San Tomas Aquinas Creek, known locally as San Tomas Aquino Creek, is a stream
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
accessed August 25, 2011 that heads on El Sereno mountain in
El Sereno Open Space Preserve
El Sereno Open Space Preserve is a park unit of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District located on the peak and slopes of 2580 ft. El Sereno mountain, a peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The preserve is located in Santa Clara County, ...
in
Saratoga, California in
Santa Clara County, California
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 ...
,
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 flows north through the cities of
Saratoga,
Monte Sereno
Monte Sereno (Spanish for "Serene Mountain") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 3,479 at the 2020 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about southwest of San Jose, ...
,
Los Gatos,
Campbell Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
,
Santa Clara and
San Jose before its confluence with the Guadalupe Slough in south
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 ...
.
History
In the 1850s the creek appeared on several land grant maps as San Tomas Aquinas Creek and Arroyo de San Tomás Aquinas.
Historically, San Tomas Aquino Creek formed the eastern boundary of the 1841
Rancho Quito
Rancho Quito was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Clara County, California given in 1841 by Governor Juan Alvarado to José Zenon Fernandez and José Noriega. The grant included present-day Saratoga, Campbell, and Cupertino. The easter ...
and the western boundary of the 1840
Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos land grants.
Watershed and course
The San Tomas Aquinas Creek watershed drains 44.8 square miles.
The major tributaries of San Tomas Aquino Creek include (heading downstream) Mistletoe, Wildcat (and its Vasona sub-tributary),
Smith and
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.
History
Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's ...
s. Smith Creek is a headwaters tributary of
San Tomas Aquinas Creek, but is largely dry except during the winter months. It begins in the foothills of 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 ...
within the city of
Monte Sereno
Monte Sereno (Spanish for "Serene Mountain") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 3,479 at the 2020 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about southwest of San Jose, ...
, then flows northerly through portions of
Los Gatos and
Campbell Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
until its confluence with San Tomas Aquino Creek.
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.
History
Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's ...
is the largest tributary and joins San Tomas Aquino Creek south of Highway 101, near Monroe Street. Due to its relatively large size, the Saratoga Creek subwatershed is often viewed as a distinct watershed even though it does not directly discharge to the Lower South San Francisco Bay. In fact, San Tomas Aquino Creek historically used to be a tributary of Saratoga Creek and thence to the
Guadalupe River, but when the latter was redirected from Guadalupe Slough to Alviso Slough to facilitate navigation, San Tomas Aquino Creek was extended directly to Guadalupe Slough at Sunnyvale Baylands Park in
Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...
and Saratoga Creek became tributary to San Tomas Aquino Creek.
The Guadalupe Slough carries the flows of San Thomas Aquino, Calabazas, and Saratoga Creeks out into south San Francisco Bay, passing just to the east of the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Ponds.
Vasona Creek is a short creek that runs through
West Valley College and joins Wildcat Creek just before the latter reaches San Tomas Aquino Creek. With $570,000 in grants from the
Santa Clara Valley Water District
The Santa Clara Valley Water District (also known as Valley Water) provides stream stewardship, wholesale water supply and flood protection for Santa Clara County, California, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. The district encompasses all of ...
, the one mile section of Vasona Creek running through the college campus has undergone restoration since 2011, repairing deep channel incision and restoring riparian vegetation.
The middle portion of the creek runs under or alongside
San Tomas Expressway
There are 21 routes assigned to the "G" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "G" zone includes county highways in Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz co ...
. At Cabrillo avenue it starts running under the median of the expressway until Williams Road. Some portions are partially exposed, but much is completely underground. From Williams road it runs along the west side of the expressway until Bucknall road. From there it leaves the expressway and enters the hills.
The San Tomas Aquino bicycle and pedestrian trail follows the creek from the bay to Homestead road.
Habitat and wildlife
In 1898
John Otterbein Snyder
John Otterbein Snyder (August 14, 1867 – August 19, 1943) was an American ichthyologist and professor of zoology at Stanford University.
History
As a student he met David Starr Jordan who inspired him to enter zoology. He eventually became a zoo ...
collected steelhead trout (then ''Salmo irideus Gibbons'') specimens in ''Campbell Creek'' (now
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.
History
Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's ...
, a tributary of San Tomas Aquino Creek). A 1985
California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) survey of Saratoga Creek noted "a major steelhead and king salmon spawning area" on San Tomas Aquino Creek located approximately 200 yards downstream of the Saratoga and San Tomas Aquino creeks confluence. Stream resident
coastal rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal ...
(''Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus'') persist in the
Saratoga Creek
Saratoga Creek is a north-northeast flowing creek in Santa Clara County, California.
History
Saratoga Creek was originally called Arroyo Quito and then Campbell Creek after immigrant William Campbell, who operated a sawmill in 1848 in "Campbell's ...
watershed but
anadromous
Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
steelhead cannot run up from the Bay because of a barrier at the confluence of San Tomas Aquino Creek and Saratoga Creek that prevents their passage upstream.
Recent genetic analysis has shown that the San Tomas Aquino watershed trout are of native origin and not hatchery stock.
Leidy (2007) identified the native fishes in San Tomas Aquino Creek as
Hitch (''Lavinia exilicauda''),
California roach (''Lavinia symmetricus''),
Sacramento sucker
The Sacramento sucker (''Catostomus occidentalis'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Catostomidae. It is primarily found in California with some populations extending into Oregon and Nevada. They inhabit a diverse range of habitats f ...
(''Catostomus occidentalis occidentalis''),
Three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus''),
rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...
(''Oncohrynchus mykiss irideus'') and possibly
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 tshawytscha''). Although the latter had been considered now absent from the watershed, in mid-October, 1996, Roger Castillo, the founder of the Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Group, recovered a giant Chinook salmon from San Tomas Aquino Creek beneath
Highway 237 (see photo). Non-native fishes include
Common carp
The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...
(''Cyprinus carpio''),
Goldfish (''Carassius auratus auratus''),
Golden shiner (''Notemigonus crysoleucas''), and
Western mosquitofish
The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the easte ...
(''Gambusia affinis'').
See also
*
List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
References
External links
Guadalupe Slough Watershed maps page at Guide to San Francisco Bay Area CreeksSanta Clara County Creeks CoalitionSanta Clara Basin Watershed Management Initiative (SCBWMI)Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Group
{{Santa Cruz Mountains
Rivers of Santa Clara County, California
Rivers of Northern California
Tributaries of San Francisco Bay