Santa Rosa Creek

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Coordinates: 38°27′5″N 122°50′3″W / 38.45139°N 122.83417°W / 38.45139; -122.83417
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Santa Rosa Creek
Hood Mountain
 • location5 km (3 mi) west of St. Helena, California
 • coordinates38°31′10″N 122°32′56″W / 38.51944°N 122.54889°W / 38.51944; -122.54889[1]
 • elevation1,940 ft (590 m)
MouthLaguna de Santa Rosa
 • coordinates
38°27′5″N 122°50′3″W / 38.45139°N 122.83417°W / 38.45139; -122.83417[1]
 • elevation
49 ft (15 m)
Length22 mi (35 km)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftMatanzas Creek
 • rightPiner Creek, Brush Creek
Santa Rosa Creek
and trail system
Legend
 Hood Mountain
California 12.svg SR 12
Melita Road
Annadel State Park
 Spring Lake
Montgomery Drive
Mission Boulevard
Brush Creek
Yulupa Avenue
California 12.svg SR 12 Farmers Lane
Alderbrook Drive
Talbot Avenue
Montgomery Drive
Matanzas Creek
Brookwood Avenue
E Street
City Hall
Santa Rosa Avenue
Prince Greenway
A Street
US 101 (1961 cutout).svg US 101
Convention Center
Railroad Street
SMART
Joe Rodota Trail
West 3rd Street
Peterson Street
North Dutton Avenue
Stony Point Road
Fulton Road
Piner Creek
Peterson Creek
Weldon Creek
Willowside Road
Laguna de Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa Creek is a 22-mile-long (35 km)

Hood Mountain and discharges to the Laguna de Santa Rosa by way of the Santa Rosa Flood Control Channel.[2]
This article covers both the creek and the channel.

Description

Though it begins as a wild stream in the

coliform bacteria standards are often exceeded.[3]

History

Flat Rocks boulder formation in the confluence zone of Brush Creek into Santa Rosa Creek

maiden on the feast day of Saint Rose of Lima
; he named the woman "Rosa" and the location "Santa Rosa," establishing there a mission outpost (una asistencia). The "asistencia de Santa Rosa" became the center of the colonial settlement that would eventually become the town of Santa Rosa.

In the city of Santa Rosa, remains of the

anadromous fish to reach spawning areas upstream. Consequently, by the 1990s, planning began for a creek restoration project to tear out much of the channel concrete lining, provide re-vegetation and create a new low flow channel to accommodate steelhead and coho salmon
spawning runs to the middle and upper reaches (i.e. above the downtown area of the city of Santa Rosa). As of July 2008, much of the renovation has been largely completed west of Santa Rosa Avenue, with the Prince Memorial Greenway extending along the creek west from Santa Rosa Avenue through downtown. This includes paved bicycle and pedestrian paths, creek access points, and substantial planting of vegetation. However, the portion between Santa Rosa Avenue and E Street is still contained within a covered culvert despite long-term plans to reopen the portion of it currently under city hall.

Prince Memorial Greenway is a bicycle and pedestrian path along the Santa Rosa Creek through downtown Santa Rosa and a key element of the creek's restoration.
January 2017 high water where Prince Memorial Greenway passes under U.S. Route 101

Geology

The headwaters of Santa Rosa Creek rise on the northern slopes of Hood Mountain, where the soils at the headwaters consist of soils of the Goulding cobbly clay loam association, which are well-drained gently to very steep loams and clay-loams situated upon upland formations. The lower elevations of the Hood Mountain headwaters consist of the Boomer soil association, which group has well-drained loams over a clay-loam subsoil.[4] Considering the steepness of much of the terrain there is a remarkable lack of erosion, primarily because human access has been historically low, and vegetative cover has been kept intact.

As Santa Rosa Creek descends toward the valley floor Falta very gravelly loam is encountered, which has scrubby

State Route 12
and runs along Melita Road, thence somewhat more northerly and parallels the south side of Route 12. Over this middle reach the soils are typical of alluvial fans, consisting of Yolo silt loams and clay loams of less than two percent slope. Historically this soil has served pasture uses with some orchards. Currently most of this area is developed with medium density residential uses.

Below the downtown confluence with Matanzas Creek, which drains the northern slopes of Sonoma Mountain, can be considered the lower reach of this watershed. Most of the soils extending some distance from Santa Rosa Creek are Yolo sandy loam overwash. This zone is especially subject to flooding, and historically has served as pasture, orchard and vineyard. Erosion potential is slight due to the less than five percent slope of this reach.

Ecology

Mayacamas Mountains headwaters reach area of Santa Rosa Creek

The upper reaches and headwaters of Santa Rosa Creek are on Hood Mountain on the western slopes of the southern

scrub jay, Steller's jay, acorn woodpecker and junco
.

As Santa Rosa Creek reaches the valley floor near Melita Road, the creek is choked with

huckleberry oak, Quercus vacciniifolia. This middle reach of the creek has more of a suburban character compared to the wild headwaters area. The middle reach continues as a richly vegetated riparian zone from Melita Road westerly to Farmers Lane. The reach at the confluence of Brush Creek
is particularly notable for the large boulder formation, known as "Flat Rocks". Below Farmers Lane the creek becomes channelized and much of the natural character is lost, until the creek begins to exit the west side of the city of Santa Rosa.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Santa Rosa Creek
  2. USGS
    Quadrangle Map, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC (1958)
  3. ^ The Sonoma County Environmental Health Department water quality sampling data
  4. Soil Conservation Service
    , Government Printing Office, Washington DC, May 1972
  5. ^ Ecology of the southern Mayacmas Range, Lumina Technologies, Santa Rosa, Ca., May 11, 2005

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Santa Rosa Creek.
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