Corte Madera Creek (Marin County, California)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Corte Madera Creek is a short stream which flows southeast for in
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 ...
. Corte Madera Creek is formed by the confluence of
San Anselmo Creek San Anselmo Creek is an eastward-flowing stream that begins on the eastern flank of Pine Mountain in the Marin Hills of Marin County, California. At its confluence with Ross Creek, it becomes Corte Madera Creek. History Its name came from th ...
and Ross Creek in
Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...
and entering a tidal marsh at Kentfield before connecting to
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 ...
near Corte Madera.


History

The Coast Miwok lived for thousands of years in the Corte Madera watershed, gathering pinole and acorns, hunting, and salmon-fishing. Traces of the Miwok include seven mounds in what is now the Town of Ross. The Mexican government divided the northwest and southeast portions of the Corte Madera watershed into two separate land grants. The
Rancho Cañada de Herrera Rancho Cañada de Herrera was a Mexican land grant in present day Marin County, California given in 1839 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to Domingo Sais (also spelled Saens or Saez). The grant encompassed present day Fairfax, Sleepy Hollow a ...
, a rancho that includes the areas that are now Fairfax, Sleepy Hollow, and part of San Anselmo, was granted to Domingo Sais in 1839. His family used the land for crops, sheep, horses, and cattle and fished San Anselmo Creek for salmon. The
Rancho Punta de Quentin Rancho Punta de Quentin was a Mexican land grant in present-day Marin County, California given in 1840 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to John B.R. Cooper. The grant comprised not only the San Quentin peninsula, but also present-day Ross, Kent ...
, an rancho established in 1840, was granted to Captain
John B. R. Cooper Juan Bautista Rogers Cooper (born John Rogers Cooper on September 11, 1791, Alderney, Channel Islands, British Channel Islands – June 2, 1872, San Francisco, California) was a 19th-century pioneer of California, who held United Kingdom, British, ...
, a sea captain from Boston, by Mexican Governor
Juan Bautista Alvarado Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio politician that served as Governor of Alta California from 1837-42. Prior to his term as governor, Alvarado briefly led a movement for independe ...
to repay a $5,250 debt. Cooper harvested timber and was also granted a license to hunt
southern sea otter Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
(''Enhydra lutris nereis''), then prevalent at the mouth of Corte Madera Creek. Rancho Punta de Quentin is now the towns of San Anselmo, Ross, Kentfield, and Larkspur. Corte Madera Creek is named for the Spanish ''corte de madera'' meaning "a place where wood is cut". A Tasmanian immigrant, James Ross, who had made a fortune selling liquor to gold panners in San Francisco, bought much of the Rancho Punta de Quentin in 1840 for $50,000. Ross continued logging and also started a regular schooner route to San Francisco to transport the wood. His family established an estate at the site that is now the Marin Art and Garden Center.


Ecology

Corte Madera Creek is one of few streams flowing into San Francisco Bay with a steelhead trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') population. The best spawning gravels are in Upper San Anselmo Creek, Ross Creek, and Sleepy Hollow Creek. Fairfax Creek has a total barrier to fish passage at its confluence with San Anselmo Creek. Larkspur Creek is rumored to have had steelhead long ago, and the occasional steelhead is still seen in Tamalpais Creek. Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') currently utilize the watershed. Historically, Corte Madera Creek watershed supported coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch'') with recorded observations dating from 1926-1927, the 1960s, 1981, and the last sighting in 1984. The main non-salmonid fish species in the Corte Madera Creek Watershed include the three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus''), California roach (''Lavinia symmetricus''), several species of
sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand a ...
(''Cottus'' spp.), and
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''). The creek hosts many protected species in addition to steelhead trout, including at least 17 plants, northern spotted owls (''Strix occidentalis caurina''), San Pablo song sparrow (''Melospiza melodia samuelis''),
Ridgway's rail Ridgway's rail (''Rallus obsoletus'') is a near-threatened species of bird. It is found principally in California's San Francisco Bay to southern Baja California. A member of the rail family, Rallidae, it is a chicken-sized bird that rarely flie ...
(''Rallus obsoletus'') and black (''Laterallus jamaicensis'') rails, and the salt marsh harvest mouse (''Reithrodontomys raviventris''). The Corte Madera Marsh Ecological Reserve is recognized as an Important Bird Area by the Audubon Society. Just south of the marsh, there is a tidal channel named San Clement Creek where harbor seals (''Phoca vitulina'')
haul out Hauling-out is a behaviour associated with pinnipeds (true seals, sea lions, fur seals and walruses) temporarily leaving the water. Hauling-out typically occurs between periods of foraging activity. Rather than remain in the water, pinnipeds hau ...
.


Watershed

The Corte Madera (aka Ross Valley) Watershed ranges in elevation from sea level to at the East Peak of Mount Tamalpais. The watershed covers in the southeastern quarter of Marin County and encompasses the towns of Larkspur, Corte Madera, Kentfield, Ross, San Anselmo, and Fairfax. The watershed includes Corte Madera, Ross, San Anselmo, Tamalpais, Sleepy Hollow, Fairfax, and Cascade creeks and Phoenix Lake. Larkspur and Tamalpais creeks drain directly into the estuary/tidal portion. The watershed includes of stream channels. Ross Creek drains the northern slope of Mt. Tamalpais; San Anselmo Creek and its tributaries drain the northwestern portion of the watershed. The two channels join to form Corte Madera Creek, which continues through more than a mile of concrete-lined channel past the confluences of Larkspur and Tamalpais Creeks and into the salt marsh at the mouth.


See also

* List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area * California Fur Rush


References


External links


Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed
{{San Francisco Bay watershed Rivers of Marin County, California Important Bird Areas of California Corte Madera, California Tributaries of San Francisco Bay Rivers of Northern California