Rush Creek is a
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 ...
in eastern
Marin County, California
Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...
,
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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It originates on the north edge of
Novato, California
Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225.
History
What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...
and flows northeasterly through wetlands into Black John Slough and then the
Petaluma River
The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
. The name is associated with Peter Rush who bought land near Novato in 1862.
Ecology
The creek flows through coastal saltwater marsh and coastal brackish-water marsh habitats. The wetlands provide suitable habitat for San Pablo song sparrow, California black rail, saltmarsh common yellowthroat, California brackishwater snail, and California clapper rail.
Conservation
In 1999, the Rush Creek/Cemetery Marsh Enhancement Project was completed by the Marin Audubon Society. This project involved the excavation of channels to improve circulation and replacement of tide gates in the Rush Creek marsh and Cemetery Marsh. Both marshes are managed by Marin County Open Space District as natural preserves.
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See also
*List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
These watercourses (rivers, creeks, sloughs, etc.) in the San Francisco Bay Area are grouped according to the bodies of water they flow into. Tributaries are listed under the watercourses they feed, sorted by the elevation of the confluence so tha ...
References
External links
{{San Francisco Bay watershed
Rivers of Marin County, California
Rivers of Northern California
Tributaries of the Petaluma River