ages experience the outdoors as a living laboratory. They get hands-on experience in plant identification, water quality monitoring, and restoration techniques while they learn the benefits of a healthy local ecology. The goal of our education programs is to inspire young people to cherish and protect their local environment, to introduce and promote local volunteerism, and to train the environmental stewards of tomorrow. Our monitoring programs include vegetation monitoring and management, water quality monitoring, and collecting data on birds, aquatic insects, and other wildlife species. Volunteers collect and analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of our efforts and to pinpoint problems that might impact the health of the creek or watershed. Our efforts have improved the water quality of the creek, restored native plant communities, increased biodiversity, enhanced wildlife habitat, engaged tens of thousands of local citizens in local volunteer work, allowed thousands of local school children to appreciate and experience the natural world in their back yard, and made large areas of city lands more accessible to residents for their enjoyment and recreation. In so doing, FOSC has become a regional model for civic engagement in watershed management.