Americano Creek is a long westward-flowing

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin. It flows into the Estero Americano, a long

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

, and thence to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. This article covers both

watercourse A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

Course

Americano Creek springs from low-lying coastal hills west of Cotati and runs westward, paralleling Roblar Road. It passes a closed

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

and crosses the Valley Ford Road. At this point the channel becomes better defined and also deep enough for

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

ing during the winter months. Kayakers access the creek here by means of an unpaved boat launch road that is reachable from Marsh Road. The lower reach of the creek flows westward past the small community of Bloomfield, California, Bloomfield, paralleling Valley Ford Road, and passes under State Route 1, known locally as "Highway 1" or "the Shoreline Highway", at which point it begins to define the Sonoma-Marin county line. Just west of the highway, the

's official name changes to ''Estero Americano''. It meanders past the town of Valley Ford. Valley Ford-Franklin School Road crosses at the last bridge across the estero. Shortly thereafter, Ebabias Creek enters from the north. The last of the estero are virtually without road access or visibility from public roads. The estero continues to define the county boundary until it reaches the coast, where it empties into

Bodega Bay Bodega Bay () is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Rosa, California, S ...

about southeast of the town of Bodega Bay. Its mouth lies near the north end of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Environmental factors

California's 1994 water quality report designated all of Americano Creek and most of the Estero Americano as "impaired" streamways as defined in section 303(d) of the Federal Water Resource Statutes, due to runoff from pasture land and feedlots. As recently as 1987, a single gully near Americano Creek released 4,000 tons/year of

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

, contributing to flooding in downstream communities and making the creek non-navigable. Pollutants found at hazardous level in the creek have included fecal

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

, and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

. The creek's

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

area is a historic habitat for a number of rare and

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

including Sebastopol meadowfoam, '' Limnanthes vinculans''; showy Indian clover, '' Trifolium amoenum''; and Pitkin Marsh lily, ''Lilium pardolinum'' ssp ''pitkinese''. This area also contains a closed

, and as of 2006, a hard rock

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

was proposed for it.Americano Creek monitoring plan
Americano Creek is dry 4 to 6 months each year. For its first , the stream meanders through a broad valley dominated by agricultural uses, principally

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

. The valley floor is flat and wide, especially at the lower elevations. Due to siltation, virtually no rocks are evident in the streambed. Grazing occurs in the streambed itself, putting pathogens directly into the water. During the rainy season (November to April), this bottomland consists in places of an expansive marshy area. Most native wetland vegetation has been destroyed by ongoing grazing. Grazing is so intense that cattle are seen wading in a broad marshy streambed over deep and over wide. The lower reach of Americano Creek is also surrounded by agricultural uses. However, the channel becomes better separated from grazing areas. The estero itself is a federally protected area. Flow rates are highly seasonal with the heaviest flows occurring in the rainy winter months. Water testing of Americano Creek and Estero has generally found pH (acidity) levels in the range of 7.5 to 8.0, which satisfies the guidelines in the State of California Basin Plan. In some years, a sand bar forms at the mouth of the estero, restricting tidal exchange. At other times, tidal influences extend up to from the mouth. High levels of salinity have been observed in the estero. The Estero Americano is protected by the Estero Americano State Marine Recreational Management Area. Like an underwater park, this

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

helps conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

History

Two permanent

Coast Miwok The Coast Miwok are an Indigenous people of California that were the second-largest tribe of the Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of present-day Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golde ...

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s were located on the Estero Americano: one named ''Uli-yomi'' at the head of the estero, and another named ''Awachi'' at its mouth. The earliest Spanish maps show the creek and its estuary as ''Estero Americano''. At the time of the Russian colony at

Fort Ross Fort Ross (, , Kashaya: ) is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America in what is now Sonoma County, California. Owned and operated by the Russian-American Company, it was the hub of the southernmost Russian settlemen ...

, the Americano Creek was known as the ''Avacha River''. To counter the Russian settlement General Vallejo sent three "Americanos", Edward McIntosh, James Black (1810–1870), and James Dawson, to settle just southeast of

. These three men came to California as sailors with Captain John B.R. Cooper, brother-in-law of General Vallejo. Black settled upon what is now known as

Rancho Cañada de Jonive Rancho Cañada de Jonive was a Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California given in 1845 by Governor Pío Pico to James Black. The grant encompassed the town of Freestone. History At the direction of Governor José Figueroa in ...

, while Dawson and McIntosh settled upon Rancho Estero Americano. Rancho Cañada de Pogolimi was a Mexican land grant given in 1844 by Governor

Manuel Micheltorena Joseph Manuel María Joaquin Micheltorena y Llano (8 June 1804 – 7 September 1853) was a brigadier general and adjutant-general of the Mexican Army, List_of_governors_of_California_before_1850#Mexican_governors_of_California_(1837–47), gover ...

to María Antonia Cazares, widow of James Dawson. The Ebabias Creek tributary is shown on a diseño of the Rancho Cañada de Pogolimi grant in 1844 but the possible Indian origin has not been determined.

Bridges

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

s cross Americano Creek in three locations: Gericke Road, Roblar Road and Valley Ford Road. The newest of these, built in 1985, is the long

concrete slab A concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings, consisting of a flat, horizontal surface made of cast concrete. Steel- reinforced slabs, typically between 100 and 500 mm thick, are most often used to construct floors and ...

structure at Valley Ford Road, east of the junction with State Route 1. The oldest of these, built in 1964, is the Roblar Road crossing, a concrete

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

situated east of Valley Ford Road. The Gericke Road bridge is a long concrete continuous slab built in 1972 about south of Valley Ford Road. The Estero Americano is crossed in three places: Valley Ford-Franklin School Road, Highway One, and Slaughter House Road. All three crossing are concrete continuous slab structures. The State Route 1 bridge, built in 1925, is long and located near milepost 50.47. The Valley Ford-Franklin School bridge, built in 1961, is long. The Slaughter House Road bridge, built in 1990, is only long.

References

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External links