Friends of Sausal Creek displays its resiliency in the Oakland Hills

Sausal Creek was a glorious, vital native plant and wildlife sanctuary and fresh water tributary running from Joaquin Miller Park to Fruitvale to the estuary and emptying into San Francisco Bay until the late 1700s, when Spanish colonists destroyed the Huchiun Ohlone tribe’s ecologically harmonic lifestyle by displacing them and introducing ranching, lodging, non-native plant species, pollution and building development.

Planet Earth is resilient on its own, but help is required to combat the devastating impact of human beings on our environment that swiftly accelerates into the climate crisis threatening global food systems, air and water quality, public safety and more.

Welcome in the Friends of Sausal Creek, which in 1996 formed to protect the East Bay watershed.

The resiliency of this nonprofit threads throughout victories and challenges in their 28-year history — and, more recently, rapid recovery after vandals in June 2023 invaded their native plant nursery in the Oakland Hills, destroying over 600 native plant seedlings, scattering 4,000 plants, smashing pots, tables and benches and causing approximately $8,000 in damages.

The Friends consist of volunteers whose restoration and maintenance of creeks and parklands along the Sausal Creek watershed, one of nine major creeks in Oakland, preserves a critical natural resource. Entering the picture in March 2023, Executive Director Lisa Giordano notes that returning to the West Coast and working at the ground level with a local environmental organization made the job highly desirable. “I was eager to get back on the ground after being in advocacy and policy work,” she says. “Working at the policy level can be abstract and because it’s macro-level, things move slowly. I was excited to fund a project and immediately watch it begin to move from point A to B.”

Giordano holds a bachelor’s degree in conservation and resource studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and during her studies performed restoration work on Strawberry Creek. But those aren’t the first experience — and arguably, not the greatest — behind her fondness for California and the East Bay, in particular. “When I was young, I found solace in nature. I’m from New York City where there are obviously limited green spaces and I was shy. I went to a camp in Santa Cruz when I was 14 and spent time outside and saw how people in California stewarded, respected and had reverence for the environment. That really inspired and engaged me.”

Speaking to the fortitude demonstrated by the FOSC board, garden manager, sponsors and volunteers — most of whom live in Piedmont, Montclair, Rockridge, Piedmont, Oakland and Berkeley — Giordano says the annual public plant sale held last fall was enormously successful. “We sold more than we ever have and had more community participants. After the vandalism, the volunteer community and our garden manager and local partners showed that so many people care and will dedicate their time and resources to the creek. It speaks of our resiliency beyond the local community to the larger environmental restoration world. We’re not going to let something like that deter us from our vision.”

The group’s vision finds itself made actual in projects that include restoration work in 26 green spaces along Sausal Creek, educational field trips, community events and summer programs, along with advocacy while working closely with the city of Oakland to advance policies and legislations supportive of biodiverse ecosystems.

Goals to improve access to public green spaces and prevent harm to parks, watersheds and other sensitive natural spaces have the Friends relying on science-informed conservation and best ecological management practices. The nonprofit has engaged educational and environmental partners, youth organizations and others in initiatives such as wildfire prevention in Fern Ravine, flood control in Dimond Canyon and efforts supporting biodiversity and habitat preservation in Jingletown, Bridgeview and land surrounding the Chabot Space and Science Center.

Giordano says the most exiting work currently under way involves over 20 sites and two projects focused on areas in which there is limited access to public urban green space and the creek. “We’re submitting proposal recommendations to the city of Oakland on projects involving Wood Park and Barry Place for funding through the Capital Improvement process that runs every two years. As for education, we’re about to increase the size of our programs significantly. We received a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency to increase youths’ contact and engagement with their environment. For Title One schools especially, bringing kids in for hands-on experience will be significant and supported by the grant’s $200,000 coming in over the next two-and-a-half years. With advocacy, we’re working with Oakland’s Master Plan and how it plays out for Joaquin Miller Park.

“We’re talking to not just environmentalists, but bikers, local residents and other stakeholders to hear their ideas about the best ways to manage resource conservation areas prone to damage from human impact like recreation and other uses.”

Giordano says immediate action people can take to ensure the creek stays healthy and continues to improve are to install native plants, refrain from dumping toxic substances outside, educate themselves about watersheds and engage in recreation that respects green space boundaries. Actions to support the group’s work directly include volunteering to participate in water quality testing and community events to clean up the creek and remove non-native plants, providing personal expertise if qualified and donating monetarily.

Success for the Friends, Giordano suggests, would come from becoming thought-leaders in watershed restoration, as would moving long-term goals forward, improving trout migration, eradicating invasive plant species and “bringing more people into the fold to join the effort to elevate issues and provide real solutions.”

Although she knows it is more difficult to change culture than to adopt better practices and habits, she’s optimistic.

“From California’s young people, we hear strong motivation to fix issues and create better futures,” Giordano says. “There’s selfish motivation to create a less threatening world, but also selfless understanding of our impacts and how they effect our environment and planet.”

Lou Fancher is a freelance writer. Reach her at lou@johnsonandfancher.com.