Temecula Creek, formerly known as the Temecula River,Gerald A. Waring, UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Supply Paper 429, Ground Water In The San Jacinto And Temecula Basins, California, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1919
/ref> runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 16, 2011 through southern

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

, United States, past the rural communities of Radec and Aguanga, and ending southeast of the original city center of

Temecula Temecula (; , ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a tourist and ...

. The creek is filled with boulders and is typically dry and sandy. It is a relatively undeveloped coastal-draining watershed. Until the 1920s, water flowed in Temecula Creek year-round.

History

Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an Indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of ...

Indian rancheria named ''Temeca'' or ''Temeko'' was named as early as 1785. In 1828 ''Temecula'' became the name of a rancho of Mission San Luis Rey.

Alfred Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber ( ; June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the fi ...

noted that the name may be derived from the Luiseño word ''temet'' meaning "sun". The village of Temecula originated on a bluff on the south bank of Temecula Creek opposite the old Wolf's Store according to an 1853 survey. In 1948, the owners of the Vail Ranch built a dam on Temecula Creek, Vail Lake Dam, approximately above the confluence with the Santa Margarita River. Today the lake is a public recreational use area.

Watershed

Temecula Creek originates on the north slope of Aguanga Mountain, flows northeast to Dodge Valley, where it continues northwest through Dodge Valley, Oak Grove Valley, Dameron Valley, Aguanga Valley, Radec Valley, Butterfield Valley, into Vail Lake Reservoir, after which it flows southwest through Pauba Valley to

Temecula Valley The Temecula Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Temecula'') is a graben rift valley in western Riverside County, California. The Temecula Valley is one of the graben valleys making up the Elsinore Trough, created by the Elsinore Fau ...

where it joins Murrieta Creek. Temecula Creek has a slightly larger drainage area than Murrieta Creek. The

Santa Margarita River The Santa Margarita River which with the addition of what is now Temecula Creek, was formerly known as the Temecula River, is a short intermittent river on the Pacific coast of Southern California in the United States, approximately U.S. Geolog ...

begins at the confluence of the two creeks at the head of Temecula Canyon. With the encroachment of homes on both sides of Temecula Creek, portions may be channelized.

Tributaries

* Pechanga Creek * Vail Lake Dam, Vail Lake ** Kolb Creek *** Arroyo Seco Creek ** Wilson Creek *** Cahuilla Creek **** Hamilton Creek (Cahuilla Creek) * Long Canyon Creek * Cottonwood Creek * Tule Creek * Chihuahua Creek * Rattlesnake Creek * Kohler Canyon

Ecology

Biologically diverse, supporting both coastal and desert fauna and flora, it is bounded by the Agua Tibia Wilderness area and the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest is a National forest (United States), U.S. national forest in Southern California that encompasses 460,000 acres/ of inland Montane ecosystems, montane regions. It is approximately 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean, withi ...

. The creek supports

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

, including Jojoba,

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

scrub,

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

bosque A bosque ( ) is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of streams, river banks, and lakes. It derives its name from the Spanish word for "forest", pronounced . Setting In the predominantly arid or semiari ...

mix,

coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is an evergreen live oak native to the California Floristic Province. Live oaks are so-called because they keep living leaves on the tree all year, adding young leaves and sheddi ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

, and mature Fremont cottonwood-

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

woodland. In addition to

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

breeders, birds include least Bell's vireo, Nuttall's

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

ladder-backed woodpecker The ladder-backed woodpecker (''Dryobates scalaris'') is a North American woodpecker. Description The ladder-backed woodpecker is a small woodpecker about 16.5 to 19 cm (6½ to 7½ inches) in length. It is primarily colored black and white, ...

, and

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 ...

and Gambel's quail. Arroyo southwestern

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

s are also found in Temecula Creek.

North American beaver The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two Extant taxon, extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe ...

(''Castor canadensis'') may gradually raise the water table and return portions of the stream to perennial flow at sites such as its confluence with Murrieta Creek. However, cattle grazing along Temecula Creek has injured its

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Riverside County, California Washes of California Cleveland National Forest Temecula, California