Middle Creek is a creek that drains through Rodman Slough into Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It supplies 21% of the streamflow to Clear Lake. The watershed vegetation has been drastically modified by European settlers through sheep and cattle grazing, logging and farming in the valley floors. The creek once flowed through extensive wetlands at its mouth, but these were mainly drained to create farmland, apart from Rodman Slough on the west side. There are now projects to restore the drained land to its original condition.
Middle Creek forms where West Fork Middle Creek and East Fork Middle Creek combine to the west of Pitnay Ridge and south of Elk Mountain.[1] It flows south for 8.5 miles (13.7km) to join Scotts Creek to form Rodman Slough. The mouth of Middle Creek is at an elevation of 1,329 feet (405m) in Lake County, California.[2]
Geology
The Middle Creek watershed is underlain by the Franciscan Complex, a chaotic assembly of sediments and ocean floor scraped up by the advancing North American Plate. Rocks include greywackesandstone, mudstone, greenstone, and blueschist. The Clear Lake basin lies between the watersheds of the Sacramento River and the Russian River. When it was formed about 600,000 years ago it flowed east into the Sacramento Valley. About 200,000 years ago the Clear Lake Volcanic Field blocked its outlet.[3] The lake rose until it found a new outlet, draining west through the Blue Lakes into Cold Creek and the Russian River.[4] At some time in the last 10,000 years a landslide at the west end of the Blue Lakes blocked this outlet, the lake rose again, and created its present outlet via Cache Creek to the Sacramento River.[5]
Hydrology
The Middle Creek watershed is a sub-watershed of the Clear Lake Basin. It is 99.5% contained in Lake County and 0.5% in Mendocino County. It includes the watersheds of Alley Creek and Clover Creek. It covers 50,155 acres (20,297ha) (16.5%) of the Clear Lake Basin, and supplies 21% of the streamflow to Clear Lake.[6] Elevations in the watershed range from 4,840 feet (1,480m) at High Glade Lookout in the north to about 1,349 feet (411m) where Clover Creek joins Middle Creek. The east and west forks of the creek join at an elevation of about 1,480 feet (450m). The Middle Creek and Clover Creek valleys combine to form a single valley north of the town of Upper Lake.[7][lower-alpha 1]
Scotts Creek and Middle Creek supply about 70% of the sediment and nutrients delivered to Clear Lake, which cause the algae population to increase in the lake.[8] During periods of heavy runoff the two creeks raise the level of the slough and the water moves at significant speed.[9] Fine sediments are carried into Clear Lake, while coarse sediments are gradually filling in the slough.[10] The high flows also erode the levees that protect adjacent reclaimed farmland.[11]
At the start of the historical period the watershed was mostly occupied by Eastern Pomo, but they were in contact with Northern Pomo, with whom they intermarried[7] The arrival of Europeans devastated the native population, who died of new diseases and were forced to relocate and to work for the Europeans on pain of severe punishment or death. From the 1860s sheep were introduced, grazing in the lower valleys in spring and moving to higher ground in the summer. Fire was used to improve forage.[12] The fires and extensive logging drastically changed the ecology, including the riparian areas. Sheep and goat peaked at 61,000 head in 1912. They no longer graze in the watershed. Cattle peaked at 11,600 head in 1922, and some cattle grazing continues.[13]
Starting in the late 1860s many sawmills were opened in the upper part of the watershed, and by the 1930s most of the accessible timber had been cut. Higher lumber prices after World War II (1939–1945) cost-justified construction of roads into almost all the timbered area of the watershed. Selective logging of conifers converted the forests to a mix of conifers and hardwood. Since the 1950s there have been efforts to reduce fuel in chaparral areas so as to reduce the risk and severity of fires.[13] As of 2001 there were 1,027 acres of fruit and nut orchards in the watershed, but this has since declined.[14]
Changes in lower course
USACE Middle Creek Project Levees
Middle Creek used to join Scotts Creek at the eastern end of Tule Lake. The combined creek flow then branched into several channels that flowed through the present Reclamation Area and Rodman Slough. The former channels were still visible in aerial photographs from 1940 and 1952.[15] The creeks flowed through Robinson Lake, also called Rodman Bay, before entering Clear Lake. Robinson Lake was a mosaic of shallow wetlands, meandering channels, riparian forest and open water.[9]
In the early 1900s settlers re-routed Middle Creek to run directly south to Rodman Slough in the vicinity of Upper Lake, while an eastern fork joined Clover Creek.[15] Between 1918 and 1933 farmers built levees in Robinson Lake and the area was drained for agriculture, leaving only the narrow Rodman Slough along the west of the former lake.[9] As part of creation of the Edmonds Reclamation District in 1926 Clover and Middle Creeks were rerouted to their present locations, flowing south into Rodman Slough. The creeks were widened and deepened so they could be navigated.[15] The heavy earth-moving equipment used to "reclaim" about 2,000 acres (810ha) of wetland was one of the causes of a surge in sedimentation in Clear Lake after 1927.[16]
Upper Lake experienced severe flooding in 1938, 1955 and 1957–1958.[14] In 1954 the US Congress authorized the Middle Creek Project by the US Army Corps of Engineers to protect the community of Upper Lake and about 4,000 acres (1,600ha) of agricultural land from flooding by the Middle, Scotts and Clover creeks. The project included 14.4 miles (23.2km) of levees, diversions structures and a pumping station. It was completed in 1966. The state provided routine maintenance, flood fighting, levee patrolling and channel maintenance.[17] The levees suffered from erosion and subsidence, and rather than giving 100-year protection as designed by 2000 were giving only 4-year protection.[18]
The Middle Creek Restoration Project plans to remove 3 miles (4.8km) of substandard levees. This will restore 1,400 acres (570ha) of wetlands and open water, and will improve water quality in Clear Lake.[19] In 2004 the Lake County water district signed a contract with the USACE to breach some of the levees and restore the former Robinson Lake. The Army Corps would cover 65% of the costs, but the water district had to compensate over 60 private property owners, raise a section of California State Route 20, reinforce seven PG&E power line pylons and replace a bridge on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff.[8] The water district moved slowly, and took 14 years to spend $12 million of funding that had been supplied by the state.[8]
Clear Lake is a natural freshwater lake in Lake County in the U.S. state of California, north of Napa County and San Francisco. It is the largest natural freshwater lake wholly within the state, with 68 square miles (180 km2) of surface area. At an age of 2.5 million years, it is the oldest lake in North America. It is the latest lake to occupy a site with a history of lakes stretching back at least 2,500,000 years.
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The Cache River is a 92-mile-long (148 km) waterway in southernmost Illinois, in a region sometimes called Little Egypt. The basin spans 737 square miles (1,910 km2) and six counties: Alexander, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, and Union. Located at the convergence of four major physiographic regions, the river is part of the largest complex of wetlands in Illinois. The Cache River Wetlands is America's northernmost cypress/tupelo swamp and harbors 91 percent of the state's high quality swamp and wetland communities. It provides habitat for more than 100 threatened and endangered species in Illinois. In 1996, the Cache was designated a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention.
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East Fork Russian River is a 15 mi (24 km) long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility. It forms in the north of Potter Valley, flows south through this valley, then southwest through a mountain pass to Lake Mendocino, an artificial reservoir that empties into Russian River. At one time Clear Lake to the east drained through Cold Creek then along the lower part of East Fork Russian River through Coyote Valley to the Russian River proper. A few hundred years ago a massive landslide blocked this channel, and Clear Lake found a new outlet to the Sacramento River.
The Columbia Slough is a narrow waterway, about 19 miles (31 km) long, in the floodplain of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its source in the Portland suburb of Fairview, the Columbia Slough meanders west through Gresham and Portland to the Willamette River, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Willamette's confluence with the Columbia. It is a remnant of the historic wetlands between the mouths of the Sandy River to the east and the Willamette River to the west. Levees surround much of the main slough as well as many side sloughs, detached sloughs, and nearby lakes. Drainage district employees control water flows with pumps and floodgates. Tidal fluctuations cause reverse flow on the lower slough.
Salmon Falls Creek is a tributary of the Snake River, flowing from northern Nevada into Idaho in the United States. Formed in high mountains at the northern edge of the Great Basin, Salmon Falls Creek flows northwards 121 miles (195 km), draining an arid and mountainous basin of 2,103 square miles (5,450 km2). The Salmon Falls Creek valley served as a trade route between the Native American groups of the Snake River Plain and Great Basin. Today, most of its water is used for irrigation.
Permanente Creek is a 13.3-mile-long (21.4 km) stream originating on Black Mountain in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the namesake for the Kaiser Permanente health maintenance organization. Named by early Spanish explorers as Arroyo Permanente or Rio Permanente because of its perennial flow, the creek descends the east flank of Black Mountain then courses north through Los Altos and Mountain View, discharging into southwest San Francisco Bay historically at the Mountain View Slough but now virtually entirely diverted via the Permanente Creek Diversion Channel to Stevens Creek and Whisman Slough in San Francisco Bay.
Chino Creek is a major stream of the Pomona Valley, in the western Inland Empire region of Southern California. It is a tributary of the Santa Ana River.
Carneros Creek is a westward flowing stream and is the primary source of freshwater flowing into Elkhorn Slough. The Carneros Creek official mainstem is 9.8 miles (15.8 km) long. Its source is in the northern Gabilan Range along Highway 101/156. After it waters transit Elkhorn Slough, the historic mouth of the Salinas River, Carneros Creek empties into Monterey Bay at Moss Landing, California.
Scotts Creek is a stream in Lake County, California, the largest tributary of Clear Lake. It rises to the south of Cow Mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains, then flows southeast towards Clear Lake, running through the fertile Scotts Valley and the seasonal Tule Lake before joining Middle Creek and flowing into the lake via Rodman Slough.
Cold Creek is a river of Mendocino County, California, a tributary of East Fork Russian River. In the past it may have connected Clear Lake to the Russian River before this route was blocked by a large landslide and Clear Lake began to drain into the Sacramento River watershed.
The Blue Lakes are a string of two or three lakes in Lake County, California, set in a deep canyon. At one time they seem to have been in the Russian River watershed, but a recent geological upheaval cut them off from that basin and they now drain via Scotts Creek into Clear Lake in the Sacramento River basin. In the 19th and early 20th centuries there were several resorts around the lakes. Their waters have been highly altered by human activity and most of their native fish are lost, but they have a healthy population of largemouth bass.
Tule Lake is a seasonal lake in Lake County, California. It is named after the edible bullrushes, or tules, that used to surround the lake. These have been cleared and the lake partly drained to support agriculture, but it still floods every winter. In summer it is used for growing wild rice and grazing cattle. There have been proposals to restore the lake to its original wetlands condition.
Rodman Slough is a wetland that drains into Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It provides an important habitat for fish, amphibians, birds and other wildlife. It is fed by Scotts Creek and Middle Creek, which contribute about 70% of the sediment and nutrients that cause algae problems in Clear Lake. The slough is the remnant of a much larger area of wetlands and open water that extended from Tule Lake to the northeast through a wide area of land north and east of the present slough that was drained for farmland. Since 1978 there have been proposals to restore large parts of the former wetlands, and much of the funding has been approved, but progress has been slow.
Rivers and creeks in Lake County, California are listed below by river basin and alphabetically. Unless otherwise stated, the information is taken from the Geographic Names Information System maintained by the United States Geological Survey. Coordinates, elevations and lengths from this source are approximate.
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