| Bear Creek | |
| Arroyo de la Presa | |
| stream | |
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Bear Creek coming down from top of photo to join with Corte Madera Creek at bottom of photo, forming San Francisquito Creek. July 2011.
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | San Mateo County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | West Union Creek, Bear Gulch Creek, Dry Creek |
| City | Woodside, California |
| Source | Northeast slope of Sierra Morena, California a summit in the Sierra Morena portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains, near Kings Mountain, California |
| - location | Woodside |
| - elevation | 2,150 ft (655 m) |
| - coordinates | [1] |
| Mouth | San Francisquito Creek |
| - location | Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Stanford University |
| - elevation | 256 ft (78 m) [1] |
| - coordinates | [1] |
Bear Creek is a 6.6-mile-long (10.6 km)[2] southeastward-flowing stream originating north of the summit of Sierra Morena[3] in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the community of Kings Mountain in San Mateo County, California, United States. It flows through the town of Woodside before joining with Corte Madera Creek to form San Francisquito Creek in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve at Stanford University.
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The Spanish called the creek Arroyo de la Presa, meaning "creek of the dam", and it was part of the Rancho Cañada de Raymundo land grant.[4] A foreclosure sale in 1861 records, "Arroyo de la Presa, now called by the Americans Bear Gulch...which heads near the summit of the mountains (Sierra Morena)".[5] The Americans named Bear Creek Gulch for Mexican War veteran James "Grizzly" Ryder's near fatal encounter with the now extinct California Grizzly bear (Ursus californicus).[6][7]
In the Bear Creek sub-basin of the San Francisquito Creek watershed, adult Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) migrate from the Bay to the freshwater streams of Bear, West Union, and Bear Gulch Creeks to spawn. They are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Steelhead smolt spend the first two years of their lives in freshwater, requiring perennial streams, or at least pools, to survive.[8] The anomalously low gradient of the channel of West Union Creek is also related to the fault and creates high quality steelhead habitat, as do the numerous seeps and springs along the fault. The permanent pools created by these seeps and springs are crucial to the survival of steelhead young.[9]
In a 2001 report thirty four barriers to trout migration were identified within Bear Creek and its West Union Creek, Bear Gulch, Squealer Gulch, and McGarvey Gulch tributaries.[8] That report identified the culvert for McGarvey Gulch creek at the Richards Road crossing in Huddart County Park as a significant migration barrier for adult and juvenile steelhead and was reconstructed with funds from the State Department of Transportation’s San Francisco Bay Salmonid Habitat Restoration Fund.[10]
The Bear Creek mainstem is formed by the confluence of Bear Gulch Creek and West Union Creek near the intersection of Kings Mountain Road and Highway 84 in Woodside, California. The candelabra pattern of the numerous creeks and gulches that culminate in Bear Creek formed due to the motion of the San Andreas fault.[8] West Union Creek originates in the Phleger Estate, now part of the San Francisco State Fish and Game Refuge. The other Bear Creek tributaries flow through numerous additional public lands including Huddart County Park, Teague Hill Regional Open Space Preserve, and the northern edge of Wunderlich County Park.
Water diverted from Bear Gulch is stored in a reservoir and provides as much as 50% of Woodside’s drinking water in the winter months.[9]
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