Alameda Creek
Encyclopedia
Alameda Creek is a large perennial 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...

 in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

. The creek runs for 45 miles (72 km) from a lake northeast of Packard Ridge to the eastern shore 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...

 by way of Niles Canyon
Niles Canyon
Niles Canyon is a canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area formed by Alameda Creek. The canyon is largely in an unincorporated area of Alameda County, while the western portion of the canyon lies within the city limits of Fremont and Union City...

 and a flood control channel.

History

Five Spanish expeditions led by de Portolà
Gaspar de Portolà
Gaspar de Portolà i Rovira was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California , explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Catalan nobility. Don Gaspar served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal...

, Ortega
José Francisco Ortega
José Francisco Ortega was soldier and early settler of California.-Early life:Ortega was born in 1734 at Zelaya, Guanajuanto, Mexico, where he worked as a warehouse clerk. In 1755, he enlisted and served at the Presidio at Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto. In 1759 Ortega married María Antonia...

, Fages
Pedro Fages
Pere Fages Beleta , nicknamed L'Ós , was a soldier, explorer, and the second Spanish military Governor of Las Californias Province of New Spain from 1770 to 1774, and the Governor of Las Californias from 1782 to 1791.-Life:...

, de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto was a Novo-Spanish explorer and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire.-Early life:...

 and Amador passed over Alameda Creek between 1769 and 1795. Mission San José, in Fremont
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...

, was dedicated in 1797. The Mission thrived for 49 years until the Mexican Government's Secularization Order liquidated mission lands in 1834. Alameda Creek was the boundary of the mission lands and the 17000 acres (68.8 km²) Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda granted to Jose de Jesus Vallejo, who built a flour mill near the mouth of Niles Canyon. The mill and the importance of the canyon as a passage through the hills led to growth of Niles (which in 1956 became part of Fremont, California) in the 1850s. A favorable climate, excellent soils, and a fast-growing population helped agriculture to boom. Early roads led to landings where small ships would load grain and other foodstuffs for transport to market. Completion of the Central Pacific Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...

 through Niles Canyon in 1869 was essential to completion of First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...

 that terminated in Alameda, California
Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

 that same year. The Western Pacific was also routed through Niles Canyon, connecting Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

 and San Jose, California
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...

 in 1906.

Alameda Creek Watershed

Alameda Creek is the largest 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...

 within the southern San Francisco Bay draining 700 square miles (1,813 square kilometers), or about 20% of the total drainage area for the south Bay. Two-thirds of the watershed is in Alameda County
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...

 including the reach through the Sunol Valley
Sunol Valley
Sunol Valley is located in Alameda County, California, USA. The small town of Sunol lies in the valley. It is largely rural, but is in proximity to the highly populated Bay Area suburbs of Fremont, Pleasanton, and Livermore....

, the rest is in Santa Clara County
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...

. The tributaries of Alameda creek include Arroyo de la Laguna
Arroyo de la Laguna
Arroyo de la Laguna is a southward-flowing stream in Alameda County, California, USA which originates at the confluences of South San Ramon Creek and Arroyo Mocho. The Arroyo de la Laguna is fed by tributaries in the Amador Valley and certain eastern slope drainages of the Diablo Range; these...

, Arroyo del Valle
Arroyo del Valle
Arroyo del Valle or Arroyo Valle is a westward-flowing stream in Alameda County and Santa Clara County, California, USA, that is tributary to Arroyo de la Laguna which in turn flows into Alameda Creek. The stream drains much of the southern portion of the city of Livermore, and it also flows...

, San Antonio Creek 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....

, whose main tributary is Arroyo Hondo
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...

. The watershed includes three man-made reservoirs: Lake Del Valle
Lake Del Valle
Lake Del Valle is an artificial lake located southeast of Livermore, California on Arroyo del Valle in Del Valle Regional Park....

, San Antonio Reservoir
San Antonio Reservoir (Alameda County)
San Antonio Reservoir is located in Alameda County, California, about three miles east-southeast of Sunol. It was built in 1964 by the City and County of San Francisco. Formed by damming San Antonio Creek not far above where it flows into Alameda Creek, its purpose is to store water from the Hetch...

 and Calaveras Reservoir
Calaveras Reservoir
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 . In Spanish, Calaveras means "skulls."...

.

The Alameda Creek Watershed can be divided into six major reaches:
  • Alameda Creek Flood Control Channel – the channelized, trapezoidal section extending from the Bay upstream to the Niles Canyon area

  • Niles Canyon – the area above the flood control section to the confluence of the Alameda Creek mainstem and Arroyo de la Laguna

  • Upper Alameda Creek (above the confluence with Arroyo de la Laguna) – the reach extending up the mainstem of Alameda Creek into the canyons of the Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness Area
    Sunol Regional Wilderness
    The Sunol Regional Wilderness is a regional park in Alameda County, California, United States that is administered by the East Bay Regional Park District. It is located south of the town of Pleasanton and east of Fremont, near the town of Sunol....

     and beyond

  • Arroyo de la Laguna
    Arroyo de la Laguna
    Arroyo de la Laguna is a southward-flowing stream in Alameda County, California, USA which originates at the confluences of South San Ramon Creek and Arroyo Mocho. The Arroyo de la Laguna is fed by tributaries in the Amador Valley and certain eastern slope drainages of the Diablo Range; these...

     – the reach paralleling Interstate 680 upstream of the confluence with the mainstem Alameda Creek, including the Alamo Canal

  • Arroyo del Valle
    Arroyo del Valle
    Arroyo del Valle or Arroyo Valle is a westward-flowing stream in Alameda County and Santa Clara County, California, USA, that is tributary to Arroyo de la Laguna which in turn flows into Alameda Creek. The stream drains much of the southern portion of the city of Livermore, and it also flows...

     – the reach extending from the confluence with Arroyo de la Laguna upstream through Shadow Cliffs Regional Park
    Shadow Cliffs Regional Park
    Shadow Cliffs Regional Park is a regional park in Livermore, Californiathat is part of the East Bay Regional Parks system on Stanley Blvd. The lake was once a gravel pit, but now includes a sandy beach with swimming, waterslides, and it supports fishing and recreational boating. The park is also a...

     to Del Valle Regional Park
    Del Valle Regional Park
    Del Valle Regional Park is a park of the East Bay Regional Park District in unincorporated Alameda County, California, south of the city of Livermore. The park is 4,316 acres big....


  • Arroyo Mocho
    Arroyo Mocho
    Arroyo Mocho is a stream in eastern Alameda County, California that traverses the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton.The underlying aquifer is the Mocho Subbasin, whose eastern boundary is the Tesla Fault...

     – the reach extending upstream from the confluence with Arroyo de la Laguna through the Livermore-Amador Valley
    Livermore, California
    Livermore is a city in Alameda County. The population as of 2010 was 80,968. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area....

     and into unincorporated ranch and agricultural lands

  • Ecology Past and Present

    Alameda Creek historically supported Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Coho salmon
    Coho 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:...

     (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and 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). Confirmation that adult steelhead recently captured attempting to migrate into the Alameda Creek watershed, and the rainbow trout sampled in the upper watershed (trapped above complete migration barriers), are native fish that have their closest genetic associations with other populations within the federally-threatened steelhead trout Central California Coast
    Central Coast of California
    The Central Coast is an area of California, United States, roughly spanning the area between the Monterey Bay and Point Conception. It extends through Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County...

     Evolutionarily Significant Unit has spurred a major effort to restore this historically important steelhead stream by removing barriers to migration and improving habitat quality. Since steelhead trout in the Bay Area and California's Central Coast were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act
    Endangered Species Act
    The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...

     in 1997, numerous organizations, including the Alameda Creek Alliance, and governmental agencies have cooperated on restoration projects to allow migratory fish from the Bay to reach spawning habitat in upper Alameda Creek, beginning in 1999.

    Alameda Creek is considered a potential ‘anchor watershed’ for steelhead, regionally significant for restoration of the threatened trout to the entire Bay Area, although by the late 1950s the 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...

     decided the steelhead run was no longer viable due to numerous man-made barriers to fish runs. By the early 1970s the Army Corps of Engineers channeled and rip-rapped the lower 12 miles (19.3 km) of the creek. The last steelhead trout and coho salmon runs were seen in the lower creek in 1964. In 2009, the Alameda County Water District
    Alameda County Water District
    The Alameda County Water District is a public agency in Alameda County, California, USA, which has responsibilities for managing and protecting certain groundwater resources within Alameda County. While not an administrative unit of the county government, this water district derives certain of...

     removed a rubber dam that blocked trout passage in the lower creek, adjacent to Quarry Lakes Regional Park
    Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area
    Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area is a regional park located in Fremont, CA that is part of the East Bay Regional Parks system.-External links:*...

    . In June, 2010 environmentalists and water district officials celebrated the removal of a dam on Alameda Creek in Fremont, and the planned installation of fish ladders to allow salmonids to bypass two other dams on the lower creek. At the same time, PG&E
    Pacific Gas and Electric Company
    The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , commonly known as PG&E, is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border...

     is working to modify a cement barrier farther upstream in Sunol
    Sunol, California
    Sunol is an unincorporated census-designated place in Alameda County, California, United States. The population was 913 at the 2010 census....

     to help steelhead swim farther into the watershed, water officials said. When those projects are completed, steelhead trout will be able to migrate upstream to spawning habitats in the Sunol Valley for the first time in a half-century.

    California’s archaeological record has contributed to knowledge of the prehistoric distribution of fishes in Alameda Creek and its tributaries including Sacramento perch
    Sacramento perch
    The Sacramento perch is a sunfish native to the Sacramento–San Joaquin, Pajaro, and Salinas River areas in California but widely introduced throughout the western United States....

     (Archoplites interruptus), Sacramento suckers (Catostomus
    Catostomus
    Catostomus is a genus of fish belonging to the family Catostomidae, commonly known as suckers.- Species :FishBase lists 27 species:* Catostomus ardens D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1881...

     occidentalis occidentalis
    ), Tule perch
    Tule perch
    The tule perch Hysterocarpus traskii is a surfperch native to the rivers and estuaries of central California, United States of America. It is the sole member of its genus, and the only freshwater surfperch....

     (Hysterocarpus traskii), 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...

    es (Lavinia exilicauda), Hardhead
    Hardhead
    The Hardhead, Aythya australis, is the only true diving duck found in Australia. Hardheads are common in the south-east of Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin, but also in the wetter country near the coasts. They are moderately nomadic in normal years, but disperse widely in times...

    s (Mylopharodon conocephalus), Sacramento blackfish
    Sacramento Blackfish
    The Sacramento blackfish, Orthodon microlepidotus, is a cyprinid fish of central California. It is the sole member of its genus.Blackfish are distinctive for their overall dark color . Younger individuals are more silvery, but darken as they age. The scales are unusually small, counting 90-114...

    , and Sacramento pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus
    Ptychocheilus
    Squawfish or pikeminnows are cyprinid fish of the genus Ptychocheilus consisting of four species native to western North America. Voracious predators, they are considered an "undesirable" species in many waters. This is largely due to the species' perceived tendency to prey upon small trout and...

     grandis
    ). Many of these fishes still occupy the creek, although the number of introduced exotic fishes continues to increase. Exotic fish species such as the largemouth
    Largemouth bass
    The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

     and Smallmouth bass
    Smallmouth bass
    The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...

    es (Micropterus salmoides and Micropterus dolomieui) respectively, were introduced to Alameda Creek (and the Napa River
    Napa River
    The Napa River, approximately 55 miles long, is a river in the U.S. state of California. It drains a famous wine-growing region, called the Napa Valley, in the mountains northeast of San Francisco. Milliken Creek is a tributary of the Napa River....

    ) by Livingston Stone in 1874.

    There is historical evidence of beaver in the Alameda Creek watershed. In 1828 fur trapper Michel La Framboise travelled to "the missions of San José
    Mission San José
    Mission San José was founded on June 11, 1797 on a site located in the "Mission San Jose District" of Fremont, California in the "Valley of San José." The settlement was the site of the first Ceasarian section childbirth in Alta California...

    , San Francisco Solano
    Mission San Francisco Solano
    Mission San Francisco Solano was founded on July 4, 1823, and named for Francis Solanus, a missionary to the Indians of Peru born in Montilla, Spain, known as the "Wonder Worker of the New World." Originally planned as an asistencia to Mission San Rafael Arcángel, it is the northernmost Alta...

     and San Rafael Arcángel
    Mission San Rafael Arcángel
    Mission San Rafael Arcángel was founded in 1817 as a medical asistencia of the Mission San Francisco de Asís as a hospital to treat sick Native Americans of the Bay Area, making it Alta California's first sanitarium. The weather was much better in the North Bay than in San Francisco, and helped...

    . La Framboise stated that "the Bay of San Francisco abounds in beaver", and that he "made his best hunt in the vicinity of the missions". Alexander R. McLeod reported on the progress of the first Hudson's Bay Company fur brigade sent to California in 1829, "Beaver is become an article of traffic on the Coast as at the Mission of St. Joseph alone upwards of Fifteen hundred Beaver Skins were collected from the natives at a trifling value and sold to Ships at 3 Dollars". In the 1840s Kit Carson
    Kit Carson
    Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...

     was granted rights to trap beaver on Alameda Creek in the East Bay where they "abounded...from the mouth of its canyon to the broad delta on the bay". Beaver may be beneficial to efforts to restore salmonids in Alameda Creek as beaver ponds benefit oversummering salmonid smolts by raising the water table which then recharges streams in the dry summer season and also by providing perennial deep pools when streams are only seasonal.

    Conservation

    In January, 2011, 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...

     won approvals to construct a replacement dam just downstream from the existing earthen Calaveras Dam, which has been maintained at 40% of capacity because of seismic concerns. However, construction of a fish ladder to provide Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) access to the waters above the dam were deemed not feasible because at 290 feet, it would be the tallest fish ladder in the country, and would 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. 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...

     removed two disused dams in the Niles Canyon reach of Alameda Creek to improve fish passage following assessing impacts in an Environmental Impact Report under CEQA.

    Downstream of San Francisco's dams, the Alameda Creek Alliance has helped to initiate the removal of 11 barriers to fish passage since 2001.

    Alameda Creek Regional Trail

    The Alameda Creek Regional Trail runs along Alameda Creek for 12 miles (19 km). The trail starts in the Niles neighborhood of Fremont and continues westward to the San Francisco Bay through the cities of Union City
    Union City, California
    Union City is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated in 1959, combining the communities of Alvarado and Decoto. Alvarado was the original county seat of Alameda County, and the site of the first county courthouse is a California Historical Landmark . The city...

     and Newark
    Newark, California
    Newark is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in September 1955. Newark is an enclave, completely surrounded by the city of Fremont. Its population was 42,573 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...

    . The trail consists of two parallel paths, one on each side of Alameda Creek. The path on the south side of the creek is paved, and can be used by pedestrian
    Pedestrian
    A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates or skateboards are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case...

    s and bicyclists. The path on the north side of the creek is unpaved, and can be used by pedestrians, bicyclists, and equestrian
    Equestrianism
    Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...

    s. The trail provides direct access to Coyote Hills Regional Park
    Coyote Hills Regional Park
    Coyote Hills Regional Park is a regional park encompassing nearly 978 acres of land and administered by the East Bay Regional Park District. The park, which was dedicated to public use in 1967, is located in Fremont, California, on the southeast shore of the San Francisco Bay...

     and Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area.

    See also

    • List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
    • Niles Cone
      Niles Cone
      The Niles Cone is a groundwater basin in Alameda County, California, USA which is the source of drinking water for a sizeable human urban population in the East Bay. The land area corresponding to this groundwater basin is approximately 103 square miles; the Niles Cone Basin is bounded on the...

    • California Fur Rush
      California Fur Rush
      Before the 1849 California Gold Rush, American, English and Russian fur hunters were drawn to Spanish California in a California Fur Rush, to exploit its enormous fur resources...


    External links

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