Pacheco Creek (San Benito County)

Pacheco Creek is a 28 miles (45 km)[3] west by southwest flowing stream which heads in the Diablo Range in southeastern Santa Clara County and flows to San Felipe Lake,[4] the beginning of the Pajaro River mainstem, in San Benito County, California.

This article is about Pacheco Creek in San Benito County. For Pacheco Creek in Contra Costa County, see Pacheco Creek (Contra Costa County).
Pacheco Creek
Arroyo de San Felipe[1]
North Fork Pacheco Creek Dam just north of Highway 152, facing south, courtesy of Gary Reyes
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionSan Benito and Santa Clara Counties,
Physical characteristics
SourceConfluence of North Fork Pacheco Creek and South Fork Pacheco Creek
 • locationJust south of Pacheco Reservoir, Santa Clara County
 • coordinates37°02′42″N 121°17′23″W[2]
 • elevation431 ft (131 m)
MouthSan Felipe Lake, the source of the Pajaro River
 • location
5 mi (8 km) east of Gilroy
 • coordinates
36°58′38″N 121°27′37″W[2]
 • elevation
144 ft (44 m)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftSouth Fork Pacheco Creek, Tequisquita Slough
 • rightNorth Fork Pacheco Creek, Cedar Creek, Elephant Head Creek

History

The creek is named for Francisco Pacheco and Juan P. Pacheco who were granted the Rancho Ausaymas y San Felipe land grants in 1833 and 1836, and 1843 respectively. An early name for the creek was Arroyo de San Felipe.[1] Francisco Pacheco came to California in 1819.[5]

Just north of the earthen dam on North Fork Pacheco Creek was one of the last refuges of the Amah Mutsun band of the Ohlone people, and is rich archeologically with multiple burial sites and artifacts, including projective points so large that they would have been used for bear or elk.[6] In 1993, Mark Hylkema documented eight different Native American sites in this area, dating from 1000 B.C. to 500 A.D.[7]

Flooding

On 11 January 2017, a levee break at Pacheco Creek affected fifty local homes; some homes had mudlines about five feet high.[8] On 12 January, health officials advised some local residents not to drink local tapwater pending contamination testing.[9]

Watershed

The mainstem Pacheco Creek is formed by the confluence of the North Fork Pacheco Creek[10] and South Fork Pacheco Creek[11] about 7 miles (11 km) west of Pacheco Pass.[3] Significant flows are contributed to the Pacheco Creek mainstem by the North and South Forks of Pacheco Creek, and Cedar Creek.

The North Fork Pacheco Creek tributary is a 19 miles (31 km) stream beginning in Henry W. Coe State Park at 2,360 feet (720 m) and receives the 6 miles (9.7 km) East Fork Pacheco Creek,[3][12] at Chimney Rock[13] before reaching Pacheco Reservoir, the latter just north of Highway 152 and 0.4 miles (0.64 km) above the confluence of North and South Forks Pacheco Creek.[14] The Mississippi Creek[15] tributary of North Fork Pacheco Creek is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) has an impoundment (Mississippi Lake) above 2,100 feet (640 m) elevation, and sources on Bear Mountain[16] on the northern side of Henry W. Coe State Park.

The South Fork Pacheco Creek tributary receives flows from the shorter Middle Fork Pacheco Creek just below Highway 152. From here the South Fork Pacheco Creek flows 0.6 miles (0.97 km) to it confluence with North Fork Pacheco Creek, forming the source of the Pacheco Creek mainstem. From here Pacheco Creek generally follows Highway 152, passing from Santa Clara County to San Benito County, and continuing until it empties into San Felipe (Soap) Lake, the source of the Pajaro River.

Tequisquita Slough joins Pacheco Creek just above San Felipe Lake. The latter has 3 main tributaries, Santa Ana Creek,[17] Arroyo de Los Viboras, and Arroyo Dos Pichachos.[18] Santa Ana Creek is apparently named for the Rancho Santa Ana y Quien Sabe land grant.

Stream flow in Pacheco Creek is influenced by releases from the North Fork Pacheco Reservoir, which is operated by the Pacheco Pass Water District.[19]

Ecology

Significant remnants of the historic riparian California sycamore (Platanus racemosa) habitat still exists on Pacheco Creek and are a good example of the Central Coast Sycamore Alluvial Woodland habitat type.[20]

Pacheco Creek historically hosted steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) as evidenced by a physical specimen collected in 1945 by D.H. Simpson in the California Academy of Sciences, "19.5 miles east of Gilroy on Hwy. 152".[21] Cedar Creek and South Fork Pacheco Creek hosted steelhead trout runs in wet years and juveniles found on stream sampling indicated the presence of perennial pools suitable for oversummering in headwater reaches.[22] Pacheco Reservoir (North Fork Dam) is an impassable barrier to in-migrating steelhead trout, preventing access to the nearly 34.5 miles (55.5 km) of stream consisting of North Fork Pacheco Creek, Mississippi Creek and East Fork Pacheco Creek.[3] In 1973 Fish and Game Warden W. I. Donahue reported that "high quality spawning and rearing habitat with perennial flow occurred upstream from Pacheco Dam on the North Fork, but was unavailable to steelhead because of the dam."[22] In addition, resident rainbow (the landlocked form of steelhead trout) successfully rear in fast-water habitats grow rapidly and reach smolt size by the end of their first summer. In many years in late spring, prior to reservoir releases for agriculture, low stream flows and high water temperatures severely impact steelhead fry and small juveniles.[23]

Other native fish in Pacheco Creek include Monterey sucker (Catostomus occidentalis mniotiltus) and Sacramento pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus grandis).[24]

The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency (SCVHA) has identified the Pacheco Creek undercrossing below Pacheco Pass Highway (California State Route 152) as a key wildlife linkage to enable smaller animals to safely cross beneath this high-speed road at the border of Santa Clara County and San Benito County. A 2020 report by Pathways for Wildlife established significant wildlife usage of this 220 ft (67 m) long by 177 ft (54 m) wide bridge over Cedar Creek, and suggested modifications to improve it.[25] The SCVHA has protected 162 acres (0.7 km2) along the creek as the Pacheco Creek Habitat Preserve at this location.[26]

See also
  • Rivers of California
    • Pacheco Creek (San Benito County), a tributary of the Pajaro River, in San Benito County, California.
      • South Fork Pacheco Creek, a tributary stream of Pacheco Creek (San Benito County)
      • East Fork Pacheco Creek, a tributary stream of Pacheco Creek (San Benito County)
      • North Fork Pacheco Creek, a tributary stream of Pacheco Creek (San Benito County)
      • Pacheco Reservoir, California, a reservoir formed by a dam on the north fork of Pacheco Creek (San Benito County) a.k.a. "North Fork Dam"

References
  1. Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names. Clovis, California: Word Dancer Press.
  2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Pacheco Creek
  3. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed February 6, 2016
  4. "San Felipe Lake". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  5. E. G. Gudde; Bright, W. (10 February 2010). California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographic Names. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-520-26619-3.
  6. Lisa M. Krieger (August 16, 2017). "Pacheco Creek: Native American remains, artifacts found at proposed dam site". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  7. Mark G. Hylkema (1993). "Some Perspective on Upland Settlement Patterns of the Central Diablo Range of California" (PDF). Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology. 6: 99–119. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  8. "Flooded California Residents Rescued as Major Storms Recede". ABC News. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  9. "Health Officials Issue Tap Water Warning After Hollister Flooding". 12 January 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  10. "North Fork Pacheco Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  11. "South Fork Pacheco Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  12. "East Fork Pacheco Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  13. "Chimney Rock". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  14. Joel Casagrande (July 15, 2011). Assessment of Steelhead Presence and General Habitat Conditions in the Pacheco Creek Watershed, Santa Clara County, June 2011 (Report). California Department of Fish and Game.
  15. "Mississippi Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  16. "Bear Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  17. "Santa Ana Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  18. Pacheco Watershed Working Group (2005). Pacheco Creek Agricultural Watershed Plan Annual Report (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  19. Casagrande, Julie Renee (2010). Aquatic Ecology of San Felipe Lake, San Benito County, California. Master's Theses. Paper 3803 (Thesis). San Jose State University. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  20. Grossinger, RM; EE Beller; MN Salomon; AA Whipple; RA Askevold; CJ Striplen; E Brewster; RA Leidy (2008). South Santa Clara Valley Historical Ecology Study, including Soap Lake, the Upper Pajaro River, and Llagas, Uvas-Carnadero, and Pacheco Creek - A Report of SFEI's Historical Ecology Program, SFEI Publication #558 (PDF) (Report). Oakland, California: San Francisco Estuary Institute. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  21. "CAS 19094 "Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdnerii"". California Academy of Sciences. 1945-11-12. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  22. Titus, R. G.; D. C. Erman; W. M. Snider (2011). History and status of steelhead in California coastal drainages south of San Francisco Bay (Report). Department of Fish and Game, Fish Bulletin. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  23. Jerry Smith (2007). Effects of Operation of Pacheco Reservoir on Steelhead (Report). San Jose State University. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  24. "Fish Species by Location - 'Upper North Fork Pacheco Creek-180600020201'". University, Division of Agriculture and Natural Science. California Fish Website. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  25. Tonya Diamond; Ahiga Snyder (February 1, 2020). Wildlife Permeability and Hazards across Highway 152 Pacheco Pass: Establishing a Baseline to Inform Infrastructure and Restoration (Report). Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  26. Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency Reserve System (Report). Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency. December 8, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
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