, name_etymology = , image = Nacimiento_River_1.jpg , image_caption = The river downstream of Nacimiento Dam , image_size = 300 , map = Salinas River watershed.png , map_size = 300 , map_caption = Map of the Salinas River watershed,
including the Nacimiento River , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= , subdivision_type1 = Country , subdivision_name1 =

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, subdivision_type2 = State , subdivision_name2 =

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, subdivision_type3 = , subdivision_name3 = , subdivision_type4 = , subdivision_name4 = , subdivision_type5 = , subdivision_name5 = , length = , width_min = , width_avg = , width_max = , depth_min = , depth_avg = , depth_max = , discharge1_location= below Nacimiento Dam , discharge1_min = , discharge1_avg = , discharge1_max = , source1 = Unnamed spring , source1_location =

Santa Lucia Mountains The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from ...

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Mis ...

, source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , mouth = Salinas River , mouth_location = Camp Roberts,

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

, mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = , basin_size = , tributaries_left = , tributaries_right = Los Burros Creek, Las Tablas Creek , custom_label = , custom_data = , extra = The Nacimiento River ( es, Río Nacimiento) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 15, 2011

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

in southern

and northern

San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Missi ...

. A large portion of the river's run is on military reservations. The river's upper reaches are inside Fort Hunter Liggett, Lake Nacimiento is in the middle and the lower reaches are inside Camp Roberts. It is the largest tributary of the Salinas River in terms of streamflow.

Etymology

On September 24 and December 17, 1769, the Portolà expedition crossed the river, which they named Río de las Truchas (Spanish for "trout"), saying "We pitched camp on the bank of a small river containing much running water, which, in several pools or eddies, held a considerable number of trout, and other species of fish." ''Nacimiento'', meaning 'source of the river' in Spanish, was also given to the river by Father

Juan Crespí Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí (1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain ...

of the Portolà expedition September 21, 1769. Later the river was referred to as ''Nacimiento'' by

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding f ...

who, on April 16, 1774, crossed the river and assumed wrongly that Nacimiento had been named for the nativity, also a Spanish translation.

Course

Rising south of Cone Peak, within the Ventana Wilderness of

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Mo ...

in Monterey County, the Nacimiento River flows southeast through a rugged canyon before emerging in a large alluvial valley within Fort Hunter Liggett. After being joined by Stony Creek about west of Lockwood, the Nacimiento River flows through a series of remote canyons and narrow valleys along the eastern foothills of the Santa Lucia Range. Soon after crossing into San Luis Obispo County, the river flows into

Lake Nacimiento Lake Nacimiento is an long lake on the Nacimiento River in northern San Luis Obispo County, California. The lake contains many arms including Snake Creek and Dip Creek, nearer the dam, and the central Las Tablas and Franklin Creeks. Due to t ...

, the largest reservoir in San Luis Obispo County, formed by Nacimiento Dam downstream. The reservoir is operated by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency and was built in 1957 to provide water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

and

groundwater recharge Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs ...

, drought protection, and to provide recreational opportunities such as

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, boating,

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

and

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

. Downstream from the dam, the Nacimiento River travels east for about until it joins the Salinas River at Camp Roberts, Monterey County. Except for its uppermost reaches and headwaters, as well as the short stretch below Nacimiento Dam, much of the river is dry in summer and fall, although perennial pools abound. Tributaries to the upper river include Little Burnett, Tabacco, Salmon, Las Berros, San Miguel, Stony, El Piojo, Waller, and Sapaque Creeks. Streams which flow into the lower river include Las Tablas, Franklin, Town, Dip, Snake, and Kavanaugh creeks. Additional main stem creeks include: Carrals Spring, Slickrock Creek, Stony Creek, San Miguel Creek, Upper Los Berros Creek, N. Fork Los Burros Creek, San Miguelitos Ranch, Gabilan Creek, Los Bueyes Creek, Lower Los Burros Creek, Oak Flat, Waller Creek, Mesa Coyote, Pozo Honda Creek, Turtle Creek and Gulch House Creek.

Watershed

The Nacimiento River watershed comprises , with about 54 percent in San Luis Obispo County and 46 percent in Monterey County. The crest of the

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from ...

, part of the

Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although th ...

, forms the southwestern boundary of the Nacimiento River watershed. The

San Antonio River The San Antonio River is a major waterway that originates in central Texas in a cluster of springs in midtown San Antonio, about 4 miles north of downtown, and follows a roughly southeastern path through the state. It eventually feeds into the ...

watershed divide forms its northeastern boundary. The San Antonio River, which feeds Lake San Antonio and is also a Salinas River tributary, mirrors the Nacimiento's path several miles to the northeast. About 46 percent of the watershed is agriculture and rangeland, with another 33.7 percent classified as open space, recreational or rural land. About 15.7 percent of the watershed is occupied by Camp Roberts and only 5 percent is urbanized. As of 2010, only about 3,000 people lived in the Nacimiento watershed. Annual precipitation ranges from in the valleys, to at the river's headwaters.

Ecology

The Nacimiento watershed includes several different types of

California oak woodland California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. Oak woodland is widespread at lower elevations in coastal ...

communities, including blue oak,

coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It may be shrubby, depending on age and growing location, but is ...

, and valley oak mixed with foothill pine,

manzanita Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to Or ...

and chaparral. Montane hardwood-conifer forests dominated by

Coulter pine The Coulter pine or big-cone pine, ''Pinus coulteri'', is a native of the coastal mountains of Southern California in the United States and northern Baja California in Mexico. Isolated groves are found as far north as Clearlake, California on the ...

occur at higher elevations, primarily in the headwaters. Valley floors consist of a mix of native bunchgrass and needlegrass as well as non-native annual grasses seeded for grazing. Because most streams in the watershed are seasonal, there are only small areas of riparian and wetland habitat. The Cone Peak Gradient Research Natural Area located near the source of the Nacimiento River is an area unusual for its ecological diversity and presence of the rare Santa Lucia fir (''Abies bracteata''). Threatened and endangered species in the watershed including the

arroyo toad The arroyo toad (''Anaxyrus californicus'') is a species of true toads in the family Bufonidae, endemic to California (U.S.) and Baja California state (México). It is currently classified as an Endangered species on the IUCN Red List of Threa ...

(''Bufo californicus''),

western pond turtle The Western pond turtle (''Actinemys marmorata''), also known commonly as the Pacific pond turtle is a species of small to medium-sized turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the western coast of the United States and Mexico, r ...

(''Actinemys marmorata''),

California red-legged frog The California red-legged frog (''Rana draytonii'') is a species of frog found in California (USA) and northern Baja California (Mexico). It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (''Rana aurora''). The frog is an IU ...

(''Rana draytonii'') and the

California condor The California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus'') is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to nort ...

(''Gymnogyps californianus''). The Nacimiento River historically comprised some of the best

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'') spawning and rearing habitats in the Salinas River watershed. The Nacimiento Dam was constructed without fish passage and the historic habitats above these dams are no longer available to steelhead.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Monterey County, California Rivers of San Luis Obispo County, California Salinas River (California) Santa Lucia Range Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest Rivers of Southern California

Etymology

Course

Watershed

Ecology

See also

References