Pleasant Hill Recreation and Park District Completes Autumn Trail Restoration and Oak Planting at Paso Nogal Park

Park maintenance crews with the Pleasant Hill Recreation and Park District (PHRPD) and volunteer naturalists from the Diablo Valley open-space stewardship group have completed their late-October round of hillside trail regrading, water-bar installation, and native oak sapling protection across the 76-acre Paso Nogal Park preserve. Reviewed by the PHRPD Board of Directors in October 2026, the seasonal conservation effort prepares Pleasant Hill's largest natural open-space park for winter rains while enhancing year-round walking access for northwestern Diablo Valley neighborhoods.

Bordered by Paso Nogal Road, Morello Avenue, and the Contra Costa Canal Trail near the Martinez border, Paso Nogal Park features rolling annual grasslands, heritage valley and blue oak woodlands, and panoramic ridgeline views stretching from Mount Diablo to the Carquinez Strait hills. Throughout October, park district groundskeepers re-cut earthen drainage swales across steep clay switchbacks to divert winter rainwater off walking paths and prevent muddy ruts from forming during November storms.

At the base of the hillside preserve adjacent to the fenced 2.5-acre Paso Nogal off-leash dog park, volunteers installed protective wire browse cages and deep wood-chip mulch rings around dozens of young native oak saplings and California buckeyes. Timing the acorn and sapling stewardship for late October allows emerging taproots to establish in moist autumn soil without supplemental summer irrigation.

Paso Nogal Park trails and the off-leash dog park are open daily from dawn until dusk with free parking off Paso Nogal Road. Pleasant Hill and Martinez residents can download district trail maps or sign up for upcoming volunteer park beautification days online at pleasanthillrec.com or by calling (925) 682-0896.