Riparian

Creeks and Bike Trails of Rohnert Park and Cotati, California
Resources for exploring, preserving, and enhancing this urban wilderness.
What we normally see in daily life from a car or on foot is only a small part of reality.
Wherever you go, there you are.

<---To post, send message, or read Bulletin Board, click on the Buckeye Tree at left
You can join the Rohnert Park and Cotati Creek Council (RPACCC) at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RPACCC

To see the rest of the page, scroll down
To move through the site, click on a topic in the green menu below

Riparian Habitat

Rohnert Park creeks run through rich bottom land that sustained one of the largest Native American populations in California for thousands of years.
These lands were timbered and grazed by the Spanish and then by settlers pouring into California in the 1849 Gold Rush.
The same rich bottomland nurtured Rohnert's Seed Farm, producing vast acres of flowers so beautiful and fragrant trains would pause on the trip north to Russian River so passengers could view and smell the flowers.
For years, until 1996, the creeks were periodically poisoned and clearcut by the Sonoma County Water Agency every 5-8 years. After each clearcut, bushes and trees sprang up in a dense thicket.
This process was halted under the Endangered Species Act and a finding that steelhead and salmon were native to the creeks, and the habitat had therefore to be protected.
In 2003, the SCWA suddenly resumed clearcutting these creeks, with disastrous effects on the creek ecosystems.

1. Stream bank vegetation on Copeland Creek Bike Trail.
Periodic cutting, dredging, and pesticiding of creek channels was halted in 1996 when the Endangered Species Act and a finding that these creeks were habitat for endangered steelhead and coho salmon banned activities destructive to fish habitat.
This section of Copeland is scheduled to be cut in summer of 2004.

2. Willows and eucalyptus on Copeland Creek in 2000, before cutting by an SCWA crew in 2003.
(Picture and caption are from SCWA's Channel Maintenance Volume 5 of the Russian River Bioassessment documents. It's not clear why the picture says '94 but the caption says 2000.)

3. Eclectic mix in Bear Park of planted, native, and creek borne seeds includes redwoods, native oaks, eucalyptus, black walnut, acacia, cotoneaster, scotch broom, privet.

4. Ludwigia growth August 3 East of Commerce Blvd Bridge. This fast-growing aquarium plant is now classified as an invasive species and is currently choking the Laguna. Here, Ludwigia began spreading quickly after all the creekside trees were cut on July 21, 2003. It is not clear whether the very fast growth was due to stream temperature increase caused by removing all the shading creekside trees, reduced stream flow because of increased evaporation over this half mile, or the death of the fish who ate the plant. (Note how the plant has snaked out via fast-growing underwater branches from the stream margins into the center of the stream - in 2 weeks.) After monitoring this patch for several months, we found we could easily remove it and other small patches by hand, treating it in this park area as a garden weed.

5. Anna Sears, Research Director of Laguna Foundation, in Ludwigia clogging an unshaded portion of the flood channel downstream of Bear Park, west of 101. By September 2004, uncontrolled growth of Ludwigia had formed a dense mat in this unshaded area, making mosquito control for West Nile difficult.

6. Copeland Creek Trail with willows and cattails September 2003, just after the upstream section had been clearcut. This section of the creek is scheduled to be cut and dredged in summer 2004.

7. Cattails and creekside plants on Crane/Hinebaugh Creek in Bear Park west of State Farm Drive.

8. Kids playing in the Vernal Pond Doggy Play Park near Crane/Hinebaugh Creek, converted by volunteers from a trash pile in a vacant lot.
Tiger salamanders were reported here. The 40-50 year old redwood trees were cut illegally and without warning by a CalTrans contractor in February 2004, causing gas fumes from freeway traffic to float 1/3 mile inland during commute hours and drying up the vernal pond.

9. Willows stabilizing the part of Codornices Creek that flooded.
Codornices Creek, our Sister Creek in the Urban Creeks Council, runs from Grizzly Peak to the SF Bay, through residential, commercial, and industrial sections of Berkeley and Albany.
Steelhead have returned, as unstable dead ditches, concrete channels, and culverts were re-engineered and replanted.
(see Stream and River Protection for the Regulator and Program Manager http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb2/Agenda/04-16-03/Stream%20Protection%20Circular.pdf)

10. Willows Along Copeland Creek Summer 2003
Preferred Plant List on the Copeland Creek Corridor from Copeland Creek Master Plan, Sonoma State University
In areas that are hot, dry and sunny (Concerns: Open understory is advantageous, for reasons of both safety and aesthetics)
Trees - Valley Oak Quercus lobata, California Buckeye Aesculus californica, Coast Live Oak Quercus agrifolia, Madrone Arbutus menziesii, California Bay Umbellularia californica, Black Oak Quercus kelloggii, California Walnut Juglans californica var. hindsii
Understory - Blue Elderberry Sambucus mexicana, Manzanita Arctostaphylos manzanita, California Lilac Ceonothus thyrsiflorus, Coyote brush Baccharis pilularis, Coffeeberry Rhamnus californica, Bunchgrass Nassella pulcra, Bunchgrass Festuca californica
In high middle areas; marginally cooler, shadier and moister than Edge:
Unshaded areas - All the species proposed for the edge zone (when more shade is available, the species composition can change)
Shaded areas
Trees - Valley Oak Quercus lobata, Oregon Ash Fraxinus latifolia, Cal. Walnut Juglans californica var. hindsii, Bigleaf Maple Acer macrophylum, California Bay Umbellularia californica, California Buckeye Aesculus californica
Understory - California Blackberry Rubus ursinus, California native grape Vitis californica, Blue elderberry Sambucus mexicana, California Hazelnut Corulus cornuta, California Wild Rose Rosa gymnocarpa, Ninebark Physocarpa capitatus, Creambush Holodiscus discolor, Coffeeberry Rhamnus californica, Honeysuckle Lonicera hispidula, Mugwort Artemesia douglasiana
In areas that are low/shaded middle areas, shady and moister:
Trees - Willows, Arroyo Salix lasiolepis, Red Saliz laevigata, Fremont cottonwood Populus fremontii, White Alder Alnus rhombifolia, Bigleaf Maple Acer macrophylum, Calif. Walnut Juglans californica var. hindsii, Box Elder Acer negundo var. californicum
Understory - California Blackberry Rubus ursinus, Western Spicebush Calycanthus occidentalis, California Hazelnut Corylus cornuta, California Wild Rose Rosa gymnocarpa, Twinberry Lonicera involucrata, Ninebark Physocarpus capitatus, Western Azalea Rhododendron occidentalis, Red stem Dogwood Cornus sericea ssp. sericea, Blue Elderberry Sambucus mexicana, Snowberry Symphoricarpus albus, Pink flowering currant Ribes sanguinum var., glutinosum, Dutchman's Pipe Aristolochia californica, Honeysuckle Lonicera hispidula, Mugwort Artemesia douglasiana

In areas beside the creek channel, shady and moist:
Trees - Willows, Arroyo Salix lasiolepis, Sandbar Salix exigua, Red Salix laevigata, Fremont cottonwood Populus fremontii, White Alder Alnus rhombifolia
Understory - California blackberry Rubus ursinus, Thimbleberry Rubus parviflorus, Red stem Dogwood Cornus sericea spp. sericea, Elk Clover Aralia californica, Rush Juncus spp., Carex Carex spp.