Carriger Creek is a stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....

. Southwest of the city of Sonoma, California

Sonoma, California

Sonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...

, its name changes to Fowler Creek. This article covers both parts of the creek.

Carriger Creek springs from the eastern slope of Sonoma Mountain

Sonoma Mountain

Sonoma Mountain is a prominent landform within the Sonoma Mountains of southern Sonoma County, California. At elevation of , Sonoma Mountain offers expansive views of the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Sonoma Valley to the east...

, 4 mi (6 km) southwest of Glen Ellen

Glen Ellen, California

Glen Ellen is a census-designated place in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA. The population was 784 at the 2010 census, down from 992 at the 2000 census. Glen Ellen is the location of Jack London State Historic Park , Sonoma Valley Regional Park, and a former home of Hunter S....

. It flows southwest through a 3 mi (5 km) canyon that opens west of El Verano

El Verano, California

El Verano is a census-designated place in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 4,123 at the 2010 census....

. In the Sonoma Valley

Sonoma Valley

Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of the California wine industry and often called The Valley of the Moon. Sonoma Valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of Prohibition...

, it joins with Felder Creek just north of West Watmaugh Road and becomes Fowler Creek. Fowler Creek parallels State Route 12 south, joined by Rodgers Creek along the way. It flows into Sonoma Creek

Sonoma Creek

Sonoma Creek is a stream in northern California. It is one of two principal drainages of southern Sonoma County, California, with headwaters rising in the rugged hills of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and discharging to San Pablo Bay, the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. The watershed drained by...

 just north of State Route 121

California State Route 121

State Route 121 is a California state highway in the Wine Country that runs northerly from its junction with State Route 37 at Sears Point, past the Tolay Lake basin and across Tolay Creek near Infineon Raceway, veers east at a junction with State Route 116 and Bonneau Road at Schellville, runs...

. Its waters reach the Napa Sonoma Marsh

Napa Sonoma Marsh

The Napa Sonoma Marsh is a wetland at the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, which is a northern arm of the San Francisco Bay in California, USA. This marsh has an area of 48,000 acres , of which 13,000 acres are abandoned salt evaporation ponds...

 and San Pablo Bay

San Pablo Bay

San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in northern California in the United States. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water channel approximately in mid bay, which allows access to Sacramento, Stockton, Benicia, Martinez, and...

 by way of Sonoma Creek.

Ecology

Carriger Creek is studied by the Sonoma Ecology Center and the Southern Sonoma County Resource Conservation District. Steelhead migration and spawning

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

 occur in Carriger Creek. Ongoing stream bank stabilization and riparian revegetation is being conducted in the creek to prevent erosion and enhance fish and wildlife habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

. The major correction required was compensation for a poorly conceived concrete ford historically constructed for access to the Van Hoosear Wildflower Preserve

Van Hoosear Wildflower Preserve

The Van Hoosear Wildflower Preserve is a private nature reserve on Carriger Creek in southern Sonoma County, California, USA. Van Hoosear was created to allow animal migration and ecological connection between Sonoma Mountain and the floor of the Sonoma Valley...

; this concrete structure led to severe downsteam downcutting and resultant denial of fish passage. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‎, Carriger Creek was a "renowned steelhead fishery" prior to the ecological damage of human modification of the streambed. Besides eliminating the downcutting by creating a fish ladder

Fish ladder

A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps, is a structure on or around artificial barriers to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps into the waters on...

, restoration work will also result in use of rip-rap for certain streambank stabilization.