Redwood Creek (Marin County)
Encyclopedia
Redwood Creek is a short but significant stream
in Marin County, California
. 4.7 miles (7.6 km) long, it drains a 7 square miles (18.1 km²) watershed
which includes the Muir Woods National Monument
, and reaches the Pacific Ocean
north of the Golden Gate
at Muir Beach
.
, purchased the Green Gulch Farm and Muir Beach where he created pasture by constructing drainage channels, levees, a dam and a large drainage channel along Redwood Creek. In 1967, Wheelwright donated the Muir Beach area to the California State Parks
who built a large parking lot in the current location by the beach. In 1972, Wheelwright sold the Green Gulch Farm to Zentatsu Richard Baker
who transformed the ranch into the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
.
or silver salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), coastal cutthroat
(Oncorhynchus clarki clarki) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), each of them threatened species
. The creek is near the southernmost limit of coho habitat and the fish have never been stocked, so they have a distinctive DNA. The Redwood Creek salmon are Central Coast Coho Salmon which have been listed as federally threatened species since October 2006 and as federally endangered species
in June 2005. Coho migrate from the ocean back to freshwater for a single chance at reproduction, generally after two years in the ocean. The spawning migrations begin after heavy latefall or winter rains breach the sandbar at Muir Beach allowing the fish to move upstream (usually in December and January). No salmon were seen in the 2007-2008 winter run, nor the 2008-2009 winter run. Evidence points to exhaustion of smolt oversummering in the creek due to a loss of large woody debris and deep pools where young salmon can rest. Starting in 2009, the National Park Service
will begin restoring Muir Beach to create a functional, self-sustaining ecosystem and improve visitor
access. The intervention was almost too late, since the coho only has a three year life span. Fortunately, as of January, 2010 and for the first time in three years, an estimated 45 Coho swam up Redwood Creek to spawn, creating 23 redds or clusters of eggs. In 2011, 11 live adult coho and 1 coho carcass was observed, along with three redds, a modest increase over the 2007-2008 spawning season. Statewide the coho population is 1% of its levels in the 1940s and the fish have vanished from 90% of the streams they formally visited.
In fall of 2003, the NPS completed the first phase of the Banducci Site restoration project, about 1 km upstream from the creek's mouth at Muir Beach. Artificial log jams were constructed using downed Eucalyptus trees and breaching the constraining levees to reconnect the channel and floodplain. The primary purpose of the instream project was to create rearing pools for juvenile salmonids. NPS also removed invasive, non-native vegetation in the riparian corridor, and replaced it with native vegetation to enhance nesting habitat for resident and migrant riparian songbirds. The current phase of the Redwood Creek Restoration Project began in 2009, is an attempt to restore the 46-acre creek floodplain. It includes creation of a new 650 foot meandering channel with three side-channels, in an attempt to restore the historic Big Lagoon, which according to 1850 maps, extended all the way back to the present Pelican Inn. Once the planted native vegetation takes hold on the new stream banks, the current parking lot will be rotated 90 degrees and the new channel connected.
Other rare species living in the watershed include the Northern Spotted Owl
(Strix occidentalis caurina) and the California Red-legged Frog
(Rana aurora draytonii). In late 2009 the NPS excavated a pond in a pasture at Green Gulch Farm to provide habitat for the dwindling California red-legged frog population, the only one in the watershed.
River otter
(Lontra canadensis) were spotted in Redwood Creek in 1996, and return every year to eat steelhead trout. Interestingly, river otter were not listed as native to Marin County in Grinnell's 1937 Fur-bearing Mammals of California.
, however its tributaries begin on the peak at about 2000 feet (609.6 m). Mainstem tributaries include Fern Creek, anadromous Kent Creek and Green Gulch Creek. Prior to the land use changes that followed European colonization of the watershed, a large intermittently tidal lagoon occurred at the mouth of Redwood Creek. This lagoon once covered an area of approximately 25 acres (101,171.5 m²); only a remnant of the lagoon remains today.
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...
in Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
. 4.7 miles (7.6 km) long, it drains a 7 square miles (18.1 km²) watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
which includes the Muir Woods National Monument
Muir Woods National Monument
Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on the Pacific coast of southwestern Marin County, California, north of San Francisco and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
, and reaches the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
north of the Golden Gate
Golden Gate
The Golden Gate is the North American strait connecting San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Since 1937 it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge...
at Muir Beach
Muir Beach, California
Muir Beach is a census-designated place , unincorporated community, and beach that is located northwest of San Francisco in western Marin County, California, United States...
.
History
At the time of European discovery, the watershed was inhabited by the Coast Miwok, of which the local Huimen tribe was one of fifteen independent Miwok tribes in Marin and southern Sonoma counties. The indigenous archeological site named CA-MRN-33 on the edge of Big Lagoon is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Muir Beach Historical Site. The Banducci family grew hay and flowers on a 170 acre (0.6879662 km²) parcel 1/2 mile upstream from the lagoon, and constructed levees along the right banks in 1948-1949 to prevent overbank flooding. These historical actions created an artificially-straight, constrained stream with relatively little habitat heterogeneity, nicknamed the “Bowling Alley” reach. The NPS acquired this property in 1980, with an agreement allowing the Banduccis to continue farming until 1995. In 1945, George Wheelwright, a co-founder of PolaroidPolaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
, purchased the Green Gulch Farm and Muir Beach where he created pasture by constructing drainage channels, levees, a dam and a large drainage channel along Redwood Creek. In 1967, Wheelwright donated the Muir Beach area to the California State Parks
California Department of Parks and Recreation
The California Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 278 parks and 1.4 million acres , with over of coastline; of lake and river frontage; nearly 15,000 campsites; and of hiking, biking, and...
who built a large parking lot in the current location by the beach. In 1972, Wheelwright sold the Green Gulch Farm to Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...
who transformed the ranch into the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, or Soryu-ji is a Soto Zen practice center located near Muir Beach, California that practices in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. In addition to its Zen training program, the center also manages an organic farm and gardens...
.
Habitat and wildlife
Redwood Creek provides a critical spawning and rearing habitat for cohoCoho salmon
The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...
or silver salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), coastal cutthroat
Coastal cutthroat trout
The coastal cutthroat trout also known as the sea run cutthroat, or harvest trout are a subspecies of cutthroat trout with an anadromous life history....
(Oncorhynchus clarki clarki) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), each of them threatened species
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
. The creek is near the southernmost limit of coho habitat and the fish have never been stocked, so they have a distinctive DNA. The Redwood Creek salmon are Central Coast Coho Salmon which have been listed as federally threatened species since October 2006 and as federally endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
in June 2005. Coho migrate from the ocean back to freshwater for a single chance at reproduction, generally after two years in the ocean. The spawning migrations begin after heavy latefall or winter rains breach the sandbar at Muir Beach allowing the fish to move upstream (usually in December and January). No salmon were seen in the 2007-2008 winter run, nor the 2008-2009 winter run. Evidence points to exhaustion of smolt oversummering in the creek due to a loss of large woody debris and deep pools where young salmon can rest. Starting in 2009, the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
will begin restoring Muir Beach to create a functional, self-sustaining ecosystem and improve visitor
access. The intervention was almost too late, since the coho only has a three year life span. Fortunately, as of January, 2010 and for the first time in three years, an estimated 45 Coho swam up Redwood Creek to spawn, creating 23 redds or clusters of eggs. In 2011, 11 live adult coho and 1 coho carcass was observed, along with three redds, a modest increase over the 2007-2008 spawning season. Statewide the coho population is 1% of its levels in the 1940s and the fish have vanished from 90% of the streams they formally visited.
In fall of 2003, the NPS completed the first phase of the Banducci Site restoration project, about 1 km upstream from the creek's mouth at Muir Beach. Artificial log jams were constructed using downed Eucalyptus trees and breaching the constraining levees to reconnect the channel and floodplain. The primary purpose of the instream project was to create rearing pools for juvenile salmonids. NPS also removed invasive, non-native vegetation in the riparian corridor, and replaced it with native vegetation to enhance nesting habitat for resident and migrant riparian songbirds. The current phase of the Redwood Creek Restoration Project began in 2009, is an attempt to restore the 46-acre creek floodplain. It includes creation of a new 650 foot meandering channel with three side-channels, in an attempt to restore the historic Big Lagoon, which according to 1850 maps, extended all the way back to the present Pelican Inn. Once the planted native vegetation takes hold on the new stream banks, the current parking lot will be rotated 90 degrees and the new channel connected.
Other rare species living in the watershed include the Northern Spotted Owl
Northern Spotted Owl
The Northern Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis caurina, is one of three Spotted Owl subspecies. A Western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl sixteen to nineteen inches in length and one to one and one sixth pounds. Females are larger than males...
(Strix occidentalis caurina) and the California Red-legged Frog
California Red-legged Frog
The California red-legged frog, Rana draytonii, is a moderate to large species of frog. It is known under the scientific name Rana draytonii, after being long included with the northern red-legged frog The California red-legged frog, Rana draytonii, is a moderate to large (4.4–14 cm) species...
(Rana aurora draytonii). In late 2009 the NPS excavated a pond in a pasture at Green Gulch Farm to provide habitat for the dwindling California red-legged frog population, the only one in the watershed.
River otter
River otter
River otter may refer to:*River Otter, a river in Devon*European Otter*Japanese River Otter*Neotropical River Otter*North American River Otter, a common animal in North American waterways*Southern River Otter, found in Chile and Argentina...
(Lontra canadensis) were spotted in Redwood Creek in 1996, and return every year to eat steelhead trout. Interestingly, river otter were not listed as native to Marin County in Grinnell's 1937 Fur-bearing Mammals of California.
Watershed
Redwood Creek is formed by the confluence of Bootjack, Rattlesnake and Spike Buck Creeks at about 300 feet (91.4 m) on Mount TamalpaisMount Tamalpais
Mount Tamalpais is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected within public lands such as Mount Tamalpais State Park and the Mount Tamalpais Watershed.-Geography:...
, however its tributaries begin on the peak at about 2000 feet (609.6 m). Mainstem tributaries include Fern Creek, anadromous Kent Creek and Green Gulch Creek. Prior to the land use changes that followed European colonization of the watershed, a large intermittently tidal lagoon occurred at the mouth of Redwood Creek. This lagoon once covered an area of approximately 25 acres (101,171.5 m²); only a remnant of the lagoon remains today.
Bridges
Redwood Creek is spanned by several bridges:- at Muir Woods Road 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of State Route 1California State Route 1State Route 1 , more often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. It is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, leading to its designation as an All-American Road.Highway 1 does not run...
, a concrete continuous slab built in 1958 - at milepost 6.02 on State Route 1, a concrete culvert built in 1926 and reconstructed in 1970
- at Pacific Way, 0.09 miles (144.8 m) south of State Route 1, concrete span built in 1956
- at Muir Woods Road 2 miles (3.2 km) north of State Route 1, a concrete tee beam built in 1946
See also
- List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Redwood Creek Native Plant NurseryRedwood Creek Native Plant NurseryRedwood Creek Native Plant Nursery is just outside the old-growth redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument. The nursery provides plants for restoration of the creek bank in the lower watershed and impacted areas of the Muir Woods’ redwood understory....