Coyote Creek is a stream in the Richardson Bay watershed, draining

Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, California Tamalpais-Homestead Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States. The population was 11,492 at the 2020 census. Geography Tamalpais-Homestead Valley is located at . It is bordered by Mill Valley to the nort ...

(Tam Valley) eastward into

Richardson Bay Richardson Bay (originally Richardson's Bay) is a shallow, ecologically rich arm of San Francisco Bay, managed under a Joint Powers Agency of four northern California cities. The Richardson Bay Sanctuary was acquired in the early 1960s by the N ...

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

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 ...

, United States. The stream originates on Coyote Ridge and flows to the bay at the south end of

Bothin Marsh Bothin Marsh is a wetland in Marin County, California. Parts of the wetlands are in the Bothin Marsh Open Space Preserve, a regional park. Natural history The marsh, positioned at the northern arm of Richardson Bay is fed by Arroyo Corte Madera ...

History

The Richardson Bay watershed is located on the aboriginal lands of the

Coast Miwok Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point ...

. Spanish colonization began in neighboring

Sausalito, California Sausalito (Spanish language, Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, California, Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, California ...

, in 1775, when

Juan de Ayala Juan Manuel de Ayala y Aranza (28 December 1745 – 30 December 1797) was a Spanish naval officer who played a significant role in the European exploration of California, since he and the crew of his ship the ''San Carlos'' are the first European ...

sailed the first ship (the ''San Carlos'') into

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. These explorers named the area Saucelito (“little willows”) after the vegetation spotted from shipboard. When the

Mission San Rafael Arcángel Mission San Rafael Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Rafael, California. It was founded in 1817 as a medical '' asistencia'' ("sub-mission") of Mission San Francisco de Asís. It was a hospital to treat sick Native Americans, making it Alta ...

, established in 1817, was secularized by the Mexican government in 1834, the mission lands were granted to prominent

Californios Californio (plural Californios) is a term used to designate a Hispanic Californians, Hispanic Californian, especially those descended from Spanish and Mexican settlers of the 17th through 19th centuries. California's Spanish language, Spanish-s ...

as ranchos. The

Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio was a Mexican land grant in present day Marin County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to John (Juan) Reed. Corte Madera del Presidio means the "lumber mill of the Presidio". The grant enco ...

(literally, “place where wood is cut for the Presidio”) included a sawmill for processing redwood trees, cattle and horse ranches, a brickyard, and a stone quarry. Sausalito became an important ferry port, connecting Marin to San Francisco. The railroad brought supplies from the north to be shipped across San Francisco Bay.

Habitat and ecology

Historically, Coyote Creek hosted California golden beaver (''Castor canadensis subauratus'') whose beaver dams likely played a role in removing sediment and improving over-summering habitat for

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 ...

and salmon smolt.

References

External links

*
Richardson Bay Watershed Map

{{San Francisco Bay watershed Rivers of Marin County, California Rivers of Northern California Tributaries of San Francisco Bay

History

Habitat and ecology

See also

References

External links