The Russian River (
Southern Pomo: ''Ashokawna'', es, Río Ruso) is a southward-flowing
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 w ...
that drains
of
Sonoma and
Mendocino counties in
Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0 km
3), it is the second-largest river (after the
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento� ...
) flowing through the nine-county Greater
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
, with a mainstem long.
Names
The
Southern Pomo know the river as Ashokawna (ʼaš:oʼkʰawna), "east water place" or "water to the east", and as Bidapte, "big river".
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and his expedition may have travelled as far north as the Russian River in November 1542 before storms forced them to turn back south towards Monterey. The earliest Slavic name for the river, Slavyanka, appears on a
Russian-American Company
The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс� ...
chart dated 1817. In 1827 the Spanish called it the San Ygnacio,
and in 1843 the Spanish land grant referred to it as Rio Grande.
The river takes its current name from Russian
Ivan Kuskov of the Russian-American Company, who explored the river in the early 19th-century and established the
Fort Ross
Fort Ross ( Russian: Форт-Росс, Kashaya ''mé·ṭiʔni''), originally Fortress Ross ( pre-reformed Russian: Крѣпость Россъ, tr. ''Krepostʹ Ross''), is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America i ...
colony northwest of its mouth. The Russians called it the Slavyanka River, meaning "
Slav
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
River".
(''Slavyanka'' in
Russian means "Slavic woman".) They established three ranches near Fort Ross, one of which, the Kostromitinov Ranch, stretched along the Russian River near the mouth of Willow Creek.
The redwoods that lined its banks drew loggers to the river in the late-19th century.
According to the USGS, variant names of the Russian River include Misallaako, Rio Ruso, Shabaikai, and Slavyanka.
Course
The Russian River springs from the
Laughlin Range about east of
Willits in Mendocino County. It flows generally southward to
Redwood Valley, then past
Calpella, where it is bordered by
U.S. Route 101, to join the
East Fork Russian River
East Fork Russian River is a long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility.
It forms in the north of P ...
just below
Lake Mendocino.
From there the Russian River flows south, past
Ukiah through the
Ukiah Valley and
Hopland through the
Sanel Valley, and crosses into Sonoma County just north of
Cloverdale. Closely paralleled by U.S. Route 101, it descends into the
Alexander Valley, where it is joined by
Big Sulphur Creek. It flows south past
Cloverdale,
Asti, and
Geyserville.
East of
Healdsburg
Healdsburg is a city located in Sonoma County, in California's Wine Country. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,254. Owing to its three most important wine-producing regions (the Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valle ...
,
Maacama Creek joins the Russian River. After it makes a series of sweeping bends, the
Healdsburg Memorial Bridge carries Old Redwood Highway over the river just upstream of
U.S. Route 101's Healdsburg crossing. It receives water from
Lake Sonoma
Lake Sonoma is a reservoir west of Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County, California, created by the construction of Warm Springs Dam. Access from U.S. Route 101 is by way of Canyon Road (from the south) from Geyserville, or Dutcher Creek Road (fr ...
via
Dry Creek. The river turns westward, where it is spanned by the Wohler Bridge, and it is joined by
Mark West Creek
Mark West Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 9, 2011 stream that rises in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California, United States. Tributaries ...
north of
Forestville, followed by
Green Valley Creek
Green Valley Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 9, 2011 stream in Sonoma County, California, United States, which springs from the hills above the Bohemian ...
to the south. The river passes
Rio Nido and
Guerneville. In that area,
State Route 116 parallels the river, bordering it past
Guernewood Park and
Monte Rio.
Austin Creek enters from the north before the River passes through
Duncans Mills.
State Route 1 crosses over the river before it flows into the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
between
Jenner and
Goat Rock Beach. The Russian River estuary is recognized for protection by the
California Bays and Estuaries Policy.
[State Water Resources Control Board ''Water Quality Control Policy for the Enclosed Bays and Estuaries of California'' (1974) State of California] The mouth is about north of the
San Francisco Bay's
Golden Gate
The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...
bridge.
The lower Russian River is a popular spring, summer, and fall destination for navigation and recreation. It is very safe at that time for swimming and boating, with a gentle current.
[State of California ''Water Quality Control Plan North Coastal Basin 1B'' July 1975 p.13] The river is dangerous in the winter, with swift current and muddy water.
Geology
The geographer
R. S. Holway
Ruliff Stephen Holway (or Ruliff S. Holway; 4 May 1857 - 2 December 1927) was a professor of geography at the University of California, Berkeley between 1904 and 1923.
He was interested in the relations between humans and geography.
Life
Ruliff ...
wrote of the Russian River in his 1917 paper "The Russian River: A Characteristic Stream of the California Coast Ranges".
Originally, the Russian River was one of several rivers draining westward from the Mayacamas Mountains through the Mendocino Plateau to the sea, a region lifted up by tectonic forces. The
Navarro River
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, name_other =
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, image = Navarro_River.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Navarro River near its mouth.
, map =
, map_size ...
drained from the Cobb Mountain area, while the Russian River drained from the Mt. St. Helena area. Being at a lower elevation, the Russian River began cutting north into the drainage area of the Navarro River. Eroding up a fault line in Alexander Valley, the Russian River intersected the Navarro River just north of Cloverdale. This resulted in the
stream capture of Big Sulphur Creek (formerly the upper Navarro River) and the north fork of the Navarro River, going north to Hopland and to Ukiah. The high valleys were eroded into rocky canyons for ten miles north of Cloverdale and for five miles east of Cloverdale.
After establishing a connection to Clear Lake, the Russian River was beheaded from Clear Lake by a slide (at
Cow Mountain, east of Ukiah). Now Clear Lake flows into the Sacramento River. The river incised a canyon into Fitch Mountain at an early time, before land levels were eroded to their present levels. The Russian River was prevented from flowing south into San Pablo Bay, due to a 113-foot high ridge at Cotati. Guerneville is built on an abandoned meander of the river. Near Guerneville, another meander cut short Smith Creek.
The Mendocino Plateau is a part of the
Franciscan Assemblage.
River modifications
A portion of the
Eel River is diverted to headwaters of the Russian River in
Potter Valley, via a scheme known as the
Potter Valley Project
The Potter Valley Project is an hydroelectric project in Northern California in the United States, delivering water from the Eel River basin to turbines in the headwaters of the Russian River. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and ...
. The
Sonoma County Water Agency draws
drinking water
Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...
from the Russian River for sale to several hundred thousand residents of Sonoma, Mendocino, and northern
Marin counties.
Santa Rosa's Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant
treats sewage from several communities to tertiary standards and returns some of it to the river by way of the
Laguna de Santa Rosa
The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a wetland complex that drains a watershed encompassing most of the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County, California, United States.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe e ...
.
Water transferred from the Eel River and released from
Lake Mendocino flows through the Russian River channel to withdrawal points in Sonoma County. Although this method of transport supports aquatic and
riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...
habitats, it is vulnerable to chemical contamination from transportation accidents where the river is in close proximity to highway 101 and
Northwestern Pacific Railroad transportation corridors in locations like the canyon between Cloverdale and Hopland. This vulnerability was demonstrated in March 1982 when a
tank car
A tank car ( International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities.
History
Timeline
The following major events occurred in ...
of
formaldehyde
Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section ...
was vandalized in Ukiah. Emergency response personnel were able to clean up approximately half of the spilled, and a fortuitous combination of Lake Mendocino reservoir inventory and late winter storms helped flush the remainder through the river and into the ocean before local water storage inventories were exhausted.
The Russian River reached
flood stage Flood stage is the water level or stage at which the surface of a body of water has risen to a sufficient level to cause sufficient inundation of areas that are not normally covered by water, causing an inconvenience or a threat to life and property ...
of at Guerneville about five times per decade through the last half of the 20th century. Historic flood peaks were in February 1986, in January 1995, in December 1955, in December 1964, and in February 1940. Through effective use of Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma flood capacity the river has exceeded flood stage at Guerneville less frequently in the 21st century, but in late February 2019 it flooded to levels comparable to 1986.
Ecology
The river provides wildlife habitat including warm and cold freshwater habitat for fish migration and spawning.
Historically it is interesting as one of two Northern California coastal rivers mentioned in the early nineteenth century by Russian explorer K. T. Khlebnikov as hosting sturgeon, presumably
White sturgeon (''Acipenser transmontanus''), along with the
Pajaro River
The Pajaro River (''pájaro'' is ''bird'' in Spanish) 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 Cou ...
. Khlebnikov stated in his "1820 Travel Notes", "Mr.
Kuskov had sent two
baidarkas to the Slavyanka River to catch sturgeon, and they returned today with ten fish...the largest one exceeding two arshins (4.67 feet) long". Moyle's ''Inland Fishes of California'' states that there were historic runs of white, but not green, sturgeon in the Russian River. White sturgeon are the largest freshwater fish in the United States.
The Russian River is the largest river in the Central California Coast
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'')
Distinct population segment {{no footnotes, date=February 2018
A distinct population segment (DPS) is the smallest division of a taxonomic species permitted to be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. ''Species'', as defined in the Act for listing purposes, is a ...
. Natural waterfalls and the two major dams, Warm Springs (built in 1982) and Coyote (built in 1959), have isolated
anadromous steelhead from its non-oceangoing rainbow trout form above the impassable barriers. Recent genetic studies on steelhead collected at 20 different sites both above and below passage barriers in the watershed found that despite the fact that 30 million hatchery trout were stocked in the river from 1911 to 1925, the steelhead remain of native and not hatchery stock.
Until recently, most reviews indicated that
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 ...
(''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') were always scarce on the Russian River. However, in 2007, the
Sonoma County Water Agency completed a comprehensive re-evaluation of historical records, coupled with a 5-year monitoring program using underwater cameras at two fish ladders just north of
Forestville. They found that Chinook always were, and still are, "a relatively abundant, widely distributed, and naturally self-sustaining population". The authors found historic information dating to 1881 suggesting the presence of an ancestral population, and their genetic analysis found the Chinook both above and below barriers to fish passage to be of native, and not hatchery stock.
In 2001 the
Coho salmon
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family (biology), family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientif ...
(''Oncorhynchus kisutch'') had dwindled to less than four returning spawners per year. These low numbers were the catalyst for the Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program, a recovery effort in which offspring from hatchery-reared adults are released into the river system. In 2011, biologists estimate that more than 190 adult coho may have returned to the Russian River watershed, beginning with early storms in October and peaking in December. High priority tributaries for restoration of stream flows and habitat for Coho include
Dutch Bill, Grape,
Green Valley,
Mark West and
Mill Creeks.
Similarly, early twentieth-century naturalists were skeptical that
California Golden beaver (''Castor canadensis subauratus'') were extant in the coastal streams of the Bay Area.
However, the
Russian-American Company
The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty (russian: Под высочайшим Его Императорского Величества покровительством Российская-Американс� ...
's
Ivan Kuskov sailed into
Bodega Bay in 1809 on the ''Kodiak'' and, after exploring 50 miles of the Russian River, returned to
Novo Arkhangelsk, Alaska (Sitka), with beaver skins and over 2,000
sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') pelts. The Russians' stated reason for establishing a settlement in
Alta California was, "The rich, fertile soil
ndthe abundance of seal, otter and beaver were the principal factors which favored this colonization." An 1816 report by the Russian-American Company's Board of Directors said that it was establishing a settlement to introduce agriculture.(page 33, After December 16, 1813: A report to Emperor Alexander I from the Russian American Company Council, concerning trade with California and the establishment of Fort Ross) Before establishing a southern colony at
Fort Ross
Fort Ross ( Russian: Форт-Росс, Kashaya ''mé·ṭiʔni''), originally Fortress Ross ( pre-reformed Russian: Крѣпость Россъ, tr. ''Krepostʹ Ross''), is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America i ...
, the Russian-American Company contracted with American ships beginning in 1806, providing them with
Aleuts and their
baidarkas (kayaks) to hunt otter on the coast of Spanish California.
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
's
Alexander R. McLeod reported in 1829, "The Country to the northward of Bodega is said to be rich in Beaver and no encouragement given to the Indians to hunt."
The fur trapper
Ewing Young
Ewing Young (1799-February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Country. ...
, led an expedition up
Putah Creek
Putah Creek (Patwin: ''Liwaito'') is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flow ...
to
Clear Lake and on to the
Mendocino County
Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah.
Mendocino County consists whol ...
Coast in March, 1833.
James Weeks, a member of Young's 1833 fur brigade wrote: "They broke up all the beaver lodges on the lake, I believe the finest and largest beaver we caught there, we arrived at the Russian River and pitched camp sent out, trappers found signs set traps caught beavers..." This historical observer record is consistent with the
Southern Pomo, who inhabited the lower half of the Russian River, having a word for beaver ''ṱ’ek:e'' and beavers in their "Coyote Stories". In 1881 the ''
Sacramento Daily Union
''The Sacramento Union'' was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with ' ...
'' newspaper reported, "Beavers are being trapped near Healdsburg" (placing them again on the Russian River).
The
Russian River State Marine Reserve and Russian River State Marine Conservation Area protect the Russian River Estuary. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean and freshwater wildlife and marine ecosystems.
Russian River Valley
The river provides groundwater recharge and a water supply for agriculture.
The river's floodplain includes many vineyards, and an area of the
Russian River Valley
The Russian River (Southern Pomo: ''Ashokawna'', es, Río Ruso) is a southward-flowing river that drains of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0&nbs ...
was approved as an
American Viticultural Area in 1983 and enlarged in 2006.
It produces
Chardonnay and
Pinot noir wines in addition to other wine varietals, and is home to many small and several large commercial wineries.
See also
*
Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove is a restricted 2,700-acre (1,100 ha) campground at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, United States, belonging to a private San Francisco–based gentlemen's club known as the Bohemian Club. In mid-July each year, ...
*
Floods in California
All types of floods can occur in California, though 90 per cent of them are caused by river flooding in lowland areas. Such flooding generally occurs as a result of excessive rainfall, excessive snowmelt, excessive runoff, levee failure, poor plan ...
*
List of rivers in California
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
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 ...
*
Russian River State Marine Reserve & Russian River State Marine Conservation Area
*
Sonoma County wine
Sonoma County wine is wine made in Sonoma County, California, in the United States.
County names in the United States automatically qualify as legal appellations of origin for wine produced from grapes grown in that county and do not require regi ...
*
Frog Woman Rock
*
California Wine Country
*
California Fur Rush Before the 1849 California Gold Rush, American, English and Russian fur hunters were drawn to Spanish (and then Mexican) California in a California Fur Rush, to exploit its enormous fur resources. Before 1825, these Europeans were drawn to the north ...
*
Monte Rio
References
External links
Russian River Watersheds at Fish Friendly FarmingRussian River Chamber of Commerce*
*
Google Street View Aug 2015
{{Authority control
Rivers of Mendocino County, California
Rivers of Sonoma County, California
American Viticultural Areas of California
Rivers of Northern California