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Morro Creek is a coastal
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 San Luis Obispo County, in the central region of the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. The watercourse flows from the Santa Lucia Mountains to discharge into 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 ...
, at its mouth on Estero Bay, near the city of Morro Bay.


Natural history

The creek is in the coastal sage and chaparral section of the
California chaparral and woodlands The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...
Ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
. Historically this watershed had
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
s containing considerable amounts of
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...
, and scarce Oak woodlands, and Grey Pine (''Pinus sabiniana'') trees.


Cultural history

The lower reaches of Morro Creek were used as a significant settlement of the Chumash tribe since at least the Millingstone Horizon. There is also incidence of historic mining of chromium within the catchment basin.USGS, 1910 It was used extensively for grazing by the cattle ranches.


See also

* Los Osos Creek *
Morro Bay State Park Morro Bay State Park is a state park on the Morro Bay, California#Geography, Morro Bay lagoon, in western San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis Obispo County, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. On the lagoon's ...
* Morro Bay State Park Museum of Natural History * Morro Bay State Marine Recreational Management Area and Morro Bay State Marine Reserve * Morro Rock


Notes


References

* ''USGS Bulletin'' (1910) United States Geological Survey, Published by The Survey, Item notes: no.430 * C.Michael Hogan (2008) ''Morro Creek'', ed. by A. Burnha

Rivers of San Luis Obispo County, California Morro Bay Rivers of Southern California {{California-river-stub