Big River (California)
Big River Arroyo Grande | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
Region | Mendocino County |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Impassable Rocks |
• location | 7 mi (11 km) south of Willits, California |
• coordinates | 39°19′3″N 123°22′23″W / 39.31750°N 123.37306°W[1] |
Mouth | Pacific Ocean |
• location | Mendocino, California |
• coordinates | 39°18′8″N 123°47′41″W / 39.30222°N 123.79472°W[1] |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
Basin size | 181 sq mi (470 km2) |
The Big River is a 41.7-mile-long (67.1 km). From the mouth, brackish waters extend 8 miles (13 km) upstream, forming the longest undeveloped estuary in the state.
History
Pre-European contact, the lands about the Big River belonged to the Me-tum’mah, or Mitom Pomo. This sub-tribe of the Northern Pomo lived in the area of Little Lake Valley near Willits and claimed the coast from south of the Noyo River at what is now Fort Bragg, to just north of the Navarro River, eighteen miles south.[3] They had a settlement, Buldam, on the north bank of the river, near its mouth, but its exact location is unknown and stories about its date of settlement are conflicting.[4]
Big River was named for the giant redwoods that once lined its banks; it's shown as Arroyo Grande on a diseño of the Albion Mexican land grant of October 30, 1844.[5]
The timber industry has dominated the area since the 1850s, when the first mill was constructed in what was then known as Mendocino City (now Mendocino). The mill was constructed on the bluffs overlooking the river mouth with an apron chute to load finished wood onto ships was constructed at the mill.[6] Splash dams were built on the river and their floodgates were opened every winter to sweep logs downstream to booms which kept the logs from floating out to sea. This method of log transport increased erosion, removed woody debris, and buried cobble substrates. Logging practices especially impacted the estuary, which served as a mill pond from 1852 to 1938.[7]
Watershed and Course
The Big River watershed drains 181 square miles (470 km2),
The river's headwaters start in the
The Big River Estuary is the longest undeveloped estuary in the state. From the mouth, ocean salinities reach 8.3 miles (13.4 km) upstream in the summer and 3 miles (5 km) in the winter, when freshwater flows are greatest.[7] The estuary has long been of conservation interest for its beauty and natural resources. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service nominated the estuary for protection in 1980 under the Unique and Nationally Significant Wildlife Ecosystem Program.[9] Although the nomination did not garner the desired protections, the estuary did receive protection in 2002, when the Mendocino Land Trust purchased a 7,334 acre parcel from the Hawthorne Timber Company. The land was donated to California State Parks as part of the Mendocino Headlands State Park.[8] In 2010, the estuary waters were designated as a State Marine Conservation Area under the Marine Life Protection Act.[10]
Habitat and ecology
The Big River is fed by
The Big River provides wetland habitat for wildlife and cold freshwater habitat for fish migration and spawning.
The Big River Estuary provides essential wetland habitat and has potential to provide critical salmonid habitat. The strong marine influences in the Big River Estuary are tied to a diversity of fishes. Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi) lay their eggs in the estuary, shiner surfperch (Cymatogaster aggregata) and Bay Pipefish (Syngnathus leptorhynchus) give birth in the estuary, and juvenile English Sole (Pleuronectes vetulus) and copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) migrate to the estuary to rear. Many marine fish species also enter the estuary seasonally to feed, such as night smelt (Spirinchus starski), while a variety of coastal species pass in and out of the estuary year-round, including cabezon (Scorpaenichthys marmoratus), tidepool sculpin (Oligocottus maculosus), and kelp greenling (Hexogrammos decagrammus).[12]
Other semi-aquatic mammals living in Big River include river otter (Lontra canadensis) and mink (Neogale vison).[7]
Land Use
The North Fork Big River was logged by the Caspar Lumber Company. Logs were transported 35 miles (56 km) to the sawmill in Caspar from Camp 20 at California State Route 20 (milepost MEN 17.3) by Caspar, South Fork and Eastern Railroad. Caspar Lumber Company timberlands became the Jackson Demonstration State Forest in 1955.[18] Jackson State Forest forms roughly a third of the area in the watershed, and land owned by Mendocino Redwood Company, Pioneer Resources, Hawthorne Timber Company and Weger Holdings make up most of the rest. As with most watersheds on the northern California Coast, the most significant ecological problem in the area is increased erosion caused by logging, leading to excessive sedimentation in the river and its tributaries. Consequestly, the Big River has been listed as sediment and temperature impaired since 2003 under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Legacy log jams also continue to block upstream migration for spawning salmonids. Current management of the Big River watershed aims to improve salmonid habitat while maintaining timber harvest through improved timber harvest practices. Modern timber harvest practices and regular road maintenance have led to reduced sedimentation and allowed continued harvest in 55% of the watershed.[9]
See also
- List of rivers in California
References
- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Big River
- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 9, 2011
- ISBN 978-1-4401-0795-5. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ Stewart, Omer C., "Notes on Pomo Ethnogeography" (PDF), University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, 40 (2), University of California Press: 29–62 See in particular p. 37
- ISBN 978-0-520-26619-3.
- ^ a b c d Big River Total Maximum Daily Load for Sediment (PDF) (Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. December 2001. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Sheridan F. Warrick; Elizabeth D. Wilcox, eds. (1981). Big River - The Natural History of an Endangered Northern California Estuary. University of California Santa Cruz.
- ^ a b North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (2005). Watershed Planning Chapter, Section 2.3.6. Big River Watershed (PDF) (Report). Santa Rosa, California.
- ^ a b Downie, S., B. deWaard, E. Dudik, D. McGuire, and R. Rutland (2006). Big River Basin Assessment Report (PDF) (Report). California Resources Agency and California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, California.
{{cite report}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ California Department of Fish and Wildlife (2013). Guide to the Northern California Marine Protected Areas: California-Oregon Border to Point Arena (Report).
- ^ a b State of California Water Quality Control Plan North Coastal Basin 1B July 1975 p.13
- ^ Osborn, Katherine (December 2017). Seasonal fish and invertebrate communities in three northern California estuaries (M.S. thesis). Humboldt State University.
- ^ "Castor canadensis shastensis?". California Academy of Sciences. 1966-03-12. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ Peter Skidmore; et al. (April 2009). "Science Base and Tools for Evaluating Stream Engineering, Management, and Restoration Proposals" (PDF). NOAA Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. p. 58. Retrieved Dec 19, 2009.
- ISBN 1-888569-56-5.
- ISBN 0-87095-084-3.
- ^ Stindt, Fred A. (1978). The Northwestern Pacific Railroad: Redwood Empire Route (3rd ed.). Kelseyville, California: Fred A. Stindt. p. 44. ASIN: B0007F4A2M.
- ^ Borden, Stanley T. (1966). Caspar Lumber Company. San Mateo, California: The Western Railroader.
Further reading
- Warrick, Sheridan F. and Elizabeth D. Wilson. Big River. The Natural History of an Endangered Northern California Estuary (Environmental Field Program Publication No. 6, 1981, University of California Santa Cruz)