Down by the creek below Westwind Barn in Los Altos Hills, habitat is flourishing again. In just three years, our staff and volunteers have transformed a creekside area below Westwind’s horse paddocks and stables into a thriving mosaic of native vegetation.

“And now, the moment of truth… Will we see water at Terman today?!” How frequently this question has crossed my mind in the past three years as we prepared to visit Adobe Creek at Terman Middle School in Palo Alto, one of our most notoriously dry locations for water quality monitoring. Ever since we began our Palo Alto water quality monitoring program in December of 2013--right in the middle of the drought-ridden, sun-soaked winter--we have played this guessing game.