San Tomas Aquino Creek
Encyclopedia
San Tomas Aquinas Creek, known locally as San Tomas Aquino Creek, is a 16.5 miles (26.6 km) stream that heads on El Sereno mountain in El Sereno Open Space Preserve
in Saratoga, California
in Santa Clara County, California
, United States
. It flows north through the cities of Saratoga
, Monte Sereno
, Los Gatos
, Campbell
, Santa Clara
and San Jose
before its confluence with the Guadalupe Slough in south San Francisco Bay
.
and the western boundary of the 1840 Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos
land grants.
and Saratoga Creek
s. Of these, Saratoga Creek
is the largest tributary and joins San Tomas Aquino Creek north of Highway 101. Due to its relatively large size, the Saratoga Creek subwatershed is often viewed as a distinct watershed even though it does not directly discharge to the Lower South San Francisco Bay. In fact, San Tomas Aquino Creek used to be a tributary of Saratoga Creek and thence to the Guadalupe River
, but when the latter was redirected from Guadalupe Slough to Alviso Slough to facilitate navigation, San Tomas Aquino Creek was extended directly to Guadalupe Slough at Sunnyvale Baylands Park in Sunnyvale
and Saratoga Creek became tributary to San Tomas Aquino Creek.
collected steelhead trout (then Salmo irideus Gibbons) specimens in Campbell Creek (now Saratoga Creek
, a tributary of San Tomas Aquino Creek). A 1985 California Department of Fish and Game
(CDFG) survey of Saratoga Creek noted “a major steelhead and king salmon spawning area” on San Tomas Aquino Creek located approximately 200 yards downstream of the Saratoga and San Tomas Aquino creeks confluence. Rainbow trout
(Oncorhynchus mykiss), the landlocked form of steelhead trout persist in the Saratoga Creek
watershed but anadromous steelhead cannot run up from the Bay because of a barrier at the confluence of San Tomas Aquino Creek and Saratoga Creek that prevents their passage upstream. Recent genetic analysis has shown that the San Tomas Aquino watershed trout are of native origin and not hatchery stock.
Leidy (2007) identified the native fishes in San Tomas Aquino Creek as Hitch
(Lavinia exilicauda), California roach
(Lavinia symmetricus), Sacramento sucker
(Catostomus occidentalis occidentalis), Three-spined stickleback
(Gasterosteus aculeatus), Rainbow trout
(Oncohrynchus mykiss) and possibly Chinook salmon
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Although the latter had been considered now absent from the watershed, in mid-October, 1996, Roger Castillo, the founder of the Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Group, recovered a giant Chinook salmon from San Tomas Aquino Creek beneath Highway 237
(see photo). Rainbow trout are the landlocked form of steelhead trout. Non-native fishes include Common carp
(Cyprinus carpio), Goldfish
(Carassius auratus auratus), Golden shiner
(Notemigonus crysoleucas), and Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).
El Sereno Open Space Preserve
El Sereno Open Space Preserve is a park unit of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District located on the peak and slopes of 2249 ft. El Sereno mountain, a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The preserve is located in Santa Clara County, California....
in Saratoga, California
Saratoga, California
Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....
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...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It flows north through the cities of Saratoga
Saratoga, California
Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....
, Monte Sereno
Monte Sereno, California
Monte Sereno is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The population was 3,341 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 10 miles southwest of San Jose and is immediately northwest of Los Gatos. The city is named for the 2249 ft...
, Los Gatos
Los Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
, Campbell
Campbell, California
Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...
, Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
and San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
before its confluence with the Guadalupe Slough in south San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
.
History
In the 1850's the creek appeared on several land grant maps as San Tomas Aquinas Creek and Arroyo de San Tomás Aquinas. Historically, San Tomas Aquino Creek formed the eastern boundary of the 1841 Rancho QuitoRancho Quito
Rancho Quito was a Mexican land grant in present day Santa Clara County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Zenon Fernandez and Jose Noriega. The grant included present day Saratoga, Campbell, and Cupertino. The eastern boundary was Arroyo San Tomas Aquino.-History:The...
and the western boundary of the 1840 Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos
Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos
El Rancho Rinconada de los Gatos was a Mexican land grant in present day Santa Clara County, California made in 1840 by Governor Juan Alvarado to Jose Maria Hernandez and Sebastian Fabian Peralta. Located in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, the grant included present day Los Gatos and Monte...
land grants.
Watershed and Course
The San Tomas Aquinas Creek watershed drains 44.8 square miles. The major tributaries of San Tomas Aquino Creek include (heading downstream) Mistletoe, Wildcat (and its Vasona sub-tributary), SmithSmith Creek (Santa Clara County, California)
Smith Creek is the name of two distinct watercourses within Santa Clara County, California.The larger of the two is located in the Diablo Range east of San Jose. The creek begins near the Bollinger Ridge, about 7.7 km SxSW of Mount Hamilton...
and Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.-History:Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's Redwoods" about three miles west of Saratoga,...
s. Of these, Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.-History:Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's Redwoods" about three miles west of Saratoga,...
is the largest tributary and joins San Tomas Aquino Creek north of Highway 101. Due to its relatively large size, the Saratoga Creek subwatershed is often viewed as a distinct watershed even though it does not directly discharge to the Lower South San Francisco Bay. In fact, San Tomas Aquino Creek used to be a tributary of Saratoga Creek and thence to the Guadalupe River
Guadalupe River
Guadalupe River may refer to:*Guadalupe River *Guadalupe River *Guadalupe River *Guadalupe River , in southern Spain*Guadalope, a river in northern Spain...
, but when the latter was redirected from Guadalupe Slough to Alviso Slough to facilitate navigation, San Tomas Aquino Creek was extended directly to Guadalupe Slough at Sunnyvale Baylands Park in Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
and Saratoga Creek became tributary to San Tomas Aquino Creek.
Habitat and wildlife
In 1898 John Otterbein SnyderJohn Otterbein Snyder
John Otterbein Snyder was an American zoologist.As a student he met David Starr Jordan who inspired him to enter zoology. He eventually became a zoology instructor at Stanford University and served there from 1899 until 1943. He went on several major collecting expeditions aboard the USS Albatross...
collected steelhead trout (then Salmo irideus Gibbons) specimens in Campbell Creek (now Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.-History:Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's Redwoods" about three miles west of Saratoga,...
, a tributary of San Tomas Aquino Creek). A 1985 California Department of Fish and Game
California Department of Fish and Game
The California Department of Fish and Game is a department within the government of California, falling under its parent California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Game manages and protects the state's diverse fish, wildlife, plant resources, and native habitats...
(CDFG) survey of Saratoga Creek noted “a major steelhead and king salmon spawning area” on San Tomas Aquino Creek located approximately 200 yards downstream of the Saratoga and San Tomas Aquino creeks confluence. Rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
(Oncorhynchus mykiss), the landlocked form of steelhead trout persist in the Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.-History:Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's Redwoods" about three miles west of Saratoga,...
watershed but anadromous steelhead cannot run up from the Bay because of a barrier at the confluence of San Tomas Aquino Creek and Saratoga Creek that prevents their passage upstream. Recent genetic analysis has shown that the San Tomas Aquino watershed trout are of native origin and not hatchery stock.
Leidy (2007) identified the native fishes in San Tomas Aquino Creek as Hitch
Hitch
Hitch may refer to:* Hitch knot, a knot used to attach a rope to a fixed object* Tow hitch, a construction on a truck or car to attach a trailer* Hitches, fish in the genus Lavinia including Lavinia exilicauda...
(Lavinia exilicauda), California roach
California roach
The California roach, Hesperoleucus symmetricus, is a cyprinid fish native to western North America and abundant in the intermittent streams throughout central California. It is the sole member of its genus....
(Lavinia symmetricus), Sacramento sucker
Catostomidae
Catostomidae is the sucker family of the order Cypriniformes. There are 80 species in this family of freshwater fishes. Catostomidae are found in North America, east central China, and eastern Siberia...
(Catostomus occidentalis occidentalis), Three-spined stickleback
Three-spined stickleback
The three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a fish native to much of northern Europe, northern Asia and North America. It has been introduced into parts of southern and central Europe.-Distribution and morphological variation:...
(Gasterosteus aculeatus), Rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
(Oncohrynchus mykiss) and possibly Chinook salmon
Chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Although the latter had been considered now absent from the watershed, in mid-October, 1996, Roger Castillo, the founder of the Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Group, recovered a giant Chinook salmon from San Tomas Aquino Creek beneath Highway 237
California State Route 237
State Route 237 runs from El Camino Real in Mountain View to Interstate 680 in Milpitas. It runs south of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the East Bay to the Peninsula.This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System....
(see photo). Rainbow trout are the landlocked form of steelhead trout. Non-native fishes include Common carp
Common carp
The Common carp is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia. The wild populations are considered vulnerable to extinction, but the species has also been domesticated and introduced into environments worldwide, and is often considered an invasive...
(Cyprinus carpio), Goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
(Carassius auratus auratus), Golden shiner
Golden shiner
The golden shiner is a cyprinid fish native to eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Much used as a bait fish, it is probably the most widely pond-cultured fish in the United States.-Description:...
(Notemigonus crysoleucas), and Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).