2022 was a historic year for Friends of Orinda Creeks (FOC). For the first time since downtown San Pablo creek was degraded and channelized into an ugly straight corridor from the Chevron station down to the Safeway parking lot in the late 1950s, a restoration project was completed. Thanks to donations from our members and major donations from the City of Orinda, Chevron, the Pease Family Fund, and other generous donations, FOC, in partnership with FlowWest, an engineering firm, designed this restoration project, secured all the required permits and approvals, and oversaw construction. This represents Phase I restoration and we are already working on Phase II and III.  We urge you to take a minute to view the SP Creek Restoration website to get a more detailed understanding of the history of this portion of the creek and the project evolution.

In addition to the restoration project we have continued with our ongoing creek projects as detailed below.

• Creek Cleanups: For over 50 years FOC has been leading the charge to cleanup our creeks. We organize two cleanup events a year - one in the Spring (Earth Day) and one in the Fall (Coastal Cleanup Day). Literally tons of litter and debris have been picked up by various group, student, and individual volunteers. This year was no different. Please refer to "Events" on the website's dropdown tab orindacreeks.org/events to read more about 2022 cleanup days and upcoming 2023 cleanup days.
• Keeping SP Dam 201 free flowing: Once again, we worked closely with EBMUD on clearing debris blocking the dam located just upstream from the Bear Creek Road bridge over San Pablo Creek (near the Wagner Ranch Nature Area). A clear passageway at the base of the dam allows fish and other aquatic life easy upstream/downstream passage. Just this month a family of river otters was spotted cavorting in the creek just below the dam.
• Fourth of July Parade: FOC was again proud to participate in Orinda's famous Fourth of July parade, helping to bring awareness of our watershed creeks and the importance of keeping them healthy and clean.
• Installed Creek Monitoring Equipment: FOC Board members, together with an OIS student (a prospective Eagle Scout), worked in early January to install staff gauges and a stilling well that houses a water depth and temperature data logger. The data logger stores readings every 15 minutes and will allow FOC to calculate flows over time. When storms occur, San Pablo Creek rises as the watershed around Orinda produces runoff. By combining this information with precipitation, we will begin to be able to predict how much the stream will rise in response to forecasted rain. The datalogger also records water temperature, an important factor for knowing if trout can prosper in San Pablo Creek.
• Helped secure State Funds for Downtown San Pablo creek - $125,000: A check for $125,000 was presented to the City of Orinda to aid in the restoration of Downtown San Pablo creek, including design for a trail immediately adjacent to the creek. FOC initially requested these funds and worked with the City and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan on the grant proposal. A symbolic oversized check was presented to the City and FOC in November. However, thanks to Zoom meetings and socially-distanced, masked volunteer groups we were able to accomplish quite a lot during the past couple of years. Listed below are some of the many highlights:
• And we continue to work with our community answering questions and concerns related to Orinda creek issues.

Your tax deductible donations are essential to helping us further these projects as well as continue our community outreach and education. Members are invited to our semi-annual creek clean-up days and kept informed of our progress in the community.