Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and city of Oakland protect Sausal Creek headwaters

Oakland has agreed to assist an indigenous, women-led land belief buy 40 acres of land within the headwaters of Sausal Creek.

Town council voted unanimously in favor on Tuesday give up to $843,875 to the Sogorea Te’Land Trust to buy the tree-covered property, positioned on Blachford Courtroom within the Piedmont Pines neighborhood. The cash comes from Measure DD, a bond initiative accredited by voters in 2002 to boost practically $200 million for enhancements to Oakland’s our bodies of water and parks. A workers report doesn’t reveal the potential vendor.

“The return of 40 acres of land on the headwaters of Sausal Creek permits for the return of our sacred relationship with our ancestral lands,” Corrina Gould, co-founder of the land belief, stated in an announcement. “The water is evident and surrounded by oak, laurel, toyon, madrone, soapwort and lots of different necessary native crops. We’re honored to regain management of this necessary space and can shield it for the subsequent seven generations.”

That is the second time that Oakland has supported the acquisition of land for the Sogorea Te’ Land Belief.

In 2023, Oakland granted a cultural preservation easement to the land belief for an roughly 8-acre tract of Joaquin Miller Park, now often known as Rinihmu Pulte’irekne. Oakland retains possession, however the belief was given management over the usage of the land in perpetuity. Land Belief Leaders said at the time that the settlement would permit the group to “heal the land and heal the scars left by colonization for the subsequent seven generations.” The land belief labored with volunteers on the web site and established a fireplace gas discount partnership with CalFire.

The Sausal Creek headwaters space to be bought by the Sogorea Te’ Land Belief is populated with native crops and consists of Cobbledick Creek, a tributary of Sausal Creek. Sausal runs a five-mile downhill route from Joaquin Miller Park by way of Dimond Park to Fruitvale earlier than getting into San Francisco Bay.

The Huchiun Ohlone who lived closest to the creek grew native crops and guarded riparian habitats. Spaniards who colonized the Bay Space within the 18th century grazed cattle across the creek, inflicting ecological adjustments together with flooding and a decline in native plant species. In keeping with a metropolis report, the Lisjan ancestors who lived within the area had been enslaved at Mission San Jose in Fremont and Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

Within the twentieth century, Oakland channelized and crossed the creek underground, making it tougher for rainbow trout to journey up the waterway to spawn. Solely a 3rd of the creek at present runs by way of undeveloped panorama.

In keeping with a metropolis memo, the Sogorea Te’ Land Belief can be chargeable for managing the land, managing it for gas upkeep and habitat restoration. The report notes that Oakland eradicated its open area upkeep workforce throughout the 2008 monetary disaster, leaving the town struggling to keep up the land in the long run.

Volunteers have been making an attempt to guard and enhance the watershed for the previous thirty years. Nicki Alexander, govt director of the nonprofit Friends of Sausal Creekurged councilors to approve the settlement with Sogorea Te’ Land Belief at a committee assembly final week, saying: “The potential acquisition represents some of the vital conservation actions ever taken on behalf of Sausal Creek.”

Sogorea Te’ Land Belief has completed simply that acquired land in other parts of the East Bay. In 2021, tribal leaders had been formally opened ‘Okaya park in Richmond. A yr later, Sogorea Te’Land Belief acquired a location in Berkeley previously often known as the Ashby Neighborhood Backyard. And in 2024, the group introduced the return of three acres of land near San Lorenzo Creek in Castro Valley.