Friends of Sausal Creek Project Update, Summer 2008

by Mark J. Rauzon, FOSC Board President

Your neighborhood creek group, the Friends of Sausal Creek, is hard at work. We have several new restoration projects under way in Dimond Park and a renovation in the works at our native plant nursery in Joaquin Miller Park, where we'll be hosting a plant sale and open house in October.  In Dimond Park we plan to spruce up the gardens around the Tot Lot and develop a natural lawn of native plants—an example of a lawn that can survive our dry seasons without extra watering. With this year's drought and limited water supplies, this is a timely project. Under our proposal, some 700 square feet of kikuyu grass, a species of African grass that crawls into the garden and overpowers native plants, could be replaced with a demonstration of native plants that are suggested for lawn alternatives.

Our efforts in Dimond Park also include restoring the creek banks in the Tot Lot area to remove encroaching non-native invasive Cape Ivy, a plant that arrived about six years ago and threatens to smother our other plantings. Creekside restoration also means increasing accessibility for the kids who use this public space, so they can have a safe experience playing in the clear water of Sausal Creek.

This restoration work requires the planting of native plants, all of which we grow at our native plant nursery in Joaquin Miller Park. FOSC is currently engaged in the first stages of a nursery face-lift, brought about by the need to upgrade our aging shade structure. Eight years ago we quickly constructed a nursery to provide for our needs in what was then a significant restoration in Dimond Canyon. Since then, the wooden poles of the shade house and the propagation area have begun to decompose. We are about to replace them with cement and galvanized steel. We are taking advantage of these repairs to redesign the nursery to allow FOSC to maximize its plant propagation. In all, this renovation will cost about $40,000. FOSC is beginning to replace the shade structure this summer and plans for its completion by October, just in time for our fall Plant Sale and Open House on Sunday October 26, 2008. If you would like more information or can donate money to these projects, contact our executive director Sara Marcellino at coordinator@sausalcreek.org or 510-501-3672. We would greatly appreciate and recognize your donation.

 As you can see, the Friends of Sausal Creek is not letting any moss grow under our feet. We are moving ahead, making our collective watershed the best it can be. Please come out and join us.