Goleta Slough
34°25′25.76″N 119°50′50.86″W / 34.4238222°N 119.8474611°W
The Goleta Slough is an area of
The
The Goleta Slough was impacted by two events of the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. The first was the heavy grazing by cattle on the surrounding foothills and mountainsides followed by wide-ranging grassfires, heavy rains in 1861/62, and flooding which caused so much erosion and deposition of sediment in the mouths of the creeks emptying into Goleta Bay that most of the bay became silt-filled salt marsh in just a couple of years. The second event was the conversion of the marsh and remaining bay into a military airbase during World War II. The fill material was obtained by reducing the rest of Mescalitan Island which provided the material to fill the airport and the surrounding area. The former location of Mescalitan Island now contains a sewage treatment plant.
While no longer having a regularly navigable mouth, nor depths in most places suitable for anything except
"The Goleta Slough wetlands ... are fragmented along the coast from More Mesa to UCSB Storke Campus". The Goleta Slough Ecological Reserve is administered by the Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game. The Slough contains approximately 430 acres (1.7 km2) of wetland habitat (including the 360 acres (1.5 km2) ecological reserve and 14.8 acres (60,000 m2) at Storke Campus). The approximate historic area was 1,150 acres (4.7 km2).[2]
"The primary function of the Ecological Reserve is to provide habitat for wildlife and a setting for educational and research activities. Public utility and transportation corridors traverse the wetlands while airport runways, a sewage treatment plant, a power generation station, and light industrial facilities are constructed on filled portions of the marsh."[3]
Historic use
"It is estimated that
Adjacent use
Goleta Slough is almost entirely surrounded by urban development, some of which extends into the wetlands. This includes the municipal airport to the north,[4] the sewage treatment plant and the Southern California Gas Company's La Goleta Gas Field to the east, a public beach between the ocean and the slough, the campus of UC Santa Barbara to the south and west, and residential and light industrial operations to the north and west.
Adjacent historic use
Tidal influence
Extensive areas of the historic marsh below the
The Slough is fed by a watershed area of 45 square miles (120 km2).[2]
Tributaries and flow
The major tributaries of the Slough are Tecolotito Creek, Carneros Creek, and Atascadero Creek. Tecolotito Creek's highest flows are during winter storms; during the summer flows are intermittent. Carneros Creek's major flows are of the flash flood type, with intermittent flows in the summer months. Atascadero Creek is a stream that generally has perennial freshwater flow that is augmented by seepage and landscape watering. Highest flows are during winter storms. Other flow sources are runoff from the north-facing bluffs of UC Santa Barbara campus and More Mesa.[2]
Habitat
Habitat area has been surveyed for the City of Santa Barbara property, the largest portion of the wetlands. It is:
- 101 acres (410,000 m2) of coastal salt marsh
- 15 acres (61,000 m2) of mudflats
- 4 acres (16,000 m2) of saltflats
- 28 acres (110,000 m2) of creek and channels
- 8+ acres (32,000 m2) of riparian)
- 198 acres (800,000 m2) of Palustrine(vernal wetlands)
- 4.5 acres (18,000 m2) of scrub/shrub and forested wetlands.[2]
Vegetation
Vegetation includes
Animals
Animals using the wetlands include
279 species of birds have been observed at Goleta Slough; of these 121 were water-associated, including 20 species of special status.
10 species of fish were identified in a 1993 sampling, dominated by
Benthic invertebrates
November 1993 insect surveys conducted with a fine mesh seine or aquarium dip nets at the mouth and the back portion of the slough yielded 11 species; major taxonomic groups were bugs,
1986/87 trapping and visual surveys at the Storke Campus Wetlands identified two species of
A 1996 report identified 20 special status species from various surveys (dates not specified):
The 1996 report identified the following
.See also
- Goleta Beach
- Chumash (tribe)
References
- ^ "Goleta Slough". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ a b c d e "CWIS – "Goleta Slough" GENERAL Location". Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
- ^ a b "CWIS – "Goleta Slough" LAND USE Onsite Use". Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
- ^ Molina, Joshua (August 11, 2017). "Planning Commission Approves Santa Barbara Airport Master Plan". Noozhawk. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
- This article incorporates text from a US Government website, which is in the public domain.
External links
- Goleta Slough Management Committee
- Goleta Beach
- City of Goleta
- Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Oceans and Nourishment
- Shoreline Preservation Fund
- California Coastal Records Project (aerial photography) - by Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, CaliforniaCoastline.org, October 23, 2004
- UCSB Beach: 30 Years of Waxing and Waning - by Arthur Gibbs Sylvester, UCSB Geological Sciences Department, updated January 11, 2006
- Davidson Library - Beach Erosion Resources - by Janet Martorana, UCSB Library Services, updated January 30, 2006
- Determination of the source(s) of high nutrient concentration in Goleta Slough
- California Wetlands Information System
- Santa Barbara airport
- Accounts and Maps of the Goleta Slough