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The Pajaro River (''pájaro'' is ''bird'' in
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
) is a U.S. river in the Central Coast region of California, forming part of the border between San Benito and Santa Clara Counties, the entire border between San Benito and Santa Cruz County, and the entire border between Santa Cruz and
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 ...
. Flowing roughly east to west, the river empties into
Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...
, west of
Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Predomi ...
.


History

The first European land exploration of
Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...
, the Spanish Portolà expedition, camped near the river for two nights, in the vicinity of today's community of Pajaro, on October 8–9, 1769. The party continued north the next day toward Santa Cruz. Expedition soldiers called it "Pajaro" (meaning "bird" in Spanish) because the natives they saw there had a large stuffed bird.
Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
missionary
Juan Crespi ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...
, traveling with the expedition, noted in his diary that, "to some of our party it looked like a royal eagle" (possibly an
osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
). The Pajaro River has had many names. Early Spanish maps had the name ''Rio de San Antonio'' and ''Rio del Pajaro''. Alternate names included ''Pigeon River'', ''Rio de La Senora La Santa Ana'', ''Rio del Paxaro'', ''Rio de Santa Ana'', ''San Antonio River'' and ''Sanjon del Tequesquite''. In 1953 the State Water Resource Control Board determined that the Pajaro Valley Watershed suffered from saltwater intrusion due to groundwater overdraft. In the 1970s, the groundwater basin consistently fell below sea level, and was identified in 1980 as critically over-drafted. By the 21st century, 54 square miles of the Pajaro Watershed's groundwater supply was overdrawn and as a result, below sea level making the area susceptible to saltwater intrusion. The Pajaro River has a recurring history of flooding. The towns of Pajaro and Watsonville were built on the river's natural floodplain. Before the Army Corps of Engineers built the levees, flooding devastated homes, businesses, and agriculture. Since the $748,000 levees were constructed in 1949, there have been several instances of flooding from severe weather events and failed levees. In 1963, the USACE (United States Army Corps of Engineers) acknowledged poor planning in levee design, and congress authorized re-construction of the flood control system, however no funds were provided from the federal government. Following the 1995 floods, several lawsuits were issued against the different counties and cities by farmers and homeowners affected. Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and the California Department of Transportation were all held responsible for failing to maintain the Pajaro River during floods and sued by about 250 people. Plaintiffs held the counties responsible because in 1944, both counties made promises to maintain the levees implemented by the Army Corps of Engineers.


Timeline of floods


Geology

The
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
line crosses the Pajaro River at the Pajaro Gap just east of Chittenden Pass and Logan, California (near Aromas) on
California State Route 129 State Route 129 (SR 129) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting State Route 1 in Watsonville in Santa Cruz County with U.S. Route 101 near San Juan Bautista in San Benito County. Route description The route begins at S ...
. The
Salinian Block The Salinian Block or Salinian terrane is a geologic terrane which lies west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California. It is bounded on the south by the Big Pine Fault in Ventura County and on the west by the Nacimiento Fau ...
rests above the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
which slips north along the San Andreas Fault. It is made up of granitic material, and marine sediments. The Pajaro River has a history of changing its course due to the San Andreas fault slippage between the Pacific plate and the
North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...
. At another time it flowed into the
Elkhorn Slough Elkhorn Slough is a tidal slough and estuary on Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. It is California's second largest estuary and the United States' first estuarine sanctuary. The community of Moss Landing and the Moss Landing Power Plan ...
in
Moss Landing, California Moss Landing, formerly Moss, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of . It is on the shore of Monterey Bay, at the ...
then into the Pacific Ocean, but today it joins with Corralitos Creek to discharge into the Pacific at a slightly more north location. The
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
in the
Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...
deformed the Pajaro levee system. Other faults within the watershed are the Zayante fault, Sargent Fault, and Calaveras fault. A. R. Wilson Granite Rock quarry is located by the Pajaro gap adjacent to the river in San Benito County.


Geography

Due to the geology in the area, the geomorphology of the watershed is unique. The river begins at Diablo range in the east. In the south, from the Gabilan mountains flows another tributary northward. From the north, tributaries flow from the Santa Cruz mountains southward to meet with the Pajaro.


Climate

The climate of the region is Mediterranean. Watsonville annual high temperatures reach 68 °F and lows of 47 °F. The average temperature is around 57 °F and average annual precipitation (essentially all in the form of rainfall) is about 23.5 inches. Certain tributaries frequently run dry due to a lack of rainfall in the summer.


Watershed

The watershed is approximately and covers portions of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey Counties. The Pajaro River mainstem begins just west of San Felipe Lake, also called Upper Soap Lake, which is a permanent natural
lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
formed by the confluence of Pacheco Creek, Tequisquita Slough and Ortega Creek. Pacheco Creek's headwaters are in 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 ...
at about elevation. The Pajaro River mainstream flows west for 30 miles (50 km), passing the city of
Watsonville Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self- ...
and emptying into
Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...
. Lower Soap Lake, also called Soap Lake, is an intermittent body of water a few miles downstream of the upper lake. This type of water body forms when the channel below is unable to keep up with the flow coming from upstream. The
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
divides the watershed and is responsible for altering historical flow paths.


Upper watershed

San Felipe Lake lies just south of the
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 ...
line in San Benito County, just south of Highway 152 east of Gilroy at the foot of the Diablo Range. The lake is a
sag pond A sag pond is a body of fresh water collected in the lowest parts of a depression (geology), depression formed between two sides of an active geologic fault, strike-slip, transtensional or normal fault zone. Formation A sag pond is formed along ...
dammed by the
fault scarp A fault scarp is a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically with respect to the other. It is the topographic expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the land surface by movement al ...
of the
Calaveras Fault The Calaveras Fault is a major branch of the San Andreas Fault System that is located in northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Activity on the different segments of the fault includes moderate and large earthquakes as well as aseismi ...
, which forms a natural dike along the western shoreline. It is perennial in all but the driest years, e.g. 1977. San Felipe Lake used to be 50% larger until the man-made North and South Outflow canals, which drain to the Miller Canal, were cut through the western rim in 1874. The Pajaro River's largest tributary is the
San Benito River The San Benito River is a long river flowing northwesterly between the Diablo Range and the Gabilan Range, on the Central Coast of California.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map acces ...
which is much longer than the Pajaro, flowing northwest from its source at an elevation of 4,760 feet on San Benito Mountain on its course between the Diablo Range and the
Gabilan Range The Gabilan Range or Gabilán Range (Spanish for "sparrow hawk") are a mountain range in the inner California Coast Ranges System, located in Monterey County and San Benito County of central California. Pinnacles National Park is located in the so ...
, traveling for about before its confluence with the Pajaro River, about upstream from the ocean. The lowest tributary of the Pajaro River is Salsipuedes Creek which drains the Corralitos Creek and Salsipuedes Creek sub-basins.


Lower watershed

The lower watershed is in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties which currently have levee systems. The original river system was Corralitos Creek, fed by Aromas Creek. The Pajaro river has taken over this system, and Corralitos Creek is now only a tributary. A residential development, agricultural fields, and Zmudowski State Beach border the Pajaro River mouth and the connecting Watsonville Slough. The river mouth is often open to tidal action for extended periods, especially during the winter months. Should the mouth fill with sediment, it must be physically reopened to prevent nearby agricultural fields from flooding. The main water source for agriculture and drinking water in the region comes from groundwater. The three primary aquifers in the Pajaro Watershed are the Alluvial, the Aromas, and the Purisma aquifers. All three suffer from seawater intrusion due to groundwater overdraft, the worst affected being the Aromas aquifer. The Alluvial aquifer is heavily polluted by agricultural runoff.


Ecology

In 2006, the Pajaro River was designated as ''America's most endangered river'' by the American Rivers organization, "due to levees" constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers along its lower and severe runoff into the river from agricultural fields. There are six species listed as threatened or California species of special concern (SSC) under the CESA that regularly occur and/or breed near or in the Pajaro River.
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 ...
s (''Actinemys marmorata''), pallid bat (''Antrozous pallidus''),
burrowing owl The burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia''), also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or an ...
s (''Athene cunicularia''),
dusky-footed woodrat The dusky-footed woodrat (''Neotoma fuscipes'') is a species of nocturnal rodent in the family Cricetidae. They are commonly called "packrats" or "trade rats" and build large, domed dens that can reach several feet in height. Coyotes and other ...
(''Neotoma fuscipes''),
least Bell's vireo Bell's vireo (''Vireo bellii'') is a songbird that migrates between a breeding range in Western North America and a winter range in Central America. It is dull olive-gray above and whitish below. It has a faint white eye ring and faint wing bar ...
(''Vireo bellii pusillus''), and the
yellow-breasted chat The yellow-breasted chat (''Icteria virens'') is a large songbird found in North America, and is the only member of the family Icteriidae. It was once a member of the New World warbler family, but in 2017, the American Ornithological Society move ...
(''Icteria virens''). Four species are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal
Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...
(ESA) that are present or for which suitable habitat exists in or adjacent to the Pajaro River. Steelhead trout, the
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''), the Northern tidewater goby (''Eucyclogobius newberryi,''), and the
snowy plover The snowy plover (''Charadrius nivosus'') is a small wader in the plover bird family, typically about 5-7" in length. It breeds in the southern and western United States, the Caribbean, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. Long considered to be a subspecie ...
(''Charadrius nivosus''), which nests at the Pajaro river mouth at Zumdowski State Beach at the Pacific Ocean. Native California fish present in the lower Pajaro River are:
three-spined stickleback The three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus'') is a fish native to most inland and coastal waters north of 30°N. It has long been a subject of scientific study for many reasons. It shows great morphological variation throughout its ra ...
(''Gasterosteus aculeatus microcephalus''), Sacramento perch (''Archoplites interruptus''), riffle sculpin (''Cottus gulosus''), Russian River tule perch (''Hysterocarpus traskii traskii''), South Central California Coast steelhead trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss''), and thicktail chub (''Siphatales crassicauda''). The Pajaro River serves as a migration pathway for adult steelhead trout migrating to spawning and nursery habitat in the upper watersheds of the Pajaro's tributaries ( Corralitos, Uvas, Llagas and Pacheco Creeks), although the Pajaro River mainstem itself provides poor spawning and rearing habitat due to low summer flows and high sedimentation loads. In a 1912 report,
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...
John Otterbein Snyder indicated that there were reports of
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 ve ...
(''Oncorhynchus tschawytscha'') in the Pajaro River watershed. However, his 1909 seine nets obtained no small specimens at his collecting stations. Local Gilroy resident, Herman Garcia Sr., caught the last known Chinook salmon in the Pajaro River watershed, in Uvas Creek in 1953. Although the image shows no adipose fin, California's hatcheries were not clipping adipose fins until the 1970's, so it may be an artifact of the taxidermy. Two adult Chinook salmon and long were caught by gill net and released in a 2005 study of San Felipe Lake, although these were likely fall-run Chinook from hatchery net-pen operations that released these fish at
Moss Landing Moss Landing, formerly Moss, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of . It is on the shore of Monterey Bay, at the ...
. Snyder did not report
Coho salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name i ...
(''Oncorhyncus kisutch'') south of 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 ...
, north of the Pajaro River mouth on the California coast. Historically, the Pajaro River is one of two Northern California coastal rivers mentioned in 1829 by Russian explorer K. T. Khlebnikov as hosting sturgeon, presumably
white sturgeon White sturgeon (''Acipenser transmontanus'') is a species of sturgeon in the family Acipenseridae of the order Acipenseriformes. They are an anadromous fish species ranging in the Eastern Pacific; from the Gulf of Alaska to Monterey, Californ ...
(''Acipenser transmontanus''), along with the Russian River. San Felipe Lake, which is the central feature of the "Bolsa de San Felipe", is designated as a "California
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
" by the
National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...
. The Bolsa is a crossroads for birds migrating between San Francisco Bay to the north, Monterey Bay to the west and the Central Valley to the east. The Bolsa is also identified by the National Audubon Society as a "bird vagrant trap", a site where bird species far outside of their normal range appear. Also noteworthy is perhaps the southernmost record of
North American river otter The North American river otter (''Lontra canadensis''), also known as the northern river otter and river otter, is a semiaquatic mammal that endemism, only lives on the North American continent, along its waterways and coasts. An adult North Amer ...
(''Lontra canadensis'') in a California coastal watershed. In 1969 river otter were recorded eating freshwater mussels ( California floater (''Anodonta californiensis'')) on the Santa Ana Creek tributary of Tequisquita Slough, 2 miles east of Hollister.


Water quality

The river is heavily polluted by people dumping illegally. One cleanup in 2015 revealed over 1,000 tires, five boats, two trucks, and tons of trash. High toxicity levels in the river are a result from agriculture in the watershed. During low flows, organophosphate pesticides have been detected in the river, and organochlorine pesticides have been detected post-high surface runoff events. Toxaphene, DDT, and Diazinon have also been detected at concentrations unhealthy to local aquatic species.


Improvements

In 2010 the City of Watsonville was awarded a $424,000 grant to create a public access point for canoes and kayaks, including a parking lot, trail, and public restrooms. The Pajaro River CARE project was funded by the California Natural Resources Agency. The Pajaro River Watershed Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP) is a movement by the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PVWMA), San Benito County Water District (SBCWD), and Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) to join together in order to create and benefit the watershed as a whole. The Pajaro River Bench Excavation Project which was approved in 2012 will remove excess sediment and vegetation from the bench in order to better allow flow through the levees to improve flood protection. Approximately 336,000 cubic yards will be removed. The project begins at Murphy's crossing, and extends 7.5 miles westward to the Pacific Ocean ending before highway 1. The state of California allocated $7.6 million to the Pajaro watershed to pay for water projects. One project funded was the building of two 1 million gallon storage tanks for the waste water recycling plant which provides water to local agriculture in the Valley. In early 2015, a land purchase in the upper Pajaro Watershed was purchased by Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority in an effort to preserve agriculture, and increase floodplain and wildlife protection in Santa Clara County. This land is where Llagas Creek and the Pajaro River intersect, with about 183 total acres. The intention is to leave the land undeveloped, thereby reducing risk of flooding for the lower watershed. It is also intended to preserve and restore habitat corridors linking the Santa Cruz, Gabilan, and Mt. Hamilton Ranges.


References


External links


Pajaro River Watershed Flood Prevention Authority

Coastal Habitat Education Environment and Restoration (CHEER) - an Upper Pajaro River Watershed group



Pajaro Watershed Web Portal
{{Monterey Bay Area Rivers of Santa Clara County, California Rivers of Santa Cruz County, California Rivers of Monterey County, California Rivers of San Benito County, California Diablo Range Gabilan Range Drainage basins of Monterey Bay Important Bird Areas of California Rivers of the San Francisco Bay Area Rivers of Northern California