Stevens Creek (California)

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Coordinates: 37°26′45″N 122°03′49″W / 37.44583°N 122.06361°W / 37.44583; -122.06361
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Stevens Creek
Cupertino Creek
Steelhead trout and spawning redd on Stevens Creek
Stevens Creek watershed (Interactive map)
Native nameArroyo San José de Cupertino (Spanish)[1]
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionSanta Clara County
CityMountain View, California
Physical characteristics
SourceBlack Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains
 • locationMonte Bello Open Space Preserve
 • coordinates37°18′40″N 122°11′14″W / 37.31111°N 122.18722°W / 37.31111; -122.18722[2]
MouthSouthwest San Francisco Bay
 • location
Whisman Slough, Mountain View, California
 • coordinates
37°26′45″N 122°03′49″W / 37.44583°N 122.06361°W / 37.44583; -122.06361[2]
 • elevation
3 ft (0.91 m)[2]
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftIndian Creek (San Leandro River), Bay Creek (San Leandro River), Gold Mine Creek, Swiss Creek, Montebello Creek, Heney Creek
Arroyo de San José Cupertino
DesignatedDecember 23, 1964
Reference no.800[3]

Stevens Creek is a 20.9-mile-long (33.6 km)

Stevens Creek County Park before turning northeast into Stevens Creek Reservoir. It then continues north for 12.5 miles (20.1 km) through Cupertino, Los Altos, Sunnyvale and Mountain View before emptying into the San Francisco Bay at the Whisman Slough, near Google's main campus
.

History

Adobe Creek
) is shown.

The creek was originally named Arroyo San José de Cupertino (

Diocese of San Jose
recently dedicated de Anza's Knoll as permanent public open space.

The Saint Joseph of Cupertino place name is preserved today in the city of

Sierra Nevada (two years before the ill-fated Donner Party).[6][7]

Watershed

Stevens Creek enters the San Francisco Estuary near Long Point, north of Moffett Field Naval Air Station, at Whisman Slough between Mountain View's Shoreline Park and Stevens Creek Shoreline Nature Study Area. It drains a watershed of about 29 square miles (75 km2).[8]

There is one major impoundment (dam), Stevens Creek Reservoir at 531 feet (162 m) of elevation. The reservoir was constructed in 1935 to provide storage capacity of winter runoff that could be used to recharge the Santa Clara valley aquifer. The reservoir is managed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and has a current capacity of 3,465 acre-feet (4,274,000 m3) of water. As currently managed by the SCVWD, flows are released during summer months which result in maintaining a wet channel for approximately 5.7 miles (9.2 km) downstream of the Reservoir (to Fremont Avenue) in order to preserve steelhead.

Tributaries above the Stevens Creek Reservoir include Indian Creek, Bay Creek, Gold Mine Creek, Swiss Creek and Montebello Creek. One tributary, Heney Creek, joins the mainstem 3.7 miles (6.0 km) below the Reservoir. Additionally, a diversion channel from Permanente Creek (constructed in 1959) sends winter storm flows into Stevens Creek approximately 6.3 miles (10.1 km) below the reservoir.[8]

Stevens Creek Trail

A view along the Stevens Creek Trail near downtown Mountain View

The Stevens Creek Trail is a 5-mile (8 km) long bicycle and pedestrian path that runs south continuously from

Blackberry Farm Park.[10][11]
The trail is entirely separated from vehicular traffic, using numerous overcrossings and underpasses.

The four cities of Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos, and Mountain View cooperated on potential trail alignments with the goal of a completed trail from the Bay to the Santa Cruz Mountains; they produced a recommendation, which was approved by all four cities, and then disbanded their joint city working team.[12]

Habitat and conservation

Steelhead trout

Two pairs of steelhead trout spawning in lower reaches of Stevens Creek may have had difficulty ascending to former spawning grounds due to fish passage barriers
Looking west, from east side of Stevens Creek, at terminus of Permanente Creek Diversion Channel as it exits beneath Highway 85. Here Permanente Creek drops about ten vertical feet over cemented boulders, an impassable barrier to in-migrating steelhead trout, 2013.
California Route 85
, showing fish-passage baffles

Stevens Creek was one of the prime steelhead (coastal rainbow trout) (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) habitats within the county. The Sportsman Gazetteer in 1877 touted Stevens Creek as a trout fishing destination.[13] Six physical specimens were collected in 1893 by Stanford Biology Professor W. W. Thoburn and are in the California Academy of Sciences collection.[14] In 1898 John Otterbein Snyder collected steelhead trout specimens in Stevens Creek.[15] Leidy reviewed numerous historical observer and sampling records of steelhead trout in Stevens Creek throughout the twentieth century and noted that hatchery stock planted in the creek did not seem to survive like the native, wild trout did.[16] In a genetic study of fish from Santa Clara Valley streams, Stevens Creek and other trout had coastal steelhead ancestry and no substantial introgression of hatchery trout. The Stevens Creek fish were closely related to the steelhead trout in nearby basins.[17]

However, there are significant barriers for

Redds below the Evelyn Avenue fish ladder and grade control structure, but that this barrier was forcing most of the steelhead to spawn in the undesirable lower reaches of the stream, and that it has been a significant barrier to upstream spawning runs for at least the past four years.[22] Under the water district's Fish and Aquatic Habitat Collaborative Effort (FAHCE), Stevens Creek has been identified as one of the prime steelhead habitats within Santa Clara County and plans are underway to remove three barriers to fish passage in the lower creek: at Moffett Boulevard, Evelyn Avenue and Fremont Avenue.[23]

Stevens Creek Dam blocks 8.6 miles (13.8 km) of potential anadromous steelhead trout spawning habitat further upstream.[4]

Red-bellied newt

The

coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests 130 kilometres (81 mi) north of Stevens Creek in Sonoma County, California, however a disjunct population was discovered in the upper watershed of Stevens Creek that is genetically identical to the Sonoma County population. Whether the Stevens Creek newts were introduced or are a relict population is unclear.[24][25]

Western burrowing owl

Western burrowing owls

The

Solano counties as the remnant breeding range.[29]

Stevens Creek from Stevens Creek Trail, just upstream of where they run under Mountain View's Dana Street overpass

Landmark status

Arroyo de San Joseph Cupertino, CA, USA

On December 23, 1964, the Office of Historic Preservation designated Arroyo de San José Cupertino as a California historical landmark #800. A description on the commemorative plaque reads: "This arroyo honoring San Joseph, patron saint of flight and students, was first discovered and traversed by Spanish explorers in 1769. On March 25-26, 1776, Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza made it his encampment No. 93, as mapped by his cartographer, Padre Pedro Font, on his journey to the San Francisco Bay area where he initiated a colony, a mission, and a presidio."[3]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-884995-14-4
    . Retrieved Jan 1, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Stevens Creek
  3. ^ a b "Arroyo de San Joseph Cupertino". Office of Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  4. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 15, 2011
  5. ^ de Anza; Juan Bautista (1776). Diary of Juan Bautista de Anza October 23, 1775 - June 1, 1776. University of Oregon Web de Anza pages. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  6. ^ "Stevens Creek: Historic, Navigable, Misspelled". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  7. ^ History of the Rengstorff House from "Stevens Creek". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
  8. ^ a b "Stevens Watershed, Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program". Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program. Retrieved Dec 1, 2010.
  9. ^ Teater & etc. (2004). "Map of Shoreline Park and Stevens Creek, Hetch-Hetchy Trails". City of Mountain View.
  10. ^ "Stevens Creek Corridor Park & Restoration Phase 2 Dedication Celebration". City of Cupertino. 2014-06-27.
  11. ^ Stevens Creek Trail Map, City of Cupertino
  12. ^ "Stevens Creek Trail Status". Cupertino, CA: Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail. 2017-10-28. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  13. ^ Charles Hallock (1877). The sportsman's gazetteer and general guide. "Forest and stream" publishing Company. p. 15. Retrieved 2015-08-25. adobe.
  14. ^ "Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus, SU 4758". California Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 2015-12-27. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  15. ^ John Otterbein Snyder, United States Bureau of Fisheries (1905). Notes on the fishes of the streams flowing into San Francisco Bay, California in Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904. Vol. 30. General Printing Office. p. 337. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  16. ^ Robert A. Leidy; Gordon Becker; Brett N. Harvey (2005). Historical Distribution and Current Status of Steelhead/Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Streams of the San Francisco Estuary, California (PDF) (Report). Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration. p. 123. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
  17. ^ John Carlos Garza; Devon Pearse (March 2008). Population genetics of Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Santa Clara Valley Region (PDF) (Report). Santa Clara Valley Water District. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  18. ^ Leidy, R.A.; G.S. Becker; B.N. Harvey (2005). "Historical distribution and current status of steelhead/rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in streams of the San Francisco Estuary, California" (PDF). Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration, Oakland, CA. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
  19. ^ "Stevens Creek and Permanente Creeks Watershed Council: About US". Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  20. ^ Saeid Hosseini; Ted Ibarra; Jae Abel; Bobby Tan (June 2009). FAHCE Stevens Creek Fish Passage Enhancement Project No. 00294001 Problem Definition/Refined Objectives Report (Report). Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  21. ^ a b Stillwater Sciences (2004-09-10). Stevens Creek Limiting Factors Analysis (PDF) (Report). SCVURPPP. p. 33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  22. ^ Darren Howe; Gary Stern (2013-04-19). Stevens Creek Survey and Observations (Report). NOAA/NMFS.
  23. ^ "Stevens Creek Fish Passage Modifications". Santa Clara Valley Water District. Archived from the original on 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  24. S2CID 3957581
    . Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  25. ^ Tony Iwane (January 3, 2021). "The Mysterious Red Belly. A visit with Stevens Creek's resident enigmas". Bay Nature. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  26. ^ DeBolt, Daniel (January 10, 2008). "Burrowing Owls vs. Google:Pair of birds found on Google's hotel site will cost city $150,000". Mountain View Voice.
  27. ^ Rendon, JIm (Nov–Dec 1999). "Owl Be Damned:Developers plow into the homes of the burrowing owl". Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper.
  28. ^ Donna Whitmarsh. "Antioch Developer Evicts Burrowing Owls". Bay Nature. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved Jan 1, 2010.
  29. ^ Joe Eaton (Jan 14, 2010). "Wild Neighbors: Antioch Owls Face Evicition [sic]". Berkeley Daily Planet. Retrieved Jan 14, 2010.

External links

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