On a sunny spring day in 2023, the Orinda community met along San Pablo Creek to celebrate Orinda's first improvement to the Village section of San Pablo Creek since it was channelized in 1957. This milestone occurred thanks to support from our members, including major donations from Chevron, the Pease Family Fund, Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary, the Gateway Settlement Fund and Orinda Parks and Recreation, together with grant money from the State of California procured for the City of Orinda by Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. At the celebration Mayor Inga Miller and the Assemblymember spoke eloquently about their experiences growing up in Orinda, and the importance of creeks in our lives.

With Phase I complete, Friends replanted much of the Village creek corridor with native plants, improved the now-popular pedestrian trail, and began planning for Phase II of the creek restoration, which we hope will occur at the Chevron property beginning in 2024.

Friends of Orinda Creeks has big goals for 2024. In addition to advancing creek restoration, Friends is pursuing the following objectives.

• Reintroduction of Rainbow Trout:  Rainbow trout were common in San Pablo Creek until 1980. In fact, board member Reg Barrett used to rush out of school to cast for them in the Orinda Village as recently as the 1950s! Although they disappeared above San Pablo Reservoir by the 1990s, they persist in local watersheds such as Upper San Leandro Creek, Redwood Creek and Wildcat Creek (which was repopulated with trout by East Bay Regional Parks in the 1990s). Friends of Orinda Creeks and East Bay Municipal Utility District are proposing in partnership to reintroduce native rainbow trout to San Pablo Creek by 2025. Friends is so grateful to EBMUD for its support and dedication to this important restoration initiative, and we look forward to working together to bring back the trout!
• Trout In the Classroom:  Can you imagine watching young trout hatch in front of a group of excited school children? We can! Friends of Orinda Creeks and the Orinda Union School District are launching the highly popular Classroom Aquarium Education Program this year with the support of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Diablo Valley Fly Fishers and, of course, one of the best science teachers in the world, Debra Jockisch. We are grateful for the leadership of our local teachers, the support offered by the volunteers at DVFF, and CDFW for supporting this program!
• Creek Cleanups:  Creeks need love! For over 25 years FOC has been leading the charge to clean up 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" in this website's menu to read more about past and future clean ups. And big thanks to the many volunteers who join us each year for this important job!
• Fish Passage Improvement:  Fish and streams both need room to move, and providing unimpaired access up and downstream is essential to their health.  Friends of Orinda Creeks continues to work 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. A family of river otters lives in the creek just below the dam. We appreciate EBMUD's efforts to maintain this outdated structure until we can arrive at an agreed upon modification that provides adequate fish passage.
• 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.
• Stream Monitoring:  Friends installed the first streamflow monitoring gage in Orinda Village in 2022. In 2023 we continued to collect streamflow and water quality data from this site, thereby increasing our understanding of the entire San Pablo Creek watershed. We continued to partner with The Watershed Forum to install water quality monitoring devices elsewhere in the watershed to establish habitat suitability for aquatic life. This information will help support our proposal to reintroduce rainbow trout. Get your fly rods ready!

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 cleanup days and are encouraged to regularly visit this website to keep informed as to our activities and projects.