Sycamore Creek (Contra Costa County)

Last updated

Sycamore Creek is a perennial stream in Contra Costa County, in the U.S. state of California. [1] There is an associated trail along a portion of the creek, which trail has been developed by the city of Danville, California and the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

Contents

In the late summer very low flows are realized; moreover, in the late summer, which is toward the end of the dry season, the waters appear murky green, and much of the creek consists of a chain of stagnant pools. No noticeable odors emanate from this stream [ citation needed ]. Concrete and rock reinforcements are present all along the creekbed in much of the stream. The creek receives surface runoff from open space and residential land use. A fairly rich but narrow corridor of riparian vegetation appears along much of the middle reach creek bed, including cattails, numerous tree species, and a variety of herbaceous plants. [2] The creek flows at considerable force during the rainy season (November to March), and once a week in the summer water is released from a private reservoir upstream located next to Old Blackhawk Road.

The headwaters of Sycamore Creek rise on Mount Diablo, a protected nature reserve. This scenic upper reach has some Miocene fossil-bearing formations; [3] moreover, the upper headwaters reach is habitat for numerous rare species and endangered species including several serpentine endemics. Much of the middle-reach 5 miles (8 km) of Sycamore Creek reveal limited potential for hazardous materials contamination, as the developments abutting the stream bed consist of a country club, residential development and rural land use.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Ana River</span> River in California, United States

The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside counties, before cutting through the northern Santa Ana Mountains via Santa Ana Canyon and flowing southwest through urban Orange County to drain into the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana River is 96 miles (154 km) long, and its drainage basin is 2,650 square miles (6,900 km2) in size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Margarita River</span> River in California, United States of America

The Santa Margarita River which with the addition of what is now Temecula Creek, was formerly known as the Temecula River, is a short intermittent river on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States, approximately 30.9 miles (49.7 km) long. One of the last free-flowing rivers in southern California, it drains an arid region at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains, in the Peninsular Ranges between Los Angeles and San Diego.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diablo Range</span> Mountain range in the California Coastal Ranges

The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley area at its southern end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma Creek</span> Stream in California

Sonoma Creek is a 33.4-mile-long (53.8 km) stream in northern California. It is one of two principal drainages of southern Sonoma County, California, with headwaters rising in the rugged hills of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and discharging to San Pablo Bay, the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. The watershed drained by Sonoma Creek is roughly equivalent to the wine region of Sonoma Valley, an area of about 170 square miles (440 km2). The State of California has designated the Sonoma Creek watershed as a “Critical Coastal Water Resource”. To the east of this generally rectangular watershed is the Napa River watershed, and to the west are the Petaluma River and Tolay Creek watersheds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Hood (California)</span>

Mount Hood, also known as Hood Mountain is a mountain near the southeastern edge of Santa Rosa, California at the northeast of the Sonoma Valley and attains a height of 2,733 feet (833 m). The original name was Mount Wilikos, an Indian name meaning "willows." Most of the drainage from Mount Hood contributes to the headwaters of Sonoma Creek. A prominent feature is the extensive rock face visible on the upper half of the mountain as viewed from State Route 12. The habitats on the mountain include mixed oak forest, pygmy forest, chaparral and riparian zones. In prehistoric times the slopes of Mount Hood were inhabited by a division of the Yuki tribe. Most of Mount Hood is within the Hood Mountain Regional Park maintained by Sonoma County. Mount Hood is part of the inner coast Mayacamas Range, and lies mostly within Sonoma County, with a part of the mountain geographically within Napa County. Mount Hood affords overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Bay and "a spectacular view east to the Sierra Nevada Range."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Rosa Creek</span> River in California, United States

Santa Rosa Creek is a 22-mile-long (35 km) stream in Sonoma County, California, which rises on Hood Mountain and discharges to the Laguna de Santa Rosa by way of the Santa Rosa Flood Control Channel. This article covers both the creek and the channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brush Creek (Sonoma County, California)</span> River in California, United States

Brush Creek or Rincon Creek is a tributary of Santa Rosa Creek in Sonoma County, California. Brush Creek rises in the southern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains within Sonoma County. The lower reach of the creek is a suburban medium density residential area in the city of Santa Rosa, and that reach of Brush Creek has been restored during the 1990s under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to promote steelhead migration and spawning. Further restoration and incorporation into citywide park planning is currently underway as of 2006. The location of the confluence with Santa Rosa Creek is particularly noteworthy, since it was a locus of prehistoric life as a village of the Pomo people and a scenic geologic feature of massive flat boulder outcrops within the stream channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copeland Creek (California)</span> River in California, United States

Copeland Creek is a 9.0-mile-long (14.5 km) perennial stream that rises on Sonoma Mountain in Sonoma County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yulupa Creek</span> River in California, United States

Yulupa Creek is a 2.8-mile-long (4.5 km) southeast-flowing perennial stream that rises on the southeastern flanks of the northern Sonoma Mountains in Sonoma County, California, United States. This creek, which drains the eastern slopes of Bennett Mountain, is tributary to Sonoma Creek, which in turn discharges to San Pablo Bay. Yulupa Avenue in Santa Rosa is presumably named after this creek.

San Bruno Creek is an intermittent stream that rises on the eastern slopes of the Northern Santa Cruz Mountains in San Mateo County, California, USA. The headwaters descend a relatively steep canyon east of Skyline Boulevard in a tortuous course. Comparison of topographic maps from 1896 and 1939 illustrates the extreme modification in the lower reaches due to urban development from the rapidly expanding population. The San Bruno Creek watershed was originally settled by a tribe of the Ohlone, and later this locale was part of the Spanish missions' landholdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnson Creek (Willamette River tributary)</span> Creek in Oregon, USA

Johnson Creek is a 25-mile (40 km) tributary of the Willamette River in the Portland metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the drainage basin of the Columbia River, its catchment consists of 54 square miles (140 km2) of mostly urban land occupied by about 180,000 people as of 2012. Passing through the cities of Gresham, Portland, and Milwaukie, the creek flows generally west from the foothills of the Cascade Range through sediments deposited by glacial floods on a substrate of basalt. Though polluted, it is free-flowing along its main stem and provides habitat for salmon and other migrating fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tryon Creek</span> Tributary of the Willamette River in Oregon

Tryon Creek is a 4.85-mile (7.81 km) tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the drainage basin of the Columbia River, its watershed covers about 6.5 square miles (16.8 km2) in Multnomah and Clackamas counties. The stream flows southeast from the Tualatin Mountains through the Multnomah Village neighborhood of Portland and the Tryon Creek State Natural Area to the Willamette in the city of Lake Oswego. Parks and open spaces cover about 21 percent of the watershed, while single-family homes dominate most of the remainder. The largest of the parks is the state natural area, which straddles the border between the two cities and counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Juan Creek</span> River in Orange County, California, United States

San Juan Creek, also called the San Juan River, is a 29-mile (47 km) long stream in Orange and Riverside Counties, draining a watershed of 133.9 square miles (347 km2). Its mainstem begins in the southern Santa Ana Mountains in the Cleveland National Forest. It winds west and south through San Juan Canyon, and is joined by Arroyo Trabuco as it passes through San Juan Capistrano. It flows into the Pacific Ocean at Doheny State Beach. San Juan Canyon provides a major part of the route for California State Route 74.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliso Creek (Orange County)</span> River in the United States of America

Aliso Creek is a 19.8-mile (31.9 km)-long, mostly urban stream in south Orange County, California. Originating in the Cleveland National Forest in the Santa Ana Mountains, it flows generally southwest and empties into the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach. The creek's watershed drains 34.9 square miles (90 km2), and it is joined by seven main tributaries. As of 2018, the watershed had a population of 144,000 divided among seven incorporated cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park</span>

Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park is a major regional park in the San Joaquin Hills of Orange County, California in the United States. Comprising 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) of rugged coastal canyons, open grassland, and riparian woodland, the park borders the suburban cities of Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel and lies within a portion of the ancestral homeland of the indigenous Acjachemen people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bell Canyon</span> River in California, USA

Bell Canyon is a major drainage of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County, California in the United States. Bell Creek flows about 14.4 miles (23.2 km) in a southerly direction to its confluence with San Juan Creek. The Bell Canyon drainage is located to the east and parallel to Cañada Gobernadora, and to the south of Trabuco Creek. After Trabuco Creek, it is the second largest tributary of San Juan Creek in terms of length and its watershed area of 26 square miles (67 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Fork American River</span> Tributary of the river in Northern California

The Middle Fork American River is one of three forks that form the American River in Northern California. It drains a large watershed in the high Sierra Nevada west of Lake Tahoe and northeast of Sacramento in Placer and El Dorado Counties, between the watersheds of the North Fork American River and South Fork American River. The Middle Fork joins with the North Fork near Auburn and they continue downstream to Folsom Lake as the North Fork, even though the Middle Fork carries a larger volume of water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacheco Creek (San Benito County)</span> River in California, United States

Pacheco Creek is a 28 miles (45 km) west by southwest flowing stream which heads in the Diablo Range in southeastern Santa Clara County and flows to San Felipe Lake, the beginning of the Pajaro River mainstem, in San Benito County, California.

Leach Creek is a tributary of Leggetts Creek in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 1.9 miles (3.1 km) long and flows through Scranton. The watershed of the creek has an area of 2.55 square miles (6.6 km2). The creek loses substantial amounts of water to underground mine pools. The creek is in the Coal Region and has been channelized and/or culvertized in some reaches. It flows alongside Pennsylvania Route 307 for a substantial part of its length. The creek has a riparian buffer in its upper and middle reaches, but various invasive plants grow along its banks in its lower reaches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walnut Creek (California)</span> Stream in Contra Costa County

The Walnut Creek mainstem is a 12.3-mile-long (19.8-kilometer) northward-flowing stream in northern California. The Walnut Creek watershed lies in central Contra Costa County, California and drains the west side of Mount Diablo and the east side of the East Bay Hills. The Walnut Creek mainstem is now mostly a concrete or earthen flood control channel until it reaches Pacheco Creek on its way to Suisun Bay. Walnut Creek was named for the abundant native Northern California walnut trees which lined its banks historically. The city of Walnut Creek, California was named for the creek when its post office was established in the 1860s.

References

  1. United States Geological Survey, 7.5 Minute Diablo, California Topographic Quadrangle Map, (1953, photo revised 1968 and 1973), U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC
  2. Environmental Site Assessment for the Cameo Crest Subdivision, Danville, California, Earth Metrics Incorporated, July 18, 1989
  3. Geology of Mount Diablo