The Laguna Creek watershed consists of of land within northern California's

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. A ...

. The watershed drains the foothills of the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay Area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley a ...

south of

Niles Canyon Niles Canyon is a canyon in the San Francisco Bay Area formed by Alameda Creek, known for its heritage railroad and silent movie history. The canyon is largely in an unincorporated area of Alameda County, while the western portion of the cany ...

. To the southeast, the area of

Mission Peak Regional Preserve Mission Peak is a mountain peak located east of Fremont, California. It is the northern summit on a ridge that includes Mount Allison and Monument Peak. Mission Peak has symbolic importance, and is depicted on the logo of the City of Fremont. I ...

around

Mission Peak Mission Peak is a mountain peak located east of Fremont, California. It is the northern summit on a ridge that includes Mount Allison and Monument Peak. Mission Peak has symbolic importance, and is depicted on the logo of the City of Fremont. I ...

is included. Agua Caliente, Canada del Aliso, Mission, Morrison, Sabercat, Vargas, and Washington creeks drain the area of the watershed. They drain into Laguna Creek and eventually Mud Slough. Water from winter and spring storms feed the creeks and the watershed. Natural springs along Mission Peak are also a source of water. Many of the creeks are dry when there is no rain.

Background

Morrison Creek and Mission Creek meet just before Mission Creek flows into Lake Elizabeth on the lake's southern shore. Much of what is now the

Fremont Central Park Fremont Central Park is a manmade park in the central area of Fremont, California on Paseo Padre Parkway at Stevenson Boulevard. It is accessible from I-880 and I-680. It began development in 1960, and contains Lake Elizabeth, a shallow man m ...

was once the Stivers Lagoon. Water leaving the park divides between Laguna Creek and Irvington Creek. Irvington Creek is also known as Line G, or the Laguna Creek bypass

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

channel. At the time of the Spanish settlement and the construction of

Mission San José Mission San José may refer to: *Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California *Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood *Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California *Mission San José ( ...

, groundwater was still readily available through the porous sandstone in the area. Development of water systems, and later residential and industrial development drained the water table, depleting the underground springs and leaving ground water sources only in areas close to the creeks. Prior to settlement, the area was filled with wildlife. Sabercat Creek derives its name from pre-historic fossils found in that area. The watershed still has many of the plants and trees native to the area, including

valley oak ''Quercus lobata'', commonly called the valley oak or roble, is the largest of the California oaks. It is endemic to the state, growing in interior valleys and foothills from Siskiyou to San Diego counties. Deciduous, it requires year-round grou ...

, Frémont's cottonwood, and

California sycamore ''Platanus racemosa'' is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish . ''Platanus racemosa'' is native to California and Baja Califo ...

. Mud Slough

debouch In hydrology, a debouch (or debouche) is a place where runoff from a small, confined space discharges into a larger, broader body of water. The word is derived from the French verb ''déboucher'' (), which means "to unblock, to clear". The ter ...

es into the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

near the site of the ghost town of

Drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

. Its proximity to the bay means its marshy end is affected by tidal action. It goes from freshwater, to brackish to saline. The

slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

passes the

salt evaporation ponds A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The salt pans are shallow and expansive, allowing sunlight to penetrate and reach the seawater. Natural salt pans are formed throu ...

made by the

Leslie Salt Company The Leslie Salt Company was a salt-producing company located in the San Francisco Bay Area, at the current locations of Newark, Hayward and other parts of the bay. Background According to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1983, Leslie Salt had " ...

, where it joins the larger Coyote Creek and the bay. Laguna Creek is the site of several flood control projects.

References

External links

* {{San Francisco Bay watershed Landforms of Alameda County, California Landforms of the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Bay watershed

Background

See also

References

External links