Pescadero Creek is a 9-mile-long (14 km)[2] southward-flowing stream originating in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. It begins in Santa Clara County, California and flows into Santa Cruz County, before joining the Pajaro River, and thence to Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Pescadero Creek is the center of a critical linkage connecting the wildlife of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range to the south.[3]

Pescadero Creek Arroyo de Pescadero
Location of mouth
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties
Physical characteristics
Source	Southern Santa Cruz Mountains
• location	2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of Gilroy
• coordinates	36°59′00″N 121°37′23″W[1]
• elevation	1,820 ft (550 m)
Mouth	Pajaro River
• location	9.5 mi (15 km) east of Watsonville
• coordinates	36°54′01″N 121°35′12″W[1]
• elevation	138 ft (42 m)
Length	9 mi (14 km)
Basin features
Tributaries
• right	West Fork Pescadero Creek

History

"Pescadero" is Spanish for "fishing place". In 1861 Manuel Larios testified in the Rancho Las Animas land grant case that "the Castros had an Indian boy who went to this creek to fish". Then John Gilroy testified "the Pescadero draws its name from the fact of our catching salmon there" and "the Castros, I, and an Indian gave it that name in 1814, being a place where we used to catch salmon." Arroyo de Pescadero is shown on diseños from the 1830s.[4]

Watershed and Course

Pescadero Creek runs southerly through the southern Santa Cruz Mountains about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Gilroy, California. At about two-thirds of its course it is joined by Castro Valley Road, which passes with the stream through Hatfield Canyon,[5] then crosses into Santa Cruz County and receives from the right Star Creek,[6] which drains the eastern flank of 1,618 feet (493 m) tall Atherton Peak.[7] Next, Pescadero Creek passes to the east of 1,575 feet (480 m) tall Mount Pajaro[8] on its way to its confluence with the Pajaro River, about 9.5 miles (15.3 km) east of Watsonville, California.

Ecology and Conservation

Pescadero Creek hosts spawning runs of anadromous steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).[9]

The 1,200 acres (490 hectares) Star Creek Ranch on the eastern slope of Mount Atherton has been protected by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. The Ranch is bordered by 2 miles (3.2 km) of Pescadero Creek and harbors 350 acres (140 hectares) of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest, oak woodlands and grasslands. It is a component of a critical linkage for wildlife to move from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range to the south.[10]

An analysis of Landsat satellite images in Santa Clara County, California (SCC) showed that 22,730 acres (92.0 km²) of forests and woodlands were highly disturbed in SCC between 1999 and 2009, 37% (34 km2) of which did not overlap with any known wildland fire boundaries, and hence, were confirmed to be lost to new residential or commercial development activities. These included large patches of forest cover lost to roads for new residential developments in the Star Creek drainage and east of Atherton Peak in the Pajaro Hills of southern SCC.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Pajaro River Watershed Flood Prevention Authority
• Coastal Habitat Education Environment and Restoration (CHEER) - an Upper Pajaro River Watershed group
• Pajaro Watershed Web Portal