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==Development Controversy==
==Development Controversy==
IIn March, 2008, Hidden Villa leased ten acres of its land to the nonprofit charitable organization, [[Heifer International]], providing the former with $100,000 per year in rental income. However, Heifer International's plans to develop a 7,100-square-foot development comprising a support center and several structures that would depict Third World country villages within 50 feet of Adobe Creek, has met with opposition from Los Altos Hills residents. Hidden Villa zoning is managed by [[Santa Clara County, California|Santa Clara County]] which requires a 150 foot setback from the creek's bank.<ref> {{cite newspaper |title=Heifer project at Hidden Villa resurfaces |author=Elliott Burr |newspaper=Los Altos Town Crier |date=2010-09-21 |url=http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22226&Itemid=46 |accessdate=2010-10-03 }}</ref> One concern of residents is risk of flooding from development on the creek's floodplain on Hidden Villa property, as the creek has a history of flooding, with flood damages occurring in 1952, 1955, 1983, 1986, 1995 and 1998.<ref name=SCVWD> {{cite web |title=Adobe Creek Restoration Project |publisher=Santa Clara Valley Water District |url=http://www.valleywater.org/Service/AdobeCreekRestoration.aspx |accessdate=2010-10-05 }}</ref> In addition, Heifer has estimated that approximately 10,800 visitors annually would visit the 8.5 acre site<ref> {{cite report |title=Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Minutes |date=2010-04-15 |url=http://friendsofthehills.org/councilvideo/council04-15-10/LAHCC_20100415_Minutes.pdf |accessdate=2010-10-09 }}</ref>, although in 2007, Heifer proposed a plan to increase visitors at its Overlook Farm Global Villages in [[Rutland, Massachusetts]] from 20,000 visitors per year to 73,000 visitors per year.<ref> {{cite report |title=Preliminary Design for Future Improvements to the Heifer International Overlook Farm |authors=Andrew P. Bisol, Timothy D. Dunn, John P. Remby |publisher=Worcester Polytechnic Institute |url=http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Preliminary+Design+for+Future+Improvements+to+the+Heifer+International+Overlook+Farm&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 |accessdate=2010-10-09 }}</ref>
IIn March, 2008, Hidden Villa leased ten acres of its land to the nonprofit charitable organization, [[Heifer International]], providing the former with $100,000 per year in rental income. However, Heifer International's plans to develop a 7,100-square-foot development comprising a support center and several structures that would depict Third World country villages within 50 feet of Adobe Creek, has met with opposition from Los Altos Hills residents. Hidden Villa zoning is managed by [[Santa Clara County, California|Santa Clara County]] which requires a 150 foot setback from the creek's bank.<ref> {{cite newspaper |title=Heifer project at Hidden Villa resurfaces |author=Elliott Burr |newspaper=Los Altos Town Crier |date=2010-09-21 |url=http://www.losaltosonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22226&Itemid=46 |accessdate=2010-10-03 }}</ref> One concern of residents is risk of flooding from development on the creek's floodplain on Hidden Villa property, as the creek has a history of flooding, with flood damages occurring in 1952, 1955, 1983, 1986, 1995 and 1998.<ref name=SCVWD> {{cite web |title=Adobe Creek Restoration Project |publisher=Santa Clara Valley Water District |url=http://www.valleywater.org/Service/AdobeCreekRestoration.aspx |accessdate=2010-10-05 }}</ref> Heifer has estimated that approximately 10,800 visitors annually would visit the 8.5 acre site<ref> {{cite report |title=Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Minutes |date=2010-04-15 |url=http://friendsofthehills.org/councilvideo/council04-15-10/LAHCC_20100415_Minutes.pdf |accessdate=2010-10-09 }}</ref>, which would work out to about 45 students on any given day.


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 01:05, 18 October 2010

This article is about Adobe Creek (near Los Altos, California). For Adobe Creek (near Petaluma, California), see Adobe Creek (near Petaluma, California).

Template:Geobox

Adobe Creek is a northward-flowing stream originating on Black Mountain in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It courses through the cities of Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, and Palo Alto, culminating in southwest San Francisco Bay just west of the levee separating the Palo Alto Flood Basin from the Charleston Slough.

History

Adobe Creek was originally called Yeguas Creek. "Yeguas" is Spanish for "mare", and the Mission Santa Clara named it that because they built a corral for mares along the creek's banks near the Bay. Juan Prado Mesa renamed it San Antonio Creek when he was granted Rancho San Antonio in 1839 by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado.[1][2] During the secularization of the missions in the 1830s, Alvarado parceled out much of their land to prominent Californios via land grants. Mesa was a soldier stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco who had become alfarez (officer in command) in 1837. He built a large square adobe, which lasted well into the twentieth century as a crumbling ruin long thought of as a fortification. The site today is on a hill on the southeast side of El Monte Avenue near Summerhill Avenue in Los Altos, California, most of which is located on the territory of the Rancho. The Adobe Creek name appears as early as 1855 on an official surveyor’s map, which lists both the Adobe and San Antonio names for the creek.[1]

The upper creek originates in the historic Rancho La Purisima Concepcion, which was granted by Governor Alvarado in 1840 to Jose Gorgonio, an Indian living at Mission Santa Clara. Gorgonio moved to the west bank of Adobe Creek near Fremont Avenue in Los Altos Hills. Much of the town of Los Altos Hills, California was located on this Rancho. In 1844 Rancho La Purisima Concepcion was sold to Juana Briones de Miranda, whose family members had accompanied both the Gaspar de Portolà and the Juan Bautista de Anza Expeditions.[3] Her uniquely constructed wood-framed, rammed-earth and adobe brick house, believed to have been built by American desertee sailors, is located at 4155 Old Adobe Road on the border between Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills, and is marked by a historical marker at the corner of Old Adobe Road and Old Trace Lane.[4] Designated a California State Historical Landmark in 1954, the 160 year old Juana Briones home was scheduled for demolition in 2007 because of damage to it by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.[5] In 2009, it still stands and has been recently documented with a Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS).[6]

The Trust for Hidden Villa, is a nonprofit educational organization founded by Frank and Josephine Duveneck, who purchased most of the land comprising the upper Adobe Creek watershed in 1924. They opened Hidden Villa as a gathering place for discussion, reflection, and incubation of social reform. Over the following decades, the Duvenecks also established the first Hostel on the Pacific Coast (1937), the first multiracial summer camp (1945), and Hidden Villa’s Environmental Education Program (1970), all on the creek's upper reaches.[7]

The Juan Prado Mesa Preserve in Los Altos Hills between Dawson Drive and Stonebrook Road, and Hale Creek and Neary Quarry was created in 1970 and named for the original holder of the land grant.[8]

Adobe Creek Lodge, an English country-style mansion, was built by Consolidated Chemicals vice-president Milton Haas in 1935. It was a destination resort in the 1940s. Bandleaders Jimmy Dorsey and Harry James played there.[9]

The founders of Adobe Systems, a software company, lived next to Adobe Creek in Los Altos, and named their company after the creek.[10]

Watershed

Purisima Creek tributary of Adobe Creek, with Red Alder (Alnus rubra) and water at O'Keefe Lane Aug. 29, 2010
Loss of streamside (riparian) vegetation increases stream velocity, causing downstream erosion and channel incision (dark gully behind tree) at Hidden Villa 2010

Adobe Creek drains about 11 square miles (28 km2), arising on the northeastern flank of Black Mountain in Los Altos Hills, California where it is joined by the Middle, West and North Adobe Forks. The upper watershed of Adobe Creek is protected by the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District and the Hidden Villa.

Below Hidden Villa, Adobe Creek is joined by three seasonal creeks in Los Altos Hills: Moody Creek (originating just east of Page Mill Road, then flowing along Canyon and Moody Roads and joining Adobe Creek at Hidden Villa), Purisima Creek[11] (historically known as Purissima Creek and originating between Altamont Road and Dezahara Way and joining Adobe Creek at Deepwater Lane and Bay Tree Lane) and Robleda Creek (along Robleda Road) in Los Altos Hills, before leaving mountainous and hilly terrain and entering the valley floor to descend through Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto. The creek's course runs 11 miles (18 km).[1]

From 2003 to 2009, Reach 5 of Adobe Creek (between Foothill Expressway and West Edith Avenue) was restored in an innovative partnership called the Adobe Creek Watershed Group with representatives from the Santa Clara Valley Water District, local residents and representatives of the City of Los Altos and the Town of Los Altos Hills.[12] The $7.2 million project improved flood conveyance capacity in Reach 5, and also enhanced the creek ecosystem by removing the existing concrete banks and bottom, repairing and stabilizing the eroded banks using minimal hardscape, removing many non-native trees, and establishing a riparian area along 700 feet (210 m) of bank using shrubs and trees native to the Adobe Creek Watershed.[13]

Several sections of Adobe Creek have been re-aligned, including the trapezoidal concrete drainage channel between El Camino Real and U.S. Highway 101.

Before entering the Palo Alto Flood Basin, and just before passing under Highway 101, Adobe Creek is joined by Barron Creek just upstream of Highway 101. Barron Creek appears to historically have been a tributary of Matadero Creek, and was alternatively known as Dry Creek,[14] but was later diverted to Adobe Creek. Barron Creek is 5 miles (8.0 km) long, originating in the Los Altos Hills foothills at elevation 360 feet (110 m) along La Paloma Road (just north of Alta Tierra Road), then flowing north along La Paloma Road, then it is joined by a Concepcion Road fork at Fremont Road and proceeds along Fremont Road behind Pinewood School, before turning northeasterly along Arastradero Road where it is joined by another minor fork originating in Esther Clark Park. After crossing Foothill Expressway it is buried in an underground pipe just west of Gunn High School but sees daylight where the creek crosses Bol Park Bike Path in a small, man-made flood control basin, then at Laguna Avenue again enters an underground pipe running beneath Los Robles Avenue to El Camino Real.[15][16] Barron Creek has been greatly modified for flood control purposes; the creek bed downstream from El Camino Real is a concrete trapezoidal channel.

Shortly after being joined by Barron Creek, Adobe Creek terminates in southwestern San Francisco Bay at the Palo Alto Flood Basin. The San Francisco Bay Trail, which passes around both sides of the Palo Alto Flood Basin, runs along the levee between Adobe Creek and the Charleston Slough. It is easily accessed from a parking lot at the northern terminus of San Antonio Road, just north of U.S. Highway 101. The Charleston Slough contains a rich marsh and littoral zone, providing feeding areas for a variety of shorebirds and other estuarine wildlife.[17] Charleston Slough looks like a salt pond, like the Cargill salt ponds to the east of it, but it is open to tidal flow. Pumps and gates regulate the flow through the slough. Water from the slough gets pumped into Shoreline Lake, which then drains into Permanente Creek. The slough was named after George Charleston, who came from Scotland in 1852 and purchased 160 acres (0.65 km2) of marshland in this area. Charleston Road and Charleston Court also bear his name.

In the 1800s the Baylands marshes ended between Alma and El Camino Real in Palo Alto, which explains why historical maps show area creeks appearing to terminate before they reach the Bay. Duck-hunting blinds were common in the nineteenth century along what is now Middlefield Road.[18]

Habitat and wildlife

Mallard in May just above Fremont Street bridge, the creek now runs dry by summer, but was once a year-round trout stream
This drop under the Hidden Villa bridge is one of several barriers to steelhead trout spawning runs on Adobe Creek 2010

The creek also flows through Redwood Grove, a 5.9-acre (24,000 m2) nature preserve off University Avenue in Los Altos purchased by the city in 1974. In October, 2009 Los Altos contracted with Acterra to remove non-native plants and revitalize the redwood, oak woodland, riparian and grassland ecosystems by installing native plants, improving soil conditions, and creating habitat for wildlife such as bird houses and native bee boxes.[19] The Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) were transplanted by the Halsey family from a location on Summit Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains and replaced the native willows. At Manresa Bridge at the east edge of Redwood Grove one can see the native Red Willow (Salix laevigata) and Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepis) trees. The historic Halsey House, built in the late 1920s by Theodore and Emma Halsey, is a good example of Spanish Revival architecture. The city designated Halsey House a local landmark in 1981 and until recently it housed the Florence Fava collection of Coastanoan or Ohlone Indian artifacts from a creekside archeological excavation in Los Altos Hills (now moved to the Los Altos History House).[20] On June 16, 2010 the Los Altos City Council finalized the purchase of 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of creekside property from Delbert and Marlene Beumer, who wanted to provide a safe pathway connecting Shoup Park and Redwood Grove.[21]

Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) occurred historically in Adobe Creek with reports of the fish being in Adobe Creek in the Sportsman Gazetteer for 1877 and again in 1898 in a report to the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries based on collections likely made in 1898.[22][23] However, tidal gates at the mouth of Adobe Creek as well as culverts at the El Camino Real and Interstate 280 overpasses probably preclude the passage of migrating salmonids, even though the reaches upstream from Hidden Villa have been judged excellent trout habitat.[24] Additional barriers to fish passage occur at the O'Keefe Lane and Hidden Villa bridges, and the creek suffers from significant bank erosion, failing channel stabilization structures, and sedimentation.[25] Local historian Florence Fava also reported that "the creeks which lace the (Hidden Villa) property and join Adobe Creek were originally full of fish".[26]

Adobe Creek was once a perennial stream, as steelhead trout young spend their first year in fresh water and obviously cannot survive in streams that run dry seasonally. Historically, lawsuits were filed to prevent diversion of creek water for irrigation because they caused the creek to run "dry certain seasons of the year". This written record confirms oral histories taken by local historian Don McDonald that Adobe Creek used to flow year-round.[27] A 1909 land office brochure promoted Los Altos for its "never-failing mountain trout stream, trout caught a few feet from kitchen doors".[27]

Four species of native fishes have been collected from Adobe Creek: California roach, Sacramento sucker, three-spined stickleback, and prickly sculpin.[28]

Development Controversy

IIn March, 2008, Hidden Villa leased ten acres of its land to the nonprofit charitable organization, Heifer International, providing the former with $100,000 per year in rental income. However, Heifer International's plans to develop a 7,100-square-foot development comprising a support center and several structures that would depict Third World country villages within 50 feet of Adobe Creek, has met with opposition from Los Altos Hills residents. Hidden Villa zoning is managed by Santa Clara County which requires a 150 foot setback from the creek's bank.[29] One concern of residents is risk of flooding from development on the creek's floodplain on Hidden Villa property, as the creek has a history of flooding, with flood damages occurring in 1952, 1955, 1983, 1986, 1995 and 1998.[25] Heifer has estimated that approximately 10,800 visitors annually would visit the 8.5 acre site[30], which would work out to about 45 students on any given day.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference survey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Florence Fava (1976). Los Altos Hills: the Colorful Story. Woodside, California: Gilbert Richards Publications. p. 135.
  3. ^ "Plat of the Rancho La Purisima Concepcion, finally confirmed to Juana Briones : Santa Clara Co., Calif. / As located by the U.S. Surveyor General". The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  4. ^ Douglas Kyle, Hero Rensch, Ethel Rensch, Mildred Hoover (2002). Historic spots in California, fifth edition. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. p. 385. ISBN 0804744823. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |url+http://www.sup.org/ancillary.cgi?isbn= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ John Coté, Suzanne Herel (March 9, 2007). "160-year-old home can be demolished". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved Nov. 10,2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ "Protecting the Story of Juana Briones & Her California Gem". March 25, 2009. Retrieved Dec. 12, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "About Hidden Villa". Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  8. ^ Jean Rusmore, Frances Spangle. Peninsula trails: hiking & biking trails on the San Francisco Peninsula. p. 198. ISBN 9780899973661.
  9. ^ "Los Altos Hills Historical Society: Resources". Retrieved Nov. 10,2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Adobe Fast Facts" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-01-02.
  11. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Purisima Creek
  12. ^ "Adobe Creek Upper Reach Five: A Collaborative Effort". Retrieved 2009-10-18.
  13. ^ K. Oven (5/26/2009). Santa Clara Valley Water District Board Agenda Memo (PDF) (Report). Retrieved Dec.31, 2009. {{cite report}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Palo Alto Creeks Topo, 1899". 1899. Retrieved Dec. 19. 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ "Description of Neighborhood (as wildlife habitat)". Barron Park Neighborhood Association. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  16. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Barron Creek
  17. ^ John Jenks, David Crimp, C. Michael Hogan; et al. (1976). Engineering and Environmental Evaluations of Discharge to the Coast Casey Canal and Charleston Slough (Report). Kennedy Jenks Engineers and Earth Metrics Inc. {{cite report}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "Description of Neighborhood as Wildlife Habitat, Natural Habitat Restoration/Preservation Activities, Barron Park (Neighborhood) Association". Retrieved Dec. 19, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ Jana Seshadri (Oct. 8, 2009). "City council signs agreement to restore Redwood Grove". Los Altos Town Crier. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Eliza Ridgway (June 3, 2009). "Science learning, restoration in works for Redwood Grove". Los Altos Town Crier. Retrieved Jan. 13, 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  21. ^ Nicholas Luther (2010-06-22). "City purchases land to connect Shoup Park, Redwood Grove". Los Altos Town Crier. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
  22. ^ Charles Hallock (1877). The sportsman's gazetteer and general guide. p. 15. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  23. ^ John Otterbein Snyder (1905). Report of the Bureau of Fisheries, Volume 30. United States Dept. of Fisheries. p. 337. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  24. ^ "Historical distribution and current status of steelhead/rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in streams of the San Francisco Estuary, California" (PDF). Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration, Oakland, CA. 2005. Retrieved 2009-10-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  25. ^ a b "Adobe Creek Restoration Project". Santa Clara Valley Water District. Retrieved 2010-10-05.
  26. ^ Florence M. Fava (1976). Los Altos Hills, The colorful story. Woodside, CA: Gilbert Richards Publications.
  27. ^ a b Don McDonald (2010). Early Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. Arcadia Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 9780738580104. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  28. ^ "Adobe Watershed, Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program". Retrieved Nov. 30, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  29. ^ Elliott Burr (2010-09-21). "Heifer project at Hidden Villa resurfaces". Los Altos Town Crier. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  30. ^ Town of Los Altos Hills City Council Regular Meeting Minutes (PDF) (Report). 2010-04-15. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
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