Butano Creek , name is a stream in
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Dal ...
,
USGS
09-20-07 and carries a large amount of the runoff of the Santa Cruz Mountains into the Pacific Ocean after joining the Pescadero Creek
Pescadero Creek is a major stream in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties in California, United States. At ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 15, 2011 it is the longes ...
delta at Pescadero Marsh in San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Dal ...
.
History
According to Frances M. Molera, a ''butano'' is what the early Californians called a drinking cup made from the horn of a bull or other animal. Padre Jaime Escudet made the first recorded mention of ''El Butano'' on July 7, 1816 and Arollo del Butano is shown on a diśeno of the San Antonio or Pescadero land grant of 1833. A land grant called ''El Butano'' was made in 1838 and 1844 and mentions a ''Bolsa del Butano''.
Watershed and Course
Butano Creek's origin in the Santa Cruz Mountains is just above the San Mateo County and Santa Cruz County line at a bend in China Grade Road at the south end of Butano Ridge. It is first joined from the left (heading downstream) by South Fork Butano Creek, then on the left by Little Butano Creek at the intersection of Canyon Road and Cloverdale Road. Little Butano Creek is almost entirely protected by Butano State Park
Butano State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of California, showcasing the secluded redwood-filled canyon of Little Butano Creek, a tributary of Butano Creek in the Pescadero Creek watershed. Located in San Mateo County near Pescadero, ...
.
Ecology and Conservation
Butano Creek was historically used by spawning steelhead trout
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 ...
(''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') and coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientif ...
(''Oncorhynchus kisutch'') but not coho were returning to either Butano or Pescadero Creeks by 2003, when 17,000 hatchery-raised coho were released into Pescadero Creek. However, only three of their descendants were counted in 2015. Although a few carcasses have been found in Pescadero Creek in recent years, the species is considered functionally extinct in the Butano watershed.
Siltation from cleared coast redwood
''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...
(''Sequoia sempervirens'') and coast Douglas-fir
''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...
(''Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii'') forests began in 1923, when the Santa Cruz Lumber Co. built a sawmill over Pescadero Creek and lumberjacks cleared the pristine forests. Farms along the two creeks also led to runoff of silt and by the early 1990s a solid block of silt separated upper Butano Creek from the lower portion of the stream. With the creek disconnected from its natural course, almost annually roads and farmland were flooded, and backed up waters often reached homes in the town of Pescadero, away, where residents often had to stack sandbags.
In 2019 the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District led a $7 million project with California State Parks to dredge 4,000 feet of Butano Creek, reconnecting it to its natural floodplain and removing the silt plug which has been a barrier to salmonid passage.[ ]North American beaver
The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America ( Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland ...
(''Castor canadensis'') quickly moved into the restored channel in pursuit of its lush riparian vegetation (see photo of beaver sign from September 25, 2022).
Recreation
Camp Butano Creek is a Girl Scout camp nestled in the wooded foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains in San Mateo County. The camp is located outside the town of Pescadero and backs up to Butano State Park.
References
See also
*List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
These watercourses (rivers, creeks, sloughs, etc.) in the San Francisco Bay Area are grouped according to the bodies of water they flow into. Tributaries are listed under the watercourses they feed, sorted by the elevation of the confluence so tha ...
{{Santa Cruz Mountains
Rivers of San Mateo County, California
Rivers of Northern California
Tributaries of Pescadero Creek