The Pinole Library Native Plant Garden was established by FOPCW in 2003. Recognizing the need for a major overhaul, we organized two workdays in 2019 and the garden continues to grow with the leadership of local Earth Team interns.

In Winter 2023-24, the CC Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) received funds from a mitigation project which they used to expand the Library Native Plant Garden. This new site is located only a few feet from the original garden. The project included ripping out invasive English Ivy, sheet mulching and planting natives all the way down to the creek. The CCRCD, volunteers, and Earth Team all participated in the effort. The team returned the following two winters (2024-2025 and 2025-2026) to add more plantings and cage plants from hungry deer that had been preventing their growth. As of Summer 2026, the plants are thriving with the help of FoPCW volunteers providing regular watering.

From Spring to Fall 2025, the CCRCD collaborated with Safe Organized Spaces (SOS) Richmond, a local homeless service provider whose staff consists almost entirely of folks with lived experience of homelessness, to expand the original garden eastward towards the creek. This was part of the Pinole Creek Unhoused Stewards Project, an environmental education and habitat restoration workforce development program. The SOS cohort of three, along with CCRCD staff and FoPCW, planted the site in October 2025.

To keep the momentum going, the CCRCD secured funding from the Contra Costa County Flood Control District for another 0.21 acre mitigation project, which expanded restoration of the Library site all the way to Pinole Valley Road on the Library's north side. From November 2025 to June 2026, the CCRCD, SOS Richmond, the Friends, and ecological restoration firm Habitat Potential removed a veritable jungle of ivy (more than 30 feet up some of the trees!), installed live willow stakes to stabilize the creek banks, planted nearly 300 plants, laid out a walking path for public access, and installed a drip irrigation system to save water and labor. The creekside has now been restored for the entire length of the Library parcel, and this patch of rejuvenated habitat will serve as an incredible spot for the public to observe Pinole Creek and its rich wildlife.