Waddell Creek is the name given to both the

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

and the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

that run through

Big Basin Redwoods State Park Big Basin Redwoods State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of California, located in Santa Cruz County, about northwest of Santa Cruz. The park contains almost all of the Waddell Creek watershed, which was formed by the seismic uplift ...

in Santa Cruz County,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The Waddell Creek mainstem is formed by the confluence of East and West Waddell Creeks, and empties 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 continen ...

at Waddell Beach, just south of Año Nuevo Point.

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, passed through the area on its way north, camping for three days at Waddell Creek, October 20–22, 1769, and initially named the creek Cañada de San Luis Beltran. The longer stay was because of heavy rains, and fears that the weather would worsen the condition of those in the party who were sick. Instead, as

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 ...

noted in his diary, "it seemed as though God had sent them health with the drenching, for to the surprise of everybody they began to improve, and in a short time were entirely recovered, thanks to God, to whom we attributed this special blessing. For this reason the valley was renamed Cañada de la La Salud." William Waddell of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

came to California in 1851. The first American settler of the area (for whom the creek and valley are named), he built a sawmill on the creek in 1862 above the Waddell Forks and conducted an extensive timber harvesting operation in the area, a lumber-hauling tramway from the mill to the beach, and a wharf. Waddell was killed by a

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

in 1875.

Watershed and course

The Waddell Creek mainstem is long although total distance from headwater source tributaries to the sea is . The Waddell Creek watershed drains and consists of many headwater creeks that feed its two tributaries, East and West Waddell Creeks. West Waddell Creek has its source at along the border of Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties, while East Waddell Creek's source is at the confluence of Opal Creek and Blooms Creek at just below

headquarters in Santa Cruz County. Some of the uppermost headwaters streams originate above .

Ecology

Historically, Waddell Creek was home to spawning runs by both

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 N ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') and

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 ...

(''Oncorhynchus kisutch''). In 1995 a review of coho south of San Francisco Bay found coho restricted to only one remnant population in Waddell Creek, one small naturalized (hatchery-influenced) population in Scott Creek and a small hatchery-maintained, non-native run in 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 ...

, all in Santa Cruz County. Historically, coho were found in approximately 50 coastal drainages in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, but by the 1960s spawning runs were limited to 11 stream systems. The 1995 combined average annual spawning population of native and naturalized coho salmon in Waddell and Scott Creeks was estimated at only 50-60 adults, comprising only 1.5% of the estimated abundance of coho salmon south of San Francisco Bay in the early 1960s. Coho vanished from Waddell Creek but there is hope of returns from the Kingfisher Flat Hatchery on the Big Creek tributary to nearby Scott Creek where the salmon returned in 2015 due to stocking efforts. Usable

salmonid Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...

spawning and rearing habitat is limited by the distance from Waddell Forks (elevation ) to Slippery Falls (elevation on West Waddell Creek and the from Waddell Forks to the Main Falls on East Waddell Creek (elevation . The upper stream banks are in the

coast redwood ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...

(''Sequoia sempervirens'') belt 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 ...

while the lower stream banks are lined by

red alder ''Alnus rubra'', the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana). Description Red alder is the largest species of alder in North A ...

(''Alnus rubra''), big-leaf maple (''Acer macrophyllum''),

California buckeye ''Aesculus californica'', commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon. Description It is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, up to tall, with gr ...

(''Aesculus californica''),

Pacific madrone ''Arbutus menziesii'' or Pacific madrone (commonly madrone or madrona in the United States and arbutus in Canada), is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from Bri ...

(''Arbutus menziesii''),

California laurel ''Umbellularia californica'' is a large hardwood tree native to coastal forests and the Sierra foothills of California, and to coastal forests extending into Oregon. It is endemic to the California Floristic Province. It is the sole species in th ...

(''Umbellularia californica''), and, in the lowermost portion, by

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

s (''Salix spp.''). Occasionally encountered are

tanoak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Oregon ...

(''Lithocarpus densiflora''),

box elder ''Acer negundo'', the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or inva ...

(''Acer negundo subsp. californicum''), white alder (''Alnus rhombifolia''),

black cottonwood ''Populus trichocarpa'', the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. De ...

(''Populus trichocarpa''), California nutmeg (''Torreya californica''), and

coast Douglas fir ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward ...

(''Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii'').

References

{{Santa Cruz Mountains rivers of Northern California rivers of Santa Cruz County, California

History

Watershed and course

Ecology

See also

References