Oakland has agreed to help an indigenous, women-led land trust purchase 16 acres of land in Sausal Creek’s headwaters.
The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to give up to $843,875 to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust to buy the tree-covered property, which is located on Blachford Court in the Piedmont Pines neighborhood. The funds come from Measure DD, a bond initiative approved by voters in 2002 to raise nearly $200 million for improvements to Oakland bodies of waters and parks. A staff report does not disclose the prospective seller..
“The return of 16 acres of land at the headwaters of Sausal Creek allows the return of our sacred relationship with our ancestral land,” Corrina Gould, co-founder of the land trust, said in a statement. “The water is clear and surrounded by oaks, bay laurel, toyon, madrone, soap root, and many other important native plants. We are honored to regain stewardship of this important area and will protect it for the next seven generations.”
This marks the second time Oakland has supported land acquisition for the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
In 2023, Oakland granted a cultural conservation easement to the land trust for a roughly 3.8-acre slice of Joaquin Miller Park now known as Rinihmu Pulte’irekne. Oakland retains ownership but the trust was given control over use of the land in perpetuity. Land Trust leaders said at the time that the agreement would allow the group to “heal the land and heal the scars that have been created by colonization for the next seven generations.” The land trust worked on the site with volunteers and established a fire fuel reduction partnership with CalFire.
The Sausal Creek headwaters property to be purchased by the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is populated with native plants and includes Cobbledick Creek, a tributary of Sausal Creek. Sausal runs a three-mile route downhill from Joaquin Miller Park through Dimond Park into Fruitvale before it enters the San Francisco Bay.
The Huchiun Ohlone who lived nearest to the creek cultivated native plants and safeguarded riparian habitats. Spaniards who colonized the Bay Area in the 1700s grazed cattle around the creek, which triggered ecological changes, including floods and a decline in local plant species. The Lisjan’s ancestors who lived in the region were enslaved at Mission San Jose in Fremont and Mission Dolores in San Francisco, according to a city report.
In the 1900s, Oakland channelized and culverted the creek underground, which made it harder for rainbow trout to travel up the waterway to spawn. Just one-third of the creek currently runs through undeveloped landscape.
According to a city memo, the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust would be responsible for stewarding the land, managing it for fire fuel maintenance, and engaging in habitat restoration. The report notes that Oakland eliminated its open-space maintenance staffing during the 2008 financial crash, so the city would struggle with long-term maintenance of the land.
Volunteers have spent the last three decades trying to protect and improve the watershed. Nicki Alexander, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of Sausal Creek, urged councilmembers to approve the agreement with Sogorea Te’ Land Trust during a committee meeting last week, saying, “The potential acquisition represents one of the most important conservation actions ever taken on behalf of Sausal Creek.”
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust has also obtained land in other parts of the East Bay. In 2021, tribal leaders officially opened ‘Ookwe, a park in Richmond. A year later, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust obtained a Berkeley site formerly known as the Ashby Community Garden. And in 2024, the group announced the return of three acres of land near San Lorenzo Creek in Castro Valley.
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