Friend of the Month | Archana Paladugu

Meet Archana, a volunteer steward who brings curiosity, gratitude, and a deep sense of place to her ongoing relationship with the Sausal Creek Watershed.

FOSC: What is your connection to the Sausal Creek Watershed?

Archana: After I moved to California from the East Coast, I took a Wholly H2O tour of watersheds as part of my “get to know the land” orientation. Thinking of the watershed as an extension of your house, your yard, and your neighborhood is a wonderful way of looking at the land and belonging to a place. I first learned about the work being done at FOSC during a tabling event for Earth Day—that got me to come visit the creek. The Bridgeview trail is somewhere I bring my nephews to all the time.

FOSC: What inspired you to get involved in creek restoration with FOSC?Archana: Substack has become a home for nature writers and climate workers. A post by Priscilla Stuckey, a neighbor and advocate of Peralta Creek, made a big impact on me. As soon as I read it, I signed up to volunteer with FOSC at the creek the following weekend. I thank the artists who are helping shape narratives of meaning and purpose. This land has given me so much—home, friends, cultures to learn from, forests to walk in, songbirds, BART, libraries, shorelines… The land inspires reciprocity.

FOSC: You’ve been involved with Dimond Canyon for some time—can you share a bit about that? How did it start, and how has your role as a volunteer developed over time?

Archana: This is my chance to publicly thank Kristy Brady [FOSC’s Board Vice President]— those first interactions when joining a new group really matter. She introduced me to the plants, helped me notice the birds, and made me feel welcome on day one. The land did the rest. I come from a farming family. The desire to intimately know a piece of land is ingrained in the parental advice: “Walk until you know where all the snakes live and you recognize the health of the trees.” For us urban dwellers, maybe we can pick one place to truly know and emotionally invest in.

FOSC: How do you see your involvement with FOSC and stewardship of the watershed evolving in the future?

Archana: I see FOSC as an outdoor school—a space where more of us can learn and bring that knowledge back to our own communities. Maybe we could teach physics, math, and chemistry outdoors. Families could participate together as teams in treasure hunt activities. Perhaps we could even organize beginner-friendly backpacking trips on the Bay Ridge Trail. We could teach adults new AI tools and then challenge each other to solve puzzles set out in the park. For now, though, I want to show up as much as possible for the workdays.