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|accessdate=2009-12-28 }}</ref> A genetics study of San Francisquito Creek steelhead in 1996 found that the fish are native and not of hatchery stock.<ref name=Leidy/>
|accessdate=2009-12-28 }}</ref> A genetics study of San Francisquito Creek steelhead in 1996 found that the fish are native and not of hatchery stock.<ref name=Leidy/>


Several lines of evidence support the historical presence of [[Coho salmon]] (''Oncorhyncus kisutch'') in San Francisquito Creek. Archaeological remains of trout and unspecified salmonids ("possibly Coho") were reported by Gobalet in the creek.<ref> {{cite journal |title=Archaeological Perspectives on Native American Fisheries of California, with Emphasis on Steelhead and Salmon |author=Kenneth W. Gobalet, Peter D. Schulz, Thomas A. Wake, Nelson Siefkin |journal=Transactions of the American Fisheries Society |date=2004 |page=814 |url=http://afsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1577/T02-084.1 |accessdate=2010-10-14 }}</ref> Leidy concluded that coho salmon were likely present and cited that the most suitable habitat for coho salmon was in perennial, well shaded reaches of mainstem San Francisquito Creek, and several small, perennial tributaries including Los Trancos,
Several lines of evidence support the historical presence of [[Coho salmon]] (''Oncorhyncus kisutch'') in San Francisquito Creek. Archaeological remains of unspecified salmonids ("possibly Coho") were reported by Gobalet in the creek.<ref> {{cite journal |title=Archaeological Perspectives on Native American Fisheries of California, with Emphasis on Steelhead and Salmon |author=Kenneth W. Gobalet, Peter D. Schulz, Thomas A. Wake, Nelson Siefkin |journal=Transactions of the American Fisheries Society |date=2004 |page=814 |url=http://afsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1577/T02-084.1 |accessdate=2010-10-14 }}</ref> Leidy concluded that coho salmon were likely present and cited that the most suitable habitat for coho salmon was in perennial, well shaded reaches of mainstem San Francisquito Creek, and several small, perennial tributaries including Los Trancos,
[[Corte Madera Creek (San Mateo County, California)|Corte Madera]], Bear, and West Union creeks.<ref> {{cite journal |title=Historical Status of Coho Salmon in Streams of the Urbanized San Francisco Estuary, California |journal=California Fish and Game |year=2005 |url=http://www.cemar.org/pdf/coho.pdf |accessdate=2010-10-14 }}</ref> In addition, two independent oral history sources indicate that coho salmon were abundant in the creek through the first half of the twentieth century.<ref> {{cite book |title=The History of Jasper Ridge- From Searsville Pioneers to Stanford Scientists |author=Dorothy F. Regnery |publisher=Stanford Historical Society: Centennial Operating Committee |year=1991 |page=120 }}</ref><ref name=WMI> {{cite report |title=Volume One Unabridged Watershed Characteristics Report, Chapter 7 "Natural Setting" |author=Watershed Assessment Subgroup, Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative |date=2003-08 |page=7-xi |publisher=Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program |url=http://cf.valleywater.org/_wmi/_PDFs/Wcr/WCR2003R/Chapters/CH7Final.pdf |accessdate=2010-10-14 }}</ref>
[[Corte Madera Creek (San Mateo County, California)|Corte Madera]], Bear, and West Union creeks.<ref> {{cite journal |title=Historical Status of Coho Salmon in Streams of the Urbanized San Francisco Estuary, California |journal=California Fish and Game |year=2005 |url=http://www.cemar.org/pdf/coho.pdf |accessdate=2010-10-14 }}</ref> In addition, two independent oral history sources indicate that coho salmon were abundant in the creek through the first half of the twentieth century.<ref> {{cite book |title=The History of Jasper Ridge- From Searsville Pioneers to Stanford Scientists |author=Dorothy F. Regnery |publisher=Stanford Historical Society: Centennial Operating Committee |year=1991 |page=120 }}</ref><ref name=WMI> {{cite report |title=Volume One Unabridged Watershed Characteristics Report, Chapter 7 "Natural Setting" |author=Watershed Assessment Subgroup, Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative |date=2003-08 |page=7-xi |publisher=Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program |url=http://cf.valleywater.org/_wmi/_PDFs/Wcr/WCR2003R/Chapters/CH7Final.pdf |accessdate=2010-10-14 }}</ref>


Revision as of 03:28, 18 October 2010

For the creek near Los Angeles, see San Francisquito Canyon.

Template:Geobox San Francisquito Creek (Spanish for "Little San Francisco" - the "little" referring to size of the creek, not the saint) is a creek that flows into southwest San Francisco Bay in California, United States of America. Historically it was called the Arroyo de San Francisco by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776.[1] San Francisquito Creek courses through the towns of Portola Valley and Woodside, as well as the cities of Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and East Palo Alto. The creek and its Los Trancos Creek tributary define the boundary between San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

History

The original inhabitants were the Ohlone Indians, called by the Spaniards "Coastanoans", or Coast-dwellers. These local residents lived off the land peacefully, gathering nuts, berries and fish from both the ocean and the bay. Because of the abundance of food there was no need for them to practice agriculture. Evidences of their civilization are still being unearthed on the Filoli estate in Woodside, and along San Francisquito Creek. Spanish rule came when the exploration party led by Don Gaspar de Portola and including Father Juan Crespi camped near the giant creekside redwood, "El Palo Alto", November 6–11, 1769, after their momentous discovery of San Francisco Bay. In 1774 Father Francisco Palou, on Captain Rivera's expedition, erected a cross at El Palo Alto to mark the site of a proposed mission. The colonizing of the Peninsula began after the 1776 expedition of Juan Bautista De Anza left Monterey on the first overland expedition to San Francisco Bay, and passed across the creek on its way to establishing Mission Dolores and the Presidio of San Francisco in 1776. Although de Anza discovered Padre Palou's 1774 wooden cross, the creek's summer flow was deemed to low to support a mission.[2][3][4]

Watershed

The headwaters of the San Francisquito watershed are in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Menlo Park, around 667 meters (2,188 ft) above the Bay. The upper watershed consists of at least 22 named creeks.[5] The creek mainstem originates in Searsville Lake in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve on lands purchased by Stanford University in 1892. The lake is formed by a dam built in 1892, one year after the founding of the university itself.[6] The 65-foot-tall (20 m) and 275-foot-wide (84 m) Searsville Dam consists of a series of interlocking concrete boulders that resemble a massively steep staircase. After leasing the lake for recreational use for 50 years, the Stanford Board of Trustees closed public access to Searsville Lake in 1975. The reservoir has lost over 90% of its original water storage capacity as roughly 1.5 million cubic yards of sediment has filled it in. Searsville Dam does not provide potable water, flood control, or hydropower.[7] Although removal of the dam would double available spawning habitat on this important steelhead trout stream, Stanford's Jasper Ridge Advisory Committee in 2007 recommended that the dam not be removed and the lake dredged to maintain open water.[8] Stanford University uses water from the lake to irrigate its golf course and other athletic facilities on its campus.[9] Anti-dam proponents point to a growing trend in habitat restoration nationally with over 500 dams removed in recent years.[10]

San Francisquito Creek's mainstem begins below Searsville Lake at the confluence of Corte Madera Creek and Bear Creek. It is joined by Los Trancos Creek just north of Interstate 280.

The creek runs for a length described by different authorities as from 13 to 22 kilometers (8.1 to 13.7 mi), most recently 12.5 miles (20.1 km), and after exiting the foothills near Junipero Serra Boulevard and Alpine Road, runs in an incised channel in a broad alluvial fan, before draining into the Bay south of the Dumbarton Bridge and north of the Palo Alto Flood Basin.[11] Its watershed is about 110 square kilometers (42 sq mi) in extent, including areas of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. In one stretch it forms the boundary between the city of Palo Alto and the cities of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, and thus between San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, reflecting the fact that it was originally used as the boundary between the lands of the Spanish Missions at San Francisco and Santa Clara. The tree from which Palo Alto takes its name, El Palo Alto, stands on the banks of the creek.

In 1857, the U.S. Coast Survey (USCS) identified 1,142 acres (462 ha) of tidal marsh at the mouth of the creek. There were also two large [63-and-118-acre (25 and 48 ha)] willow groves adjacent to the tidal marsh associated with high groundwater tables and seasonal flooding. In the late 1920s levees were constructed to re-route the creek through a new engineered channel from its former mouth, to a sharp north turn for about half a mile, then to the northeast, before exiting to the Bay. By 2004, filled areas such as the Palo Alto golf course and the Palo Alto Airport have reduced the tidal marsh to 352 acres.[12]

Ecology

Riparian fauna include threatened species such as the threatened California Red-legged Frog (Rana draytonii) and the Western pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata).

San Francisquito Creek hosts the most viable remaining native Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) population in the South San Francisco Bay. Bear Creek and Los Trancos Creek and their respective tributaries support an observable steelhead population that is threatened by the effects of urbanization.[13] A May 2002 steelhead trout migration study reported Searsville Dam as the only complete barrier to migration on mainstem San Francisquito Creek (construction of a fishway in 1976 resolved passage at the Lake Lagunita diversion dam 2.5 miles below Searsville Dam), and that elimination of the Searsville dam could restore ten miles of anadromous steelhead habitat.[14] A genetics study of San Francisquito Creek steelhead in 1996 found that the fish are native and not of hatchery stock.[14]

Several lines of evidence support the historical presence of Coho salmon (Oncorhyncus kisutch) in San Francisquito Creek. Archaeological remains of unspecified salmonids ("possibly Coho") were reported by Gobalet in the creek.[15] Leidy concluded that coho salmon were likely present and cited that the most suitable habitat for coho salmon was in perennial, well shaded reaches of mainstem San Francisquito Creek, and several small, perennial tributaries including Los Trancos, Corte Madera, Bear, and West Union creeks.[16] In addition, two independent oral history sources indicate that coho salmon were abundant in the creek through the first half of the twentieth century.[17][18]

Besides salmonids, native fish found in the watershed are the California roach, Sacramento sucker, Hitch, Speckled dace, Three-spined stickleback, and Prickly sculpin. Seven nonnative species also exist in the watershed.[11] Three additional species of native fish were present historically: Sacramento perch, last collected in 1960; squawfish, last collected in 1905; and while prickly sculpin have not been collected recently, they may still be present in the upper tributaries.[18]

The flora of the upper watershed consists of scattered oak and madrone woodlands that are intermingled with grassland habitat, in some areas forming a savanna. A grove of upland Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest occurs along San Francisquito Creek just below Searsville Lake. Native tree species that occur in the riparian corridor include valley oak, coast live oak, willows and California buckeyes. Common native riparian shrubs include coffeeberry (Rhamnus californicus), ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor), and creeping snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis). Within the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve there are isolated second-generation stands of coast redwood. Other common woody species along the creek banks include the yellow-flowering box elder, big-leaved maple, willows of several species, white alder, California bay and California hazelnut.[18]

Conservation

In normal winters the creek runs sluggishly in a deep arroyo; in summer it is usually dry. However, it is capable of flooding, and the risk has become more severe as increased urbanisation along its course has increased the area of impermeable surfaces. In the 1998 El Niño storms, the creek burst its banks; the resulting flood damage in the cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto was estimated at $28 million. The creek's levees were also damaged.

The body responsible for the conservation and management of the Mid-Peninsula watersheds, of which the creek is one, is the Santa Clara Valley Water District. However, because of the significance of the creek in a densely populated area where environmental concerns and recent flooding are both salient in the public mind, a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) has been formed to address community concerns about the management of the creek. The JPA is currently undertaking or scoping various projects for the improvement of the creek, for example the stabilisation and revegetation of its banks. The members of the JPA are the city councils of Palo Alto, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and the San Mateo County Flood Control District. Stanford University and the San Francisquito Watershed Council are associate members. The latter body is a nonprofit stewardship organization, which is dedicated to fostering the health and diversity of the San Francisquito watershed. This brings together the bodies represented on the JPA with watershed residents, neighborhood associations, environmental organizations, and government agencies at state and federal level, to discuss creek-related concerns and collaborate on creek and watershed stewardship projects. It also organises projects to conserve and study to creek, using the energies of volunteer local residents.

References

  1. ^ Durham, David L. (1998). Durham's Place Names of California's San Francisco Bay Area: Includes Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano & Santa Clara counties. Word Dancer Press, Sanger, California. p. 155. ISBN 978-1884995354.
  2. ^ de Anza, Juan Bautista (1776). Diary of Juan Bautista de Anza October 23, 1775 - June 1, 1776. University of Oregon Web de Anza pages. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  3. ^ Zoeth Skinner Eldredge (1912). The Beginnings of San Francisco: From the Expedition of Anza, 1774, to the City Charter of April 15, 1850:with Biographical and Other Notes. San Francisco: Z. S. Eldredge. p. 130.
  4. ^ Pamela Gullard and Nancy Lund (1989). History of Palo Alto: The Early Years'. Scottwall Associates. p. 181. ISBN 0942087038.
  5. ^ Janet M. Sowers (2005). "San Francisquito Watershed and Alluvial Fan, in Creek & Watershed Map of Palo Alto & Vicinity". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved Dec. 29, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ Michael McCabe (6-21-2008). "Silt-Laden Lake Offers Opportunity: Stanford may destroy dam to save habitat". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved Jan. 2, 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  7. ^ Michael Stoecker. "Beyond Searsville Dam". Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  8. ^ "Searsville Lake: Position of the Jasper Ridge Advisory Committee". Stanford University Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. Oct., 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Nicholas Wenner (2010-05-26). "Habitat plan proposes Searsville dredging; removal remains unclear". The Stanford Daily. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  10. ^ Peter Fimrite (2010-06-02). "Fight looms over removal of Searsville Dam". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 13, 2010.
  11. ^ a b "San Francisquito Watershed, Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program". Retrieved Nov. 30, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ Hermstad, D., Cayce, K. and Grossinger, R. (2009). Historical Ecology of Lower San Francisquisto Creek, Phase 1. Technical memorandum accompanying project GIS Data, Contribution No. 579. Historical Ecology Program (PDF) (Report). Oakland, California: San Francisco Estuary Institute. Retrieved Dec. 28, 2009. {{cite report}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "California's Critical Coastal Areas:State of the CCAs Report — CCA #93 San Francisquito Creek" (PDF). June 15, 2006. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  14. ^ a b "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 2009-12-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Kenneth W. Gobalet, Peter D. Schulz, Thomas A. Wake, Nelson Siefkin (2004). "Archaeological Perspectives on Native American Fisheries of California, with Emphasis on Steelhead and Salmon". Transactions of the American Fisheries Society: 814. Retrieved 2010-10-14.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Historical Status of Coho Salmon in Streams of the Urbanized San Francisco Estuary, California" (PDF). California Fish and Game. 2005. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  17. ^ Dorothy F. Regnery (1991). The History of Jasper Ridge- From Searsville Pioneers to Stanford Scientists. Stanford Historical Society: Centennial Operating Committee. p. 120.
  18. ^ a b c Watershed Assessment Subgroup, Santa Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative (2003-08). Volume One Unabridged Watershed Characteristics Report, Chapter 7 "Natural Setting" (PDF) (Report). Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program. p. 7-xi. Retrieved 2010-10-14. {{cite report}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

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