Copeland Creek
perennial stream
Copeland Creek with basalt armor in channel, Fairfield Osborn Preserve
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Sonoma County
City	Rohnert Park, California
Source
- location	Sonoma Mountain
- coordinates	38°19′52″N 122°34′38″W / 38.33111, -122.57722 [1]
Mouth	Laguna de Santa Rosa
- location	west of Rohnert Park, California
- elevation	92 ft (28 m) [1]
- coordinates	38°20′37″N 122°43′25″W / 38.34361, -122.72361 [1]

Copeland Creek is a perennial stream that rises on Sonoma Mountain in Sonoma County, California. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. A perennial stream or perennial river is a Stream or River (channel that has continuous flow in parts of its bed all year round during years of normal Basalt (bəˈsɔːlt ˈbeisɔːlt ˈbæsɔːlt is a common Extrusive Volcanic rock. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of California, is one of the northernmost counties of the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, U Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. Sonoma Mountain is a prominent Landform within the Sonoma Mountains of southern Sonoma County California. The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a fourteen mile (225 km long Wetland complex that drains a 254-square mile (658-square kilometer watershed encompassing most of Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A perennial stream or perennial river is a Stream or River (channel that has continuous flow in parts of its bed all year round during years of normal Sonoma Mountain is a prominent Landform within the Sonoma Mountains of southern Sonoma County California. Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of California, is one of the northernmost counties of the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, U ^[2]

Description

The headwaters area is slightly above the Fairfield Osborn Preserve, while the middle reaches drain grazing land and vineyards on the lower western slopes of the Sonoma Mountains. The Fairfield Osborn Preserve is a 411 acre (16 km² Nature reserve situated on the northwest flank of Sonoma Mountain in Sonoma County California Grazing generally describes a type of Predation in which an Herbivore feeds on Plants (such as Grasses, or more broadly on a multicellular The Sonoma Mountains are a northwest-southeast trending formation of California Coast Ranges in Sonoma County California, USA Upon reaching the valley floor Copeland Creek bisects the campus of Sonoma State University on its journey to discharge into the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Sonoma State University is a public coeducational business and Liberal arts college affiliated with the California State University system The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a fourteen mile (225 km long Wetland complex that drains a 254-square mile (658-square kilometer watershed encompassing most of The Copeland Creek watershed is part of the Russian River basin, which drains to the Pacific Ocean. For other uses see Russian River. The Russian River is a River in the Northern California counties of Mendocino The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions

History

The prehistory of this watershed and creek environment includes settlement by Coast Miwok, Wappo and Pomo peoples. The Coast Miwok were the second largest group of Miwok Native American people The Wappo are a group of Native Americans who traditionally lived in Northern California in the areas of Napa Valley, the south shore of Clear The Pomo people are a linguistic branch of Native American people of Northern California. These hunter gatherers dominated human usage until arrival of Europeans in the early 1800s. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting Rather swiftly an overgrazing situation arose not only in the lower reaches, but as high as the present Fairfield Osborn Preserve, which extends to elevation 1,700 feet (520 m). Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to Livestock Grazing for extended periods of time or without sufficient recovery periods The Fairfield Osborn Preserve is a 411 acre (16 km² Nature reserve situated on the northwest flank of Sonoma Mountain in Sonoma County California The upper reaches of the creek were effectively restored, following the purchase of the present lands of the Fairfield Osborn Preserve by William Matson Roth. William Matson Roth was a shipping executive special ambassador for trade member of the ACLU executive committee and Regent for the University of California.

The lower reaches were heavily disturbed as late as the 1990s, when a restoration of the reach between Roberts Road and Petaluma Hill Road was started. These lower reaches would have been historically heavily vegetated by native alder and arroyo willow. Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region it refers to the Ground cover provided by plants Alder is the common name of a Genus of Flowering plants ( Alnus) belonging to the Birch family (Family Betulaceae) Willows, sallows and osiers form the Genus Salix, around 400 species of Deciduous Trees and Shrubs found primarily ^[3] However, cattle grazing and associated trampling of vegetation severely reduced spawning of anadromous fish: by altering stream cover that cooled water temperatures and by elevating turbidity, with resulting covering of spawning gravels. Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region it refers to the Ground cover provided by plants Many types of fish undertake migrations on a regular basis on time scales ranging from daily to annual and with distances ranging from a few meters to thousands of kilometers Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles ( suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the Naked eye Gravel is rock that is of a specific Particle size range In Geology, gravel is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters (2mm Some lower reaches between Roberts Road and the Fairfield Osborn Preserve are still subject to overgrazing as of 2006. Overgrazing has also exacerbated stream bank erosion, and led to invasive forbs and grasses supplanting the native riparian vegetation. Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind Forbs are Herbaceous Flowering plants that are not Graminoids ( grasses, sedges and rushes) "Riparian" redirects here For the legal doctrine see " Riparian water rights. This alteration of native riparian growth has further reduced populations of avafauna, amphibians and macro invertebrates. Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Prehistoric amphibian Amphibians (class Amphibia such as Frogs Toads Salamanders Newts Gymnophiona, Sirens and An invertebrate is an Animal lacking a Vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal Species — all animals except those in the Chordate

Ecology

Partially submerged Pacific Giant Salamander larva, upper Copeland Creek. Pacific giant salamanders ( Dicamptodontidae) are a family of large Salamanders The family includes only a single Genus, Dicamptodon A larva ( Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of Animal with indirect development, undergoing Metamorphosis (for example

Principal plant communities within the upper reaches include the dominant California oak woodland, and also consist of douglas-fir woodland and riparian woodland. California oak woodland is a Plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California and northwestern Baja Douglas-fir is the common name applied to coniferous Trees of the Genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Ecologically a woodland is an area covered in trees differentiated from a Forest. A Riparian forest is a forested area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a River, Stream, Pond, Lake, Marshland, Estuary Within the oak woodland the main tree species are Coast live oak, Oregon oak, California black oak, Canyon live oak and California bay laurel. The Coast Live Oak ( Quercus agrifolia) is an Evergreen Oak, highly variable and often shrubby native to the California Floristic Province The Garry Oak ( Quercus garryana) also known as Oregon White Oak or Oregon Oak, has a range from southern California to extreme southwestern California Black Oak ( Quercus kelloggii) also known as simply Black Oak, or Kellogg Oak, is an Oak in the red oak section Quercus chrysolepis, commonly termed Canyon live oak, is a Species of Evergreen Oak that is found in the southwestern part of Umbellularia californica is a Tree native to coastal forests of western North America. The woodland understory exhibits toyon, coffeeberry, poison oak and numerous other flowering plants such as snowberry and the uncommon American Ginseng. Understory (or understorey) is the term for the area of a Forest which grows in the shade of the emergent or forest canopy. Toyon ( Heteromeles arbutifolia) is a common perennial Shrub native to southwestern California, USA and the extreme The California Buckthorn ( Rhamnus californica, syn Frangula californica (Eschsch Symphoricarpos is a small genus of about 15 species of Deciduous Shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae. Panax quinquefolius, commonly known as American Ginseng and often by its Chinese name Huaqishen ( Jyutping: faa1kei4sam1)

Upper reach wildlife includes the federally-listed endangered Red-legged Frog. An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming Extinct because it is either few in numbers or threatened by changing environmental or predation Red-legged Frog is a Common name for a particular kind of frog of the west coast of North Americawhich is further subdivided into California Upper reaches of Copeland Creek have a very high percentage population of California bay laurel, and also provide habitat for a rich variety of amphibians, newts and other fauna. A habitat (which is Latin for "it inhabits" is an Ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular Species. Prehistoric amphibian Amphibians (class Amphibia such as Frogs Toads Salamanders Newts Gymnophiona, Sirens and A newt is an Amphibian of the Salamandridae family order Urodela or Caudata, found in North America, Europe, and Fauna is all of the Animal life of any particular region or time The Pacific Giant Salamander, one of the largest known species of salamander is observed hunting for prey in upper Copeland Creek. Pacific giant salamanders ( Dicamptodontidae) are a family of large Salamanders The family includes only a single Genus, Dicamptodon In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Salamander (orig from Persian: sām, "fire" and andarūn, "within" is the common name for a group of approximately 500 Species Other amphibians seen in upper riparian habitats include the Pacific treefrog, Hyla regilla, Rough skinned newt, Taricha granulosa, and California slender salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus. The Pacific Tree Frog ( Pseudacris regilla) is a very common Species of Chorus frog, with a range from the West Coast of the United States The rough-skinned newt ( Taricha granulosa) is a North American Newt known for its strong poison The California slender salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus, is a lungless Salamander that is found primarily in coastal mountain areas of Northern California

Management

Oversight of Copeland Creek is by the Sonoma County Water Agency; in the year 2006 the Agency cleared cattails and arroyo willow from certain lower reach portions of the creek in order to improve flow characteristics. Typha is a Genus of about eleven Species of Monocotyledonous flowering plants in the Monogeneric family Typhaceae Salix lasiolepis ( Arroyo Willow) is a species of Willow native to western and southwestern North America, in the United States ^[4] As with any flood control management strategy, unintended environmental impacts can arise from stream channel modification. The Sonoma County General Plan Open Space Element calls for a Copeland Creek Trail along Copeland Creek to connect Rohnert Park near Sonoma State University to Crane Creek Regional Park. ^[5] In addition, the 2003 County Outdoor Recreation Plan calls for a Copeland Creek Regional Park of about 500 acres (2. 0 km²) to be situated near Fairfield Osborn Preserve at elevation 1,500 ft (460 m). The Fairfield Osborn Preserve is a 411 acre (16 km² Nature reserve situated on the northwest flank of Sonoma Mountain in Sonoma County California ^[6] Through the city of Rohnert Park, the creek is largely channelized. ^[7]

The Sonoma County Water Agency in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Game have developed a strategy for enhancing spawning capability to the Russian River and a number of its tributaries; this activity was directed at the benefit of three threatened anadromous species: Coho salmon, Chinook salmon and steelhead. Spawning is the production or depositing of large quantities of eggs in water Threatened species are any species (including Animals Plants fungi, etc Many types of fish undertake migrations on a regular basis on time scales ranging from daily to annual and with distances ranging from a few meters to thousands of kilometers In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, (from the Russian кижуч kizhuch) is a Species of Anadromous Fish The rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a species of Salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America A Copeland Creek Restoration Project addressed the creek channel along approximately 6,000 ft (1,800 m) of Copeland Creek, which had been overgrazed by cattle for over 100 years. Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to Livestock Grazing for extended periods of time or without sufficient recovery periods Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family ^[8] Commencing in 1999, the project was implemented in four phases, the fourth and final phase of construction having been completed in the autumn of 2003. The project was designed to stabilize banks, decrease creek turbidity, exclude cattle from the creek by fencing, and improve habitat for steelhead and other native fish and wildlife. Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles ( suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the Naked eye Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants animals and other organisms The outcome yielded a creek with less sediment load and a more natural undulation of channel, where an almost linear creek geometry had existed for the previously modified reach.

References

External links

• Master Plan for a portion of lower Copeland Creek
• Fairfield Osborn Preserve official site

See also

• Basalt
• Coho salmon
• Crane Creek
• Hinebaugh Creek
• List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Washoe Creek