Wrapping up the year!

On Wednesday, May 31st interns joined together for the last day of the year. It was a bittersweet experience, with the excitement of summer approaching being muffled by the realization that we were no longer going to be seeing one another every week!

To celebrate all the leadership, stewardship, and service the interns have shown throughout the year, we held a potluck at Dimond Park. We chose Dimond Park since it was a place that we had participated in multiple projects with. Just to name a few; working on the trail, learning about the steel head, conducting surveys, and so on. This place felt like home to us!

Interns participated in a short reflection, reminiscing all the fun (and not so fun) moments of the year. Next, it was time for certificates and stipends! Woohoo!

To finish off the final meeting of the year, interns took to the trails to disperse their Earth Inspired Nature Rocks throughout the park. The purpose of these rocks are to put a creativity twist on making the community feel connected to nature. Rocks were painted with a variety of images, some even had Steelhead Trout to make the public think twice about what might be flowing beside them!

It may have been the last day of the year but it felt great leaving our mark on a place that holds so many memories for our team. We may not be able to see each other all the time like we once did, but we can always go visit our space and see the beauty we left behind!

Great job to the 11 Oakland High 2016-2017 Earth Team Interns! You will never be forgotten! 

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Interns conduct their final Cig-Survey!

This past Memorial Day, interns piled into the van to come to completion on their project with the Downtown Oakland Association. This past November, interns partnered up with DOA and Andrew to conduct a litter survey of the streets of Downtown Oakland. The overwhelming majority of litter items was Cig Butts, and reduction of those Butts is the very premise of the project.

Since the last audit, DOA worked  with the City of Oakland to put in multiple Terracycle Ash Trays throughout Downtown. This doesn’t only reduce the amount of Cig Butts being thrown on the ground, this system also recycles the butts that do get thrown away!

Interns collected over 1859 pieces of litter throughout their short walk. The data shows much improvement with the previous clean up totaling up to 2340 pieces of litter. For both of the Pre/Post Surveys data shows that btw 90-91% of the items picked up were plastic. Cig Butts are included in this number.

Overall, our team was happy to see an improvement in the amount of trash collected throughout these two litter surveys. With that being said, we definitely recognize that there is much more improvement to be done!

It was very fulfilling to see the ashtrays in place as we completed our walk. Interns agreed that although it is great they are there, they are a bit challenging to recognize as an ash tray due to their unusual structure. Interns recommend leading education campaigns around these ash trays to hopefully see even more improvement as the culture builds around their communities new infrastructure.

Thanks for reading! 

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Interns camp out a Slide Ranch for the 17th LEAF event!

Interns spent 3 days and 3 nights at Slide Ranch for the 17th Annual LEAF (Leadership and Environmental Action) event. Interns from all 9 programs were invited to celebrate the leadership, stewardship and service they have shown throughout the year. The weekend consisted of warm bonfires, milking goats, making cheese, tide exploration, beach clean ups and so much more! Here is what our interns had to say about their experience.

*STUDENT BLOG*

I remembered we had a beautiful sunset the afternoon we got there. The sun was like a paint ball that splashed right onto the wall of the sky, getting the color of purple and pink all over. After the long “rollercoaster” ride, thankfully, we all made it to Slide Ranch safely. We walked for a couple minutes to get to the dome, and had a short meeting with the Slide Ranch staff. Then we all ran down the hill like a group of madman to pick our location for the tents.

We had a bonfire that night, along with hot dogs, chili, and some nice, sweet, chocolate s’mores. And of course, since there was a bonfire, there were a couple activities that we always love: “Catch On Fire”, “The Great Smoke”, and definitely “Drop The Dogs”. I am sure a lot of us also enjoyed their smoked and burnt dogs as well. One of us also suggested that we should just eat our fingers instead of the dogs, since they were almost cooked anyways. Unfortunately we had to give up this bright idea, due to the work that we will have to do on the next day. The Slide Ranch staffs also came up with the “Blind And Feel” activity, which I believe, entertained all of us. And probably a little less wonderful being the player. A big appreciation to Jenna and all the other brave souls, who faced the great danger of damaging the muscles under their pelvis bone. Sadly, that was our first, and last bonfire of the trip. The night there was pretty cold, yet again I am glad that we have chosen the spot in the middle. The wind barely got to us as it was being blocked by all the tents surrounding us.

The next day morning after breakfast, separating into groups, we made our way to the Ranch. We each followed a different Slide Ranch staff for a different order of the routine. The group that I was with was with the “Blue Crab”. When asked what nature name I’ve chosen for the trip, I went with the ordinary “Wheat”. It might not be as pretty as the name of rose, cherry blossom, and other kinds of plants and flowers, but I just love seeing patches of golden brown, shining, and waving in the sun. And the mysterious Crop Circles that were assumed as the work of the aliens just made me love wheat even more.

The day went by pretty fast. We first visited the chicken coop, hushly taking away the new laid eggs from the mother hens. To fulfill the Slide Ranch rules, I laid down in the middle of the coop and fed the chickens with my stomach. It felt a bit funny, to be honest, but the rest was fine. I covered my head, since I wasn’t sure how I would feel about having a chicken butt kissing my face.

Next stop, and to my favorite part of the day: Meeting Grain. Grain is a beautiful young woman, with the smile that could have been compared to the famous painting of Mona Lisa. Although she has the distinct personality of being picky, but we all love her and enjoyed our time with her. Blue Crab brought her to the “Grain Station”, so we all got a taste of her milk. Grain is a goat by the way, in case any of you are mistaken. After that we visited the grassland, also made some cheese to snack on, and tendered the garden bed. Then we moved on to lunch, when we got to use our creativity on the combination of our sandwiches.

After Lunch, came the rockiest time of my life. The most challenging part of the trip, and the moment that I would always remember: Picking up trash on the beach. It wasn’t any ordinary beach that someone would go to. It was filled with giant rocks! We made our effort parkouring through them, and yet as inexperienced as I was, I slipped. Which I expected that I would. On that beach, we picked up things that we’ve never seen before: The ring of the bucket, parts of a fishing boat, a giant blue barrel…we even discovered rocks that have shines of gold, which we suspected that there’s gold hidden within.

Adventure time was over, and we returned back to our tents with loads of “treasure”. After dinner, while the time is still early, we decided to watch the sunset. We separated into two groups. One of the group wanted to see the biggest, and prettiest sunset as possible, while the other group wanted to enjoy it with the sound of guitar and the loud crash of ocean waves. The band was amazing, and the sound of the ocean really helped in washing all my stress away. The giant heart shaped rock also became one of the most colorful scenes in my memories.

After a long day, back to our tents, we cuddled around in the dome, snacking on a mug of hot coco. Maybe it was because of the cold temperature, or was it because of the sense of nature? The hot coco I had that night was the best that I’ve ever tasted.

Last day at Slide Ranch, it was basically packing and saying goodbye. Although the things we had on our last camping trip was so much better than the one that we just had, this one was the most memorable. The nature bathroom, the distance we have to walk to get to the running water, and all the hard work…all of these pulled us one step closer to nature than we are on the trip before. We’ve learned about how sustainable Slide Ranch is, how they grow their own food, how they turn all their waste into use…it was such a wonderful cycle! This makes me think if we are just as sustainable in the cities as they are, and not relying so much on technologies and cheap, easy, wasteful items and products as we are now, would our problem be less threatening, and would we face less stress as we are now when looking at the issue of global warming? Something that I taken away from this trip was definitely the memories and the experiences, and all the questions that will stay with me until I finally have an answer to them. I will definitely miss everyone who’s on this trip with me. After all these days that we’ve spent working with each other, getting through all these struggles. We’ve laughed, and joked along, being “sassy” to our coordinators…I’ve learned that they are all amazing people, each with a unique personality. I hope I could spend more time with them and see them in the future, and not just exist as part of my memories.

Written By: Chuyi, OH Intern

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 So when we got to the camp our Leaders took us to the campsite and it was a short hike to get there. They told how where we were going to set up our tent and how everything was going to go, they also told us how there is a bathroom for the #2 only and you had to pee in nature (I think everyone was surprised about that). Slide Ranch staff showed us kitchen which was a dome and really cool.

It was cool interacting with other students! At first it was a little awkward but towards the end it was fine. Something interesting was that Jenna told us that we will be sharing tents with people we’ve never met and were from a different school. It was weird but as we became to know them better we got closer.

My favorite part of the trip was getting to make cheese which was easier than I thought it was. Another favorite part of mine was when I got to milk a goat! I also got to try the milk but didn’t really like it. Something else that was my favorite part was when a small group of people went on a long hike just to see a sunset it was cool and relaxing.

     Something I will take away from this trip is that I now kinda enjoy hiking way more than the last camping trip. Something cool about this trip was also planting and learning about different plants. I remember there was a plant that you could eat the stem and it was sour but the leaf part was poisonous.

Written By: Itzel, OH Intern

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Interns plant trees at Wanlass Park!

*Student Blog*

The day after Earth Day, the time when most of the youngsters are still struggling to get out of their bed. Interns, from Oakland High Earth Team, were already up. Sitting in a long white van, on their way to Wanlass Park: to plant some trees. I mean, what’s more entertaining and beneficial to our community and environment besides planting some trees on a bright, sunny weekend? It’s a good way to reduce the risk of dying from the inhalation of carbon dioxide, and to reduce the chances of obesity caused by being a couch potato.

Well my favorite part of the day, besides the costco pizzas, was digging up the dirt and later filling them back in. Such a satisfaction to a person with OCD. Other than that, I also enjoyed seeing the destination, where the holes were located, when we were lifting the trees. They looked quite similar to the trees I saw on one of the plant exchanges that I been to, but I guess they weren’t that close to each other after all, that should explain the difference between their weight.

The most challenging part of the day, I would say. You might’ve already guessed by reading the previous paragraph, was to bring the trees to the holes we dug. Somehow my limbs weren’t cooperating with my eyes, which made it a little difficult to decide where to step next on our way up the hill, which was slightly more even than a mountain of legos. Coming next was carrying the water buckets. Though you might love to have some cold water splashing on you on a hot, sweaty day for every step that you took, I guess the dirt and the dead grass loves it as well. And trust me, it wouldn’t be much of a pleasure to see them combined on your pant. Talking about dead grass, I also found it being more annoying than I expected it to be. It seemed to be head over heel in love with my socks that somehow it found its way into my shoes. And apparently, my feet weren’t too happy about it with all the scratching red marks on their face.

I was impressed and enjoyed working with Earth Team interns from Richmond High, and students from UC Berkeley. Being an expert at starting an awkward conversation, I was able to communicate with them without feeling overly uncomfortable. Okay, I admit I didn’t talk much, but I enjoyed listening to their conversation on their taste of music. The UC Berkeley students who accidentally broke the stake and the family of seven also kept me well entertained throughout the day. The experience of planting trees was also pretty fun. I used to observe others plant trees and never actually have done it myself, so it was new to me.

Finally, after the long talk on the goods and bads. I’ve taken away four very important lessons from the difficulties that I faced: 1. Wear jeans that are long enough to cover the opening of my shoes. 2. Never hold a plant by it’s roots. 3. The roots will die due to the lack of oxygen if they are buried too deep underground. 4. Though much hard work required in planting a tree, and the years it takes for it to grow were possibly longer than your patience can wait. But it was all worth it, because trees make up a huge portion of our lives. Besides bringing us wealth, convenience in life, and the needs of living, it’s also correcting the mistakes that we’ve made and solving the biggest problem that we are currently facing. To which will greatly impact the sustainability of human lives in the future: Global Warming.

Written By: Chuyi, OH Intern

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Planting trees is one of those things that people don’t think much about, the thing that people would scoff and brush off their minds. Being there today, digging the hole, carrying the tree, and watering the plants has made me realize that the things that we do not think about can actually be the most difficult.

It saddens me to think that we can cut down a tree with such ease and indifference towards the consequences of this action. This reflects a world that is disintegrated from the environment and in order to promote true environmental awareness, community members need to have direct experiences out there.

My favorite part of the day is seeing a community of students come together and express their love towards our earth; it restores my faith in human compassion. The challenge has always been a physical one, but we tested and overcame the limits of our physical abilities and in the end, that is very rewarding.

We build machines to cut down trees but we do not build machines to plant trees. In the end, it is these little things that have large impacts on the world and with our undoubting endeavors towards a better future, we can build a better world.

Written By: Cai, OH Intern

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My favorite part of the day was meeting new people. We had community members, college students and another school come out. It was fun learning how to work with new earth team members and the community.

The most challenging was the need for strength. Everything was really heavy and it everyone did their share of the work. And it was hard to keep going after the first tree because we were dehydrated. To interact and participate was fun. We had music and good conversations going. I learned about my earth team members from my own school and it was amazing.

My biggest take away is that I learned new things. I learned out to plant a tree. I learned to put sunscreen on and I learned how to communicate my needs for help and what my weaknesses are.

Written By: Sophie, OH Intern

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I found the most enjoyable part of the day to be when volunteers from a UC Berkeley fraternity showed up less than an hour into our work, largely because their presence meant the Earth Team interns could leave much of the digging and heavy lifting up to them. This turn of events was probably for the best as those college men probably produce more testosterone in one second than I will in my entire life.

I would say the most challenging part of the day was having to carry buckets of water to the trees. Due to past experience, I already knew that water can be surprisingly heavy, but for some reason, my muscles weren’t responding to my brain’s requests to lift the half-filled bucket more than five feet at a time.

However, it was nice to know that I still possess the ability to make good first impressions on complete strangers with my roguish charm and dashing sense of humor. I’ve taken away two valuable lessons from our tree planting endeavors at Wanlass Park: 1) I should probably stay hydrated more even if me not drinking water until the end didn’t turn into an issue that day, and 2) however physically draining tree planting may be, we all must contribute to protecting the environment if we want any hope of not seeing humanity die out in a climate change induced catastrophe. I, for one, would much rather prefer to meet my end due to nuclear war.

Written By: Bryant, OH Intern

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During the wanlass park tree planting event I had a great and fun time being able to help plant different types of trees at the park. My favorite part of the day was being able to meet new interns from another school and being able to cooperate with each other on how to plant a tree and what steps we need to do to rightfully plant the trees. Also, another thing was I got to meet UC Berkeley students he came to also help plant tree in the park and also got to know some of them and what they’re going through. They also helped us carried the trees up the steep hill so we didn’t need to keep walking back and up the hill.

The most challenging part for me was while digging and removing the soil for where the trees was going to be planted I was standing on a steep hill where I would sometimes lose my balance and slip when trying to dig the hole deeper. It felt awesome and pleasure to meet and to interact with other students while planting the trees.

My biggest takeaway from this event was planting trees is a heavy duty to do and requires a lot of energy and strength, however I was managed to at least plant a tree and get to interact with new people and cooperate with each other to get those trees planted.

Written By: Peter, OH Intern

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My favorite part about the whole day was getting to plant a tree and meeting new people. I enjoyed planting the trees since they were my first ever trees and I can go back to that park and actually said that I planted those. I liked meeting the girl from the different organization because she seemed like a cool person and she was great at being our leader. Also it was nice meeting the boys from college and hearing their experiences at Berkeley.

     The most challenging part was when the later it got in the day and the closer to the afternoon that it got the hotter it got. It was hard work in a hot sun which made it more challenging, but that also gave me the opportunity to try to push myself further. Also carrying the water buckets and the trees to our area was pretty hard.

     I liked having help from different students because it gave me the chance to meet and talk to new people and also helping the community and park that we were in.

     My biggest takeaway from this project was the tree planting and how much teamwork it takes to plant a tree. I will also take away the fact that if you have people helping you or if you help people it would make the job much faster and easier while you build bonding experiences with a stranger.

Written By: Brianna, OH Intern 

Thanks for reading! 

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Interns conduct a 1610 piece litter Thank You Clean Up!

*Student Blog*

On Wednesday, April 12th, we arrived at Josie de la Cruz park. We were there for a very important thank you mission: Cleaning the park. We had previously used this park as a starting point for our litter march just a few weeks ago.

As soon as we got there we realized how much this park needed our help. There was trash floating alongside the soccer players, cardboard on the sidewalk, and even in the trees. After the icebreaker, we quickly broke up into groups of two among our team and scattered around different areas of the park.

We collected tons of data using the Marine tracker app. At the end, we discovered that each of our groups collected around 230 pieces of trash on average. (Which brought us to a total number of 1610 pieces of trash) Our favorite part of the day was to look at the park again after the cleaning. It was so satisfying—the grass was no longer covered by bottles and chip bags, nothing was poking out on the middle of the small paths, and the playground looked so much more organized than before!

We also enjoyed interacting with the community. Often times we saw kids curiously looking our way, and adults saying “thank you” when they passed by. We were glad that the community actually noticed what we were doing and took a step to show appreciation, instead of thinking that it’s natural for someone to pick up trash in the community, and that they can just litter anywhere they’d like since someone will pick it up.

Even though we’ve done things that were similar to this before, we are pretty on top of it by now, everything still has a challenge. Things that were challenging for us were to pick up trash that was stuck in the mud, and also picking up/recording too many items at the same time. Some of us also found the trash picker was hard to use, and hurts when used for a long period of time (We have different types of trash pickers).

At the end of our mission, like always, we all have something to take away. One thing that we are going to take away from that day is that even though cleaning up a park sounds small, and seems to be too little to make a difference in this community, it in fact it does make a difference. Everything, including ourselves, are small. We contributed a small drop of water by picking up trash at Josie de la Cruz Park, we influenced others to do the same thing as we did and they too, contributed a drop of water. Many drops of water come together and make puddles, then puddle become ponds, rivers, and even the ocean. By then the changes we made to this community will no longer be small, it’s huge. Even though we started small, there is not just fourteen of us. We are with people from all over the world.

Thanks for reading! 

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A visit to this year’s Oakland EarthExpo!

Over spring break, a few of our interns joined together to take a visit to the annual EarthExpo event in Downtown Oakland. It was a great time interacting with other the community and learning the diversity in ways other environmental organizations are tackling environmental issues. Here was some highlights from our attendees!

*Student Blog*

“The Earth Expo at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland was an awesome way to meet new environmental organizations and learn more about what we can do to preserve the environment. One table I found interesting was a Sustainable Furniture Company. They use latex foam instead of the foam that is normally used in furniture because it is less harmful to produce and also does not require the same carcinogenic fire retardants. This makes it better for the environment a for ourselves. They also use organic fabric that does not create more harmful waste, or come from sheep that have been mistreated.”

-Sylvie, Oakland Tech Intern

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“I discovered a non- profit organization called Food Shift that really caught my interest. Food Shift takes donated foods that would’ve been wasted simply because of vegetable dis-shapement or for having a soft spot or two, and they use them to make dishes for the homeless. Food Shift, uses the potential of food recovery to address the systemic problems behind hunger and food assistance: poverty and unemployment.

Food Shift trains and employs individuals overcoming difficult life circumstances, such as incarceration, addiction and homelessness, creating jobs and addressing the problem of waste at the same time. Food Shift is a truly devoted and clever organization that helps the community find employment and solve the waste problem in the Bay. I plan to volunteer there sometime soon.“

–Britany, Oakland High Intern

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“There were so many awesome organizations at Earth Expo. Imperfect Produce is one of those organization that caught my attention. I learned that this organization is collection “ugly” fruits and vegetables that can’t be sold at the grocery store because they don’t fit grocery stores’ strict cosmetic standards, but the fruit and vegetable tasted the same!

Imperfect produce buy those weird shaped fruits and veggies and started a produce delivery subscription box all over Los Angeles and the Bay. I did research that every year, six billion pounds of fruits and vegetables go to waste on farms across the U.S. just for looking weird. All that wasted produce is sitting in landfills, where it releases methane gas into the atmosphere. I thought all of this was really cool, I never knew that this kind of organization existed. They are saving money for farmers and for our earth too. There is too much food thrown out every day and people don’t realize that it’s bad for our earth. Earth Expo is a fun event where I got to meet many organizations. The most surprising part was there was so many organizations at the event. So many that I didn’t get a chance to talk to them all. They are all different organizations but they attended the event with the same purpose.” 

–Huong, Oakland High Intern

Thanks for reading! 

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Interns prepare a survey with FOSC!

*STUDENT BLOG*

On March 1st, we had Jill from Friends of Sausal Creek come into one of our meetings and talk to us about issues in the park and issues that many people and creatures face in our world today. We talked about fish and dogs and pets in Oakland’s very own Diamond Park and the trails and creeks in the park.

Most importantly, we learned about how we need to keep our community updated and informed. To do this we decided we were going to do a survey in the park on the main trail. But at that point, we didn’t have any resources or questions or even a plan. So we pulled things from our group discussions and made it into a fun little activity to share with our community members.

We came up with loads of questions as a group and discussed every single one of them on how to make it better. Pretty soon we will be moving forward with these surveys and this activity and communicating with the public.

We are excited to get feedback on our surveys and see how well people know the environment and how they know to keep it healthy along with themselves and species around them. I can say I am nervous about getting in front of people and talking to them and getting them to read our surveys. But this project is important because it is spreading awareness by showing that things some of these people are doing aren’t benefitting anyone, not even themselves.

Written By: Sophie, OH Intern

Our survey will center around public knowledge of the creek, the rainbow trout that inhabit the creek, and the effects that they have on it. On the meeting we had before we met with Jill we read about the rainbow trout and the negative effects dog poop has on local flora and fauna. When we met with Jill, the Education Coordinator for FOSC, we got to go more in depth into the topics. With her help we were also able to develop several questions for the survey.

The main challenges were structuring those questions so that they weren’t too long or repetitive. Then each group shared the questions they made so that the other groups could give feedback. The purpose of the survey is to inform the public on the importance of picking up their dogs waste and keeping them on a leash when hiking.

We will be conducting the survey in Dimond park as the creek that runs through it is inhabited by rainbow trout. The rainbow trout are considered “at risk” in the bay area in terms of conservation. Their population is threatened by habitat loss and contaminants in their water (such as chemicals from dog poop that drain into the creek). This will show people that picking up after their dog is more important than it may seem.

Written By: Julian, OH Intern

Thanks for reading! 

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Reflecting on the Litter March

One of the most important parts of planning a big event is reflection and celebration! Interns did just that for the follow up meeting where they discussed the challenges, successes and overall pros and cons of their event!

Not only were we celebrating a great event, but it also happen to be Jenna’s birthday. Interns enjoyed pizza and brought their own snacks and goodies for a surprise celebration! It was a great day taking a bit of a mental break to think about the event, the year, and to just be together.

Here is what our interns had to say!

1. Do you think the Litter March was an effective way to spread awareness about Litter issues in Oakland? 

“Litter Marches are a pretty effective way to spread environmental awareness because of the attention it attracts, the more audience it attracts, the more people are forced to face the problem. It also brings people together, but again, one litter march can only go so far, many creates a force.” – Cai 

“People saw us out there doing good things, and we took up their thoughts for at least two seconds. Some idea in their head that we should pick up our trash and look how much there is.” – Marie 

“Yes, because it is visible to the people who are walking or driving by. For some of the neighbors, they can also see us through their windows. It also inspires young children like the ones who were looking at us.” – Chuyi

2. What did our team do well when presenting? How can we improve?

“We got each others back if we get stuck or loss words. They’ll come in and help us finish the sentences.” -Huong 

“What we did well as a team was that we stood together and spoke loud and proud about what we were doing and why were doing this” – Peter 

3. What was your favorite part of the March?

“My favorite part was meeting people who also cared about the environment and the fact that our chants attracted a lot of people (especially cars honking)” – Cai

“Picking up the trash and seeing it go into the bag. Knowing from then on.. it won’t be floating around on our streets.” – Marie 

“My favorite part was planning for the march, working on flyers and brochures. Also making the signs.” -Julian 

“I got to meet new people and work together with them during the Litter March. Also, the fact that a lot of people honked at us shows that they care. Some were even cheering outside their car window.” – Peter 

4. Was the day what you expected? Better or worse and why? 

“What I expected was for it to be boring. It was actually not boring at all, it was cool and I had lots of fun.” – Itzel 

5. Give three words to describe the Litter March?

“Enthusiastic, Joyful, Earthy” – Itzel 

“A step forward” – Cai 

“Fantastic, Awesome, Powerful” – Peter 

“Fun, exciting, empowering” – Brianna

6. What advice would you give next year’s interns about planning and implementing the Litter March?

“Practice, practice, practice! Practice before you speak in front of the group. Focus on how fun it is, but now how dirty you are!” – Chuyi 

“Choose a location where people will notice and see the March, know and rehearse your speeches, and invite your family & friends because it will be more fun and you can teach them about environmental awareness.” 

“Just try to get as many people to go as possible, spread the word to your friends and classes if you can. Don’t make TOO many signs, half weren’t used. Get multiple megaphones, the march is too big for everyone to hear one chant in different spots.” -Nicole

“Be ready to meet new people and be communicating with each other. Work together.” – Peter 

Thanks for reading! 

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Interns connect people to nature with trail work!

On Sunday, Feb 26th interns partnered up with Friends of Sausal Creek (FOSC) for a Trail Crew work day. Joined by over 20 community members, interns worked on repairing and restoring the trails of Dimond Creek Park by widening the trail, removing invasive’s, leveling ground, and more.

Interns experienced many firsts such as; scaling a wooden blank to get over the creek, trying the native minors lettuce, seeing poison oak, holding a salamander and much more!

Interns learned about how protecting the creek is essential for its well-being and the well-being of the creatures that depend on it, like the Steelhead/Rainbow Trout. Interns will be conducting pre/post surveys in this same area for FOSC so it was a great opportunity to get familiar with the scene!

Overall, interns enjoyed their time outdoors doing something completely new! It was another great reminder of how much you can get done in a team setting, as well as how great it feels to just get your hands dirty! Keep our trails beautiful is how we can continue to connect our community with their nextdoor nature, fostering a relationship and personal responsibility to take pride and take care of our environment.

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