Blue Creek is a long
stream in the
Northern Coast Ranges
The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains.
P ...
of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and is the lowermost major tributary of the
Klamath River
The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second larges ...
. The creek begins in Elk Valley, in the
Siskiyou Wilderness of the
Six Rivers National Forest
The Six Rivers National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the northwestern corner of California. It was established on June 3, 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman from portions of Klamath, Siskiyou and Trinity National Forests. Its ...
in
Del Norte County
), in California
, seat_type = County seat
, seat = Crescent City
, parts_type = Largest city
, parts = Crescent City
, unit_pref = US
, area_total_sq_mi = 1230
, area_land_sq_mi = 1006
, area_water_sq_mi = 223
, elevation_max_footnote ...
. It flows southwest, receiving several major tributaries including the East Fork, Crescent City Fork, Nickowitz Creek, Slide Creek and the West Fork. It flows into the Klamath River in
Humboldt County, upstream from where the Klamath empties into the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
The Blue Creek watershed covers about and is considered one of the most pristine areas in the Klamath River Basin. The area is within the historic territory of the
Yurok people
The Yurok (Karuk language: Yurúkvaarar / Yuru Kyara - "downriver Indian; i.e. Yurok Indian") are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinida ...
. During the 19th and early 20th centuries the Blue Creek valley was subject to intensive logging, but the area has begun to recover with recent conservation efforts by the Yurok Tribe.
In 2011, the nonprofi
Western Rivers Conservancy(WRC) and the Yurok Tribe established a long-term partnership to buy 47,097 acres along Blue Creek and the lower Klamath from
Green Diamond Resource Company. Nearly a decade later, WRC and the Yurok Tribe succeeded in creating the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary and Yurok Tribal Community Forest, protecting the entire lower half of Blue Creek, from the edge of the
Siskiyou Wilderness (where the upper half of the stream is already protected), to its confluence with the Klamath River. Through the project, WRC and the Yurok Tribe more than doubled the size of the Yurok's landholdings by returning ancestral homelands to the tribe. The Yurok Tribe is now managing the lands to recover forests that were harvested for decades.
Blue Creek is a critical migration point for
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
and
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...
in the Klamath River watershed. Summer water temperatures in Blue Creek are typically lower than the main stem Klamath; migrating fish can lower their body temperature by up to eight degrees Fahrenheit by resting in and at the mouth of Blue Creek, increasing their chances of survival during their upriver migration. Without this cool-down period, most summer and fall Chinook would likely die before reaching their spawning grounds in the upper Klamath River. Blue Creek itself, with no dams or diversions, also provides good spawning habitat for these fish.
The confluence of Blue Creek with the Klamath River is directly downstream from the original planned site of
Ah Pah Dam, a massive structure proposed in the 1950s which would have
diverted the Klamath River to Southern California.
See also
*
List of rivers of California
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of California, grouped by region. Major lakes and reservoirs, if applicable, are indicated in italics.
North Coast (north of Humboldt Bay)
Rivers and streams between the Oregon border and Humboldt Bay th ...
References
{{California-river-stub
Rivers of Del Norte County, California
Rivers of Humboldt County, California
Tributaries of the Klamath River