Bull Creek (Humboldt County)

Bull Creek
river
Old-growth redwood forest of the Bull Creek floodplain
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Humboldt County
Source
- coordinates	40°15′36″N 123°59′15″W / 40.26000°N 123.98750°W / 40.26000; -123.98750 [1]
Mouth	South Fork Eel River
- elevation	272 ft (83 m)
- coordinates	40°20′57″N 124°00′04″W / 40.34917°N 124.00111°W / 40.34917; -124.00111Coordinates: 40°20′57″N 124°00′04″W / 40.34917°N 124.00111°W / 40.34917; -124.00111 [1]

Bull Creek is the largest Eel River tributary drainage basin preserved within Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The basin contains the world's largest remaining contiguous old-growth forest of coast redwoods.^[2] Bull Creek flows in a clockwise semi-circle around 3373-foot (1028-meter) Grasshopper Mountain^[3] to enter the South Fork Eel River approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 km) upstream of the South Fork confluence with the Eel River.^[4]

History

Early attempts to preserve individual redwood trees and small groves of trees led to an improved understanding of the interdependence of forest ecosystems. Species important to the centuries-old coastal redwood trees include aquatic plants and animals within adjacent streams. The entire Bull Creek drainage basin is protected within park boundaries to avoid upstream water quality changes detrimental to aquatic residents of the floodplain where the largest trees grow. Redwood trees control the rate of erosion within the drainage basin. Large-diameter, rot-resistant trunks of fallen redwood trees may resist erosion more effectively than the friable upper Cretaceous marine sedimentary and metasedimentary bedrock of the drainage basin.^[5]

References

See also

• List of rivers in California