Marin Creek

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Coordinates: 37°53′19″N 122°18′31″W / 37.88861, -122.30861
Marin Creek
(Upper) Marin Creek
Village Creek (Lower Marin Creek)
stream
none Daylighted portion of lower Marin Creek (Village Creek) in the Gill Tract, UC Village area
Daylighted portion of lower Marin Creek (Village Creek) in the Gill Tract, UC Village area
Country United States
State California
Region Alameda County
Part of Codornices Creek
City Berkeley and Albany, California
Source springs
 - location Berkeley Hills
 - coordinates 37°53′24″N 122°16′31″W / 37.89, -122.27528
Mouth Eastshore embayment, San Francisco Bay
 - location Albany Beach, United States
 - coordinates 37°53′19″N 122°18′31″W / 37.88861, -122.30861

Marin Creek (from Spanish Marín meaning: seaman or marine), whose lower reaches are called Village Creek is a creek tributary of Codornices Creek in northwestern Alameda County, California.[1]

[edit] Overview

The creek naturally ran from the Berkeley Hills through the cities of Berkeley and Albany, however it is now largely superseded by a network of strowndrains and is only daylighted in about 6 small patches in the UC Village area.[2][1][3] The creek also runs beside UC Village to its mouth into San Francisco Bay. The creek originally drained into a slough near El Cerrito del Sud (now Flemming Point) at the current location of the Golden Gate Fields racetrack site.[4]

The stream is upkept and lobbied for by Friends of the Five Creeks a community organization.

In the early 20th century, a portion of the creek flowed through a channel in the center of Marin Avenue in Albany, which has since been culverted. In fact the creek has been culverted nearly in its entirety under Marin Avenue.[5] Culverting of this creek has led to flooding and drainage problems in Albany, as this practice is not a sound nor permanent method of containing drainwater.[6]

The University of California Berkeley daylighted a portion Lower Marin or Village Creek. The 900-foot (0.27 km) stretch of the creek through UC Village has been modeled into an 1,125-foot (0.34 km) 0.77 acre (.31 hectares) riparian habitat with the purposes of habitat restoration and community protection from a 100 year flood.[7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Codornices Creek Watershed Map, Guide to San Francisco Bay Area Creeks, museumca.org, Museum of California, retrieved March 12, 2008
  2. ^ Creek mouths along the Bay Trail in Berkeley, Albany, and south Richmond, by Susan Schwartz, Friends of Five Creeks, March 9, 2003, retrieved March 12, 2008
  3. ^ Marin Creek, ACME.com, retrieved March 12, 2008
  4. ^ Eastshore State Park Walk, The Pre-Goldrush Waterfront, Susan Schwartz, October 1999, retrieved March 12, 2008
  5. ^ M, Diablo Audobon, retrieved March 12, 2008
  6. ^ CITY OF ALBANY CITY COUNCIL AGENDA STAFF REPORT, February 4, 2008, retrieved March 12, 2008
  7. ^ Post Project Appraisal of Village Creek Restoration, Albany, CA , by Melissa Asher and Kaumudi Atapattu, Fall 2005, retrieved March 12, 2008

[edit] External links


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