Cottonwood Creek is a southeastward-flowing
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
of
San Luis Creek,
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed March 15, 2011 originating in the eastern foothills of the
Diablo Range
The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...
in
Merced County, California. The creek's mouth, before the
San Luis Dam was built across the course of San Luis Creek, was originally at its confluence with
San Luis Creek at approximately . Today, Cottonwood Creek enters
San Luis Reservoir
The San Luis Reservoir is an artificial lake on San Luis Creek in the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range of Merced County, California, approximately west of Los Banos on State Route 152, which crosses Pacheco Pass and runs along its north ...
, which raises the elevation of the creek's mouth to , where it becomes Cottonwood Bay on the north side of the reservoir. The source of the creek is at
Red Hill, a
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
on the eastern slope of the Diablo Range.
History
Cottonwood Creek, originally named by the Spanish Arroyo Alamos, was named for the
Fremont cottonwood
''Populus fremontii'', commonly known as Frémont's cottonwood, is a cottonwood (and thus a poplar) native to riparian zones of the Southwestern United States and northern through central Mexico. It is one of three species in ''Populus'' sect. ...
(''Populus fremontii'') trees which are still abundant along the lower creek.
Ecology and Conservation
The Upper and Lower Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Areas are administered by the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is a state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages and protect ...
(CDFW), and bracket the historic mouth of Cottonwood Creek, now submerged as Cottonwood Bay on
San Luis Reservoir
The San Luis Reservoir is an artificial lake on San Luis Creek in the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range of Merced County, California, approximately west of Los Banos on State Route 152, which crosses Pacheco Pass and runs along its north ...
. This area is now home to a herd of
tule elk, visible from the
Pacheco Pass (
Highway 152), which dispersed there from 1978-1981 CDFW translocations of the large
ungulate
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, cam ...
s to the
Hewlett-
Packard
Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958.
One of the "Thr ...
San Felipe Ranch on
Mt. Hamilton in
Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...
.
See also
*
San Luis Reservoir
The San Luis Reservoir is an artificial lake on San Luis Creek in the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range of Merced County, California, approximately west of Los Banos on State Route 152, which crosses Pacheco Pass and runs along its north ...
References
{{reflist
External links
CDFW page for Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area
Rivers of Merced County, California
Rivers of Northern California