Brush Creek or Rincon Creek is a tributary of

Santa Rosa Creek Santa Rosa Creek is a 22-mile-long (35 km) stream in Sonoma County, California, which rises on Hood Mountain and discharges to the Laguna de Santa Rosa by way of the Santa Rosa Flood Control Channel. This article covers both the creek and t ...

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendoci ...

. Brush Creek rises in the southern slopes of the

Mayacamas Mountains The Mayacamas Mountains are located in northwestern California in the United States. The mountain range is part of the Northern Inner Coast Ranges, of the California Coast Ranges System. Geography The Mayacamas Mountains are located south of the ...

within Sonoma County. The lower reach of the creek is a suburban medium density residential area in the city of

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

, and that reach of Brush Creek has been restored during the 1990s under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to promote steelhead migration and spawning. Further restoration and incorporation into citywide park planning is currently underway as of 2006. The location of the confluence with Santa Rosa Creek is particularly noteworthy, since it was a locus of prehistoric life as a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of the Pomo people and a scenic geologic feature of massive flat boulder outcrops within the stream channel. Brush Creek is a watercourse of approximately three miles in length that drains the area known as Rincon Valley in north Santa Rosa and the outlying unincorporated areas. The stream is shown on U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps as Rincon Creek. On current maps, Rincon Creek is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

that forms a confluence with Brush Creek approximately four kilometers upstream from the mouth of Brush Creek (near Montecito Boulevard). Thus today's nomenclature makes Rincon Creek essentially the west fork of upper Brush Creek.

Lower reach and confluence with Santa Rosa Creek

The Flat Rocks feature at the confluence with Santa Rosa Creek was an important element of the prehistoric Pomo village at this site and is currently a picturesque protected area for trail hikers to enjoy. Immediately above the confluence is a modified channel that was designed to allow encroachment by residential development. The open channel has an obvious geometric form where banks have been steepened from the natural original contours; nevertheless, there is considerable riparian

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic charac ...

of Arroyo willow and Broad-leaf cattail ('' Typha latifolia''). Chief native trees along the banks are Coast live oak ('' Quercus agrifolia'') and Garry oak ('' Quercus garryana''). Low flows at the end of summer amount to no more than a few cubic feet (50-100 liters) per second; however, after one of the first rains of autumn of approximately , the flow increases to about per second. Substantial

energy dissipation In thermodynamics, dissipation is the result of an irreversible process that takes place in homogeneous thermodynamic systems. In a dissipative process, energy (internal, bulk flow kinetic, or system potential) transforms from an initial form to ...

is achieved by the willows and cattails that choke the creek in this reach. The sides are partially armored with

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

to achieve stabilization of the unnatural slope and to minimize scouring and

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

. In this reach of Brush Creek, Ducker Creek joins from the east and a west fork of Brush Creek forms a confluence somewhat higher from the west. Soils comprising the

streambed A stream bed or streambed is the bottom of a stream or river (bathymetry) or the physical confine of the normal water flow ( channel). The lateral confines or channel margins are known as the stream banks or river banks, during all but flood ...

of upper and lower reaches are classified as the riverwash series in the U.S. Soil Conservation Service Classification System. These materials according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, consist of very recent deposition of

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

and

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

alluvium along streams.''Soil Survey, Sonoma County, California'', U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Government Printing Office, Washington DC, May 1972 Layering of soils and gravels brought in from higher elevations has resulted to form the streambed.

Upper reach

The upper reach may be defined as that portion of 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 ...

above Montecito Boulevard, most of which is in the unincorporated area of Sonoma County. In these reaches the creek has little modification, save for residential development along Anderson Drive which encroaches into the riparian area. Thus there are no flood control channel improvements, other than the Middle Fork Brush Creek reservoir constructed near Saddle Creek Drive. Above Badger Road there is a dam across Brush Creek, forming this small

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

. Headwaters of Brush Creek flow into the reservoir from two forks. There is virtually no public access to the creek or reservoir in the upper reach. There is less cattail vegetation and more mature Garry oaks and Valley oaks in this reach. Above Baird the landscape turns into chiefly agricultural

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and ot ...

land in the lower

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...

of the Mayacmas western slopes.

References

{{Russian River Rivers of Sonoma County, California Rivers of Northern California Tributaries of the Russian River (California)

Lower reach and confluence with Santa Rosa Creek

Upper reach

See also

References