Carbonera Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed March 15, 2011

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams a ...

Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz County (), officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the San ...

, that eventually flows to the

San Lorenzo River The San Lorenzo River is a long river whose headwaters originate in Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flow south by southeast through the San Lorenzo Valley before passing through Santa Cruz and emptying into Monterey Ba ...

. The stream rises in the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains and flows in a generally southwesterly direction. The city of

Scotts Valley Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, California, United States, about thirty miles (48 km) south of downtown San Jose and six miles (10 km) north of the city of Santa Cruz, in the upland slope of the Santa Cruz Mount ...

is situated within the watershed of Carbonera Creek and its main tributary to the north, Bean Creek. Carbonera Creek joins Branciforte Creek near the 500 block of Market Street in Santa Cruz. Branciforte Creek discharges to the San Lorenzo River, which 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 ...

at Monterey Bay at Santa Cruz. The

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

Carbonera Creek has a watershed of .Marc Papineau, C. Michael Hogan, ballard George et al., ''Environmental Impact Report for the Scotts Valley Redevelopment Area'', Earth Metrics Incorporated, State of California Clearinghouse Report 7888 (1990) The West Branch of Carbonera Creek is a total of in length and passes under Vine Hill Road. The West Branch continues under Scotts Valley Drive and the State Route 17/Granite Creek Interchange through a series of box culverts. The West Branch joins the main branch of Carbonera Creek immediately south of the State Route 17/Granite Creek Interchange. Carbonera Creek is the major surface water

hydrological Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

feature in Scotts Valley, running across the western portion of the Santa's Village site and through the center of town.

Topography and geology

Elevations in the Carbonera Creek watershed vary from about above sea level on the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

floor to at the highest ridge.

Precipitation and flow rates

The average annual precipitation in the Carbonera Creek watershed ranges from 85 to 120 centimeters per year, ninety percent of this falling between November and April. Carbonera Creek flows at an average of . Lower Bean Creek has a high average flow of . However, the flow in both creeks greatly depends on the season; in fact, flows in these creeks typically drop dramatically during the dry summer season.

Ecology

Riparian woodland vegetation is located Carbonera Creek and its tributaries. The 1990 Earth Metrics EIR identifies broadleaf deciduous trees as dominating this habitat and are able to survive because of the year-round presence of fresh water. Examples of such trees present in the

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

include

California bay laurel ''Umbellularia californica'' is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests and the Sierra foothills of California, and to coastal forests extending into Oregon. It is endemic to the California Floristic Province. It is the sole species in th ...

(''Umbellularia californica''),

boxelder ''Acer negundo'', the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or inv ...

(''Acer negundo''),

California sycamore ''Platanus racemosa'' is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish aliso. ''Platanus racemosa'' is native to California and Baja C ...

(''Platanus racemosa''), black cottonwood (''

Populus trichocarpa ''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. Desc ...

''),

bigleaf maple ''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''. It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...

(''Acer macrophyllum''), white alder (''Alnus rhombifolia''), and various

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

s (Salix spp.). Invasive root systems of these trees are important in erosion control and their dense canopy provides food and shelter for a variety of birds and mammals, yielding high habitat value. The lush cover afforded by this habitat also provides

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

with a suitable environment for breeding. Additional

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characte ...

found along creek banks includes California blackberry ('' Rubus vitifolius''), Himalaya blackberry (Rubus procerus), poison oak (''

Rhus diversiloba ''Toxicodendron diversilobum'' (syn. ''Rhus diversiloba''), commonly named Pacific poison oak or western poison oak, is a woody vine or shrub in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. It is widely distributed in western North America, inhabiting coni ...

''), Naltic rush ('' Juncus balticus''), redwood sorrel ('' Oxalis oregana''),

snowberry ''Symphoricarpos'', commonly known as the snowberry, waxberry, or ghostberry, is a small genus of about 15 species of deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. With the exception of the Chinese coralberry, '' S. sinensis'', wh ...

('' Symphoricarpos rivularis''), Coastal wood fern (''

Dryopteris arguta ''Dryopteris arguta'', with the common name coastal woodfern, is a species of wood fern. It is native to the west coast and western interior mountain ranges of North America, from British Columbia, throughout California, and into Arizona. It gr ...

''), and other herbaceous species and decaying vegetation. The

plant community A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant ...

Northern coastal scrub also exists in the Carbonera Creek

catchment basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

. This community is scattered throughout the basin, typically situated on windy, exposed sites with shallow, rocky soils. The community is dominated by California sagebrush (''

Artemisia californica ''Artemisia californica'', also known as California sagebrush, is a species of western North American shrub in the sunflower family. Description ''Artemisia californica'' branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded; it gr ...

''); toyon (''

Heteromeles arbutifolia ''Heteromeles arbutifolia'' (; more commonly by Californian botanists), commonly known as toyon, is a common perennial shrub native to extreme southwest Oregon, California, and the Baja California Peninsula. It is the sole species in the genus ...

''); ''coyote brush (''

Baccharis pilularis ''Baccharis pilularis'', called coyote brush (or bush), chaparral broom, and bush baccharis, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae native to California, Oregon, Washington, and Baja California. There are reports of isolated populations in New Mex ...

''; California yerba santa (''

Eriodictyon californicum ''Eriodictyon californicum'' is a species of plant within the family Boraginaceae. It is also known as yerba santa (sacred herb), mountain balm, bear's weed, gum bush, gum plant, and consumptive weed.Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz.Yerba Santa ...

''); and manzanita (

Arctostaphylos ''Arctostaphylos'' (; from "bear" and "bunch of grapes") is a genus of plants comprising the manzanitas () and bearberries. They are shrubs or small trees. There are about 60 species, of ''Arctostaphylos'', ranging from ground-hugging arc ...

spp.) Within the Carbonera Creek watershed is one of the three known

Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests The maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests are rare temperate forest assemblages associated with a limited range portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains of northern California. There are only three known small forests of this type, all situated in ...

, a rare assemblage of

narrowly restricted to sandy, infertile Zayante soils formed over Santa Margarita Sandstone. This

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is only found in

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

al Santa Cruz County and is found in a part of the Carbonera Creek catchment in the southwestern part of the City of Scotts Valley on the slopes of

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of th ...

, extending to the south. The surface soil and subsoil drain very rapidly and do not retain enough water to support local climax species such as

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 ...

or Douglas fir. The

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

(''Pinus ponderosa'') withstands the stresses of this

xeric Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this h ...

habitat and typifies the open plant community, which also supports rare species of

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

such as the Bonny Doon manzanita (also called the silver-leaved manzanita) (''

Arctostaphylos silvicola ''Arctostaphylos silvicola'' is a species of manzanita known by the common names Bonny Doon or silverleaf manzanita. It is endemic to the sandhills of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains in California's Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. Desc ...

'') and the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

Ben Lomond wallflower (''

Erysimum teretifolium ''Erysimum teretifolium'' is a species of ''Erysimum'' known by the common names Santa Cruz wallflower and Ben Lomond wallflower. It is a very rare plant endemic to Santa Cruz County, California, where it grows on inland sand spits, chaparral, an ...

''). There are two Federally listed endangered species of insects within this sparse forest. Aquatic species include

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 ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus'', formerly Salmo gairdneri) (

coastal rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal ...

) and

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ...

(''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha''), which migrate up the San Lorenzo River and its tributaries, including Carbonera Creek. For instance, these migratory fish species spawn in Carbonera Creek gravels downstream of the Santa's Village Area.

References

{{Santa Cruz Mountains Rivers of Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz Mountains Rivers of Northern California Tributaries of the San Lorenzo River

Topography and geology

Precipitation and flow rates

Ecology

See also

References