Calaveras Reservoir
Encyclopedia
Calaveras Reservoir is a lake
located primarily in Santa Clara County, California
with a small portion and its dam in Alameda County, California
. The reservoir has a capacity of 100000 acre.ft. In Spanish, Calaveras means "skulls."
Calaveras Dam, which creates the reservoir, used to be the largest earth-fill dam in the world. It is 210 feet (64 m) and was completed in 1925. The city and county of San Francisco owns the dam and reservoir.
Poverty Ridge
and Oak Ridge
lie to the east of Calaveras Reservoir, Milpitas and Monument Peak lie to the west, Sunol
lies to the far north, and Calaveras Creek and Los Buellis Hills
lie to the south.
Calaveras Reservoir is fed mainly by Arroyo Hondo
and Calaveras Creek
. Lying in the Calaveras Valley
, the region is a geologically active area with the Calaveras Fault
parallel to, and to the west of, the Dam site. Roads adjacent to the reservoir include Calaveras Road and Marsh Road, the latter which gained significant public attention due to a murder which occurred there in the early 1980s.
The Calaveras Valley
is rich and diverse in wildlife. Some of the most common animals include deer
, coyote
s, squirrel
s, turkey vulture
s, red-winged blackbird
s, yellow-billed magpie
s, red-tailed hawk
s, brewer's blackbird
s, purple martin
s, barn swallow
s, bullock's oriole
s, and warbler
s. These have recently been joined by a nesting pair of bald eagle
s.
In the 19th century, the Calaveras Valley which the reservoir now fills was primarily an agricultural region known for its production of hay
, strawberries
, and tomato
es. Because of San Francisco's increasing demand for drinking water at the turn of the 20th century, the farmers in the region were forced to sell their land to the Spring Valley Water Company, which in turn sold it to the San Francisco Water Company
. Although the first dam that was constructed collapsed due to engineering flaws, another dam was soon built. The flooding of the Calaveras Valley rapidly changed its sensitive hydrology and natural environment. The reservoir is reported to contain a very large population of largemouth bass, rainbow trout and other species. However, fishing here is illegal.
Today, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
(SFPUC) owns 36,000 acres (150 km²) in the Alameda Creek Watershed. Some lands in the watershed are leased to livestock
companies for cattle
ranching to control vegetation and prevent fires. Most of the land is closed to the public because of concerns over drinking water
safety and quality.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission plans to construct a new dam of equal height downstream of the existing dam as part of the $4.3 billion Water System Improvement Program. The 7 year-long environmental impact study report was certified by the San Francisco City Planning Commission on January 27, 2011. Later that day, the $434 Million Calaveras Dam Replacement Project was given the green light by the SFPUC. Construction is anticipated to begin in the Spring of 2011.
The replacement effort will include several measures to aid in the restoration of native fish populations. However, construction of a fish ladder to provide Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) access to the waters above the dam was deemed infeasible because at 290 feet (88.4 m), it would be the tallest fish ladder in the country and cost $40 million. Steelhead trout have not had access to spawning streams above Calaveras Dam since it was built in 1925. However, environmentalists won concessions from the SFPUC to assure adequate water releases from the new dam to improve summer flows as well as a smaller fish ladder around a diversion dam blocking access to upper Alameda Creek
, which is regarded as prime trout habitat.
Near the wrecked plane, on January 5, 1991, two skeletons were found. Using old medical and dental records, as well as the serial number on the plane's engine (a 4-cylinder, 75 hp Continental), the remains were positively identified by the county sheriff office as being that Clifford Gillman and Robert Louviere, missing since June 16, 1963. The bodies were removed but the wreckage is still present in the middle of the reservoir.
Plane was removed October 30 2011
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
located primarily in Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
with a small portion and its dam in Alameda County, California
Alameda County, California
Alameda County is a county in the U.S. state of California. It occupies most of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,510,271, making it the 7th most populous county in the state...
. The reservoir has a capacity of 100000 acre.ft. In Spanish, Calaveras means "skulls."
Calaveras Dam, which creates the reservoir, used to be the largest earth-fill dam in the world. It is 210 feet (64 m) and was completed in 1925. The city and county of San Francisco owns the dam and reservoir.
Poverty Ridge
Poverty Ridge
Poverty Ridge is a ridge in unincorporated Santa Clara County, California, east of Milpitas. Calaveras Valley lies to its west, while its east side slopes down to meet Arroyo Hondo. Creeks that originate on Poverty Ridge include Calaveras and Penitencia Creeks....
and Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge (California)
Oak Ridge in Santa Clara County, California, is a ridge forming the east canyon wall of Arroyo Hondo, which drains into Calaveras Reservoir. Black Mountain is its highest point. The first known white settlers on Oak Ridge were the Parks family, who ran cattle on the ridge...
lie to the east of Calaveras Reservoir, Milpitas and Monument Peak lie to the west, Sunol
Sunol
Sunol may refer to one of the following places:* Sunol, California* Sunol-Midtown, California* Sunol, Nebraska* Sunol Regional Wilderness* Sunol Valley* Sunol Water Temple...
lies to the far north, and Calaveras Creek and Los Buellis Hills
Los Buellis Hills
Los Buellis Hills is a short series of hills east of Berryessa, San Jose, California. It is located slightly west of Felter Road and is used primarily for grazing cattle. High-voltage transmission lines also pass through the hills. The Los Buellis Hills average about 2000 ft in elevation....
lie to the south.
Arroyo Hondo (Santa Clara County, California)
Arroyo Hondo is a river in Santa Clara County, California, United States, that lies east of Milpitas. The area is privately owned by the San Francisco Water Department and is closed to public access because of its usage as drinking water. Bounded to the east by Oak Ridge and to the west by Poverty...
and Calaveras Creek
Calaveras Creek (California)
Calaveras Creek is a northward-flowing stream in Alameda and Santa Clara counties of California. It runs for , starting from Poverty Ridge, passing through Calaveras Reservoir, and emptying into Alameda Creek east of Fremont, California....
. Lying in the Calaveras Valley
Calaveras Valley
Calaveras Valley is a valley east of Milpitas. It has formed primarily as a result of the actions of the Calaveras Fault. The southern end of the Calaveras Valley is a few miles south of Calaveras Reservoir, while the northern end is at Sunol....
, the region is a geologically active area with the Calaveras Fault
Calaveras Fault
The Calaveras Fault is a major branch of the San Andreas Fault located in northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. To the east of the Hayward-Rodgers Creek fault, the Calaveras fault extends 123 km, splaying from the San Andreas fault near Hollister and terminating at Danville at its...
parallel to, and to the west of, the Dam site. Roads adjacent to the reservoir include Calaveras Road and Marsh Road, the latter which gained significant public attention due to a murder which occurred there in the early 1980s.
Calaveras Valley
Calaveras Valley is a valley east of Milpitas. It has formed primarily as a result of the actions of the Calaveras Fault. The southern end of the Calaveras Valley is a few miles south of Calaveras Reservoir, while the northern end is at Sunol....
is rich and diverse in wildlife. Some of the most common animals include deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s, turkey vulture
Turkey Vulture
The Turkey Vulture is a bird found throughout most of the Americas. It is also known in some North American regions as the Turkey Buzzard , and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John Crow or Carrion Crow...
s, red-winged blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
The Red-winged Blackbird is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and...
s, yellow-billed magpie
Yellow-billed Magpie
The Yellow-billed Magpie, Pica nuttalli, is a large bird in the crow family found only in California. It inhabits the Central Valley and the adjacent chaparral foothills and mountains...
s, red-tailed hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...
s, brewer's blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
The Brewer's Blackbird is a medium-sized New World blackbird, named after the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer....
s, purple martin
Purple Martin
The Purple Martin is the largest North American swallow. These aerial acrobats have speed and agility in flight, and when approaching their housing, will dive from the sky at great speeds with their wings tucked.-Description and taxonomy:...
s, barn swallow
Barn Swallow
The Barn Swallow is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas...
s, bullock's oriole
Bullock's Oriole
The Bullock's Oriole, , is a small New World blackbird. At one time, this species and the Baltimore Oriole were considered to be a single species, the Northern Oriole...
s, and warbler
New World warbler
The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....
s. These have recently been joined by a nesting pair of bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
s.
In the 19th century, the Calaveras Valley which the reservoir now fills was primarily an agricultural region known for its production of hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
, strawberries
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
, and tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es. Because of San Francisco's increasing demand for drinking water at the turn of the 20th century, the farmers in the region were forced to sell their land to the Spring Valley Water Company, which in turn sold it to the San Francisco Water Company
San Francisco Water Department
The San Francisco Water Department is an agency in San Francisco that provides water service to residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco Water Department privately holds substantial amounts of undeveloped land in many parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.Since the mid-19th century...
. Although the first dam that was constructed collapsed due to engineering flaws, another dam was soon built. The flooding of the Calaveras Valley rapidly changed its sensitive hydrology and natural environment. The reservoir is reported to contain a very large population of largemouth bass, rainbow trout and other species. However, fishing here is illegal.
Today, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is a public agency of the City and County of San Francisco that provides water, wastewater, and power services to the City and an additional 1.6 million customers within three San Francisco Bay Area counties.The SFPUC manages a complex water supply...
(SFPUC) owns 36,000 acres (150 km²) in the Alameda Creek Watershed. Some lands in the watershed are leased to livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
companies for cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
ranching to control vegetation and prevent fires. Most of the land is closed to the public because of concerns over drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
safety and quality.
Dam Replacement
Because the dam is located near a seismically active fault zone and was determined to be seismically vulnerable, the California Department of Water Resources, Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) has limited since 2001 the amount of water that can be stored in the reservoir to approximately 30 percent of its former full storage capacity (full storage capacity is 96850 acre.ft of water) until the safety deficiencies are corrected.The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission plans to construct a new dam of equal height downstream of the existing dam as part of the $4.3 billion Water System Improvement Program. The 7 year-long environmental impact study report was certified by the San Francisco City Planning Commission on January 27, 2011. Later that day, the $434 Million Calaveras Dam Replacement Project was given the green light by the SFPUC. Construction is anticipated to begin in the Spring of 2011.
The replacement effort will include several measures to aid in the restoration of native fish populations. However, construction of a fish ladder to provide Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) access to the waters above the dam was deemed infeasible because at 290 feet (88.4 m), it would be the tallest fish ladder in the country and cost $40 million. Steelhead trout have not had access to spawning streams above Calaveras Dam since it was built in 1925. However, environmentalists won concessions from the SFPUC to assure adequate water releases from the new dam to improve summer flows as well as a smaller fish ladder around a diversion dam blocking access to upper Alameda Creek
Alameda Creek
Alameda Creek is a large perennial stream in the San Francisco Bay Area. The creek runs for from a lake northeast of Packard Ridge to the eastern shore San Francisco Bay by way of Niles Canyon and a flood control channel.-History:...
, which is regarded as prime trout habitat.
Plane Crash Discovery
A drought swept California in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and water reservoirs throughout the state reported record low water levels. Maintenance work on Calaveras Reservoir, in conjunction with the drought, had lowered the water 100 feet (30.5 m) by January 1991. And as the water dropped, the shiny aluminum of a wrecked plane poked through the mud of the reservoir.Near the wrecked plane, on January 5, 1991, two skeletons were found. Using old medical and dental records, as well as the serial number on the plane's engine (a 4-cylinder, 75 hp Continental), the remains were positively identified by the county sheriff office as being that Clifford Gillman and Robert Louviere, missing since June 16, 1963. The bodies were removed but the wreckage is still present in the middle of the reservoir.
See also
- Arroyo Hondo (Santa Clara County, California)Arroyo Hondo (Santa Clara County, California)Arroyo Hondo is a river in Santa Clara County, California, United States, that lies east of Milpitas. The area is privately owned by the San Francisco Water Department and is closed to public access because of its usage as drinking water. Bounded to the east by Oak Ridge and to the west by Poverty...
- Black Mountain (Diablo Range, California)
Plane was removed October 30 2011