Wood Canyon Creek

Wood Canyon Creek
Map of the Aliso Creek watershed with Wood Canyon Creek subwatershed highlighted
Origin	Wood Canyon Emergent Wetland
Mouth	Aliso Creek
Basin countries	United States
Length	2.8 miles (4.5km)
Source elevation	600 feet (183m)
Mouth elevation	0 feet (0m)
Avg. discharge	Perennial

Wood Canyon Creek is a small stream in Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park, which is located in Orange County in the U.S. state of California. A tributary of Aliso Creek, it drains a notable valley bounded on the east side by Aliso Viejo.

Located in an area rich in archaeological sites, the creek area was settled by the Acjachemen tribe hundreds of years ago. Spanish conquistadors arrived in the mid-18th century, establishing missions and a rancho that extended around the Aliso Creek watershed. After the rancho came under American ownership, corrals were built in Wood Canyon, some of which can still be seen today. With rapid urban growth taking hold of most of Orange County, the creek's flow has become dominated by urban runoff out of several storm drains.

The Wood Canyon Creek watershed is contained entirely in the San Joaquin Hills, a short coastal mountain range that uplifted beginning in the mid-Pleistocene (1.22 MYA), and is about 3 miles (4.8 km) long, covering a drainage area of 4 square miles (10 km²).

Course

Although its headwaters originally lay slightly farther north than its location today, the 2.8-mile (4.5 km) Wood Canyon Creek now begins slightly south of California State Route 73. Its primary headstream flows out of a storm drain on the south side of a residential development and flows into an artificial wetland designed to control and treat the runoff.^[1] For its first 0.8 miles (1.3 km), the creek follows a narrow canyon southwards. The end of this stretch of canyon is marked by the valley floor widening to a strip of grassland.

The creek flows between arid meadows and a rich riparian zone, then rounds a ridge and receives the waters of the Muirlands Storm Drain from the left. This drain forms a small year-round creek that flows just 0.25 miles (0.40 km) overland. Below the drain the creek merges with Mathis Canyon, a right bank tributary. Flowing past Temple Hill, a 1,000-foot (300 m) peak of the San Joaquin Hills to the east, it crosses the Wood Canyon Trail three times and falls over a few concrete artificial waterfalls. It then passes under the Aliso Creek Trail through a series of culverts and cascades down into Aliso Creek.^[2][3]

Watershed

The Wood Canyon subwatershed is contained entirely within the San Joaquin Hills, a small coastal mountain range that follows much of Orange County's Pacific coast. It is a long, narrow valley about 3 miles (4.8 km) long and 1.2 miles (1.9 km) wide, bounded by arid slopes 700 to 1,000 feet (210 to 300 m) high, and covering about 4 square miles (10 km²). Nearly 80% of the Wood Canyon watershed forms the northern arm of Aliso Canyon. It is the second largest tributary of Aliso Creek, following Sulphur Creek.^[4]

Running nearly parallel to Laguna Canyon in the west for much of its length, Wood Canyon Creek is bounded on the east and north by the city of Aliso Viejo. Except for a few bordering portions, the watershed is relatively undeveloped. The Wood Canyon Trail, which is partially paved but mostly a wide dirt road, follows the creek for its entire length. The Dairy Fork subwatershed of Aliso Creek borders Wood Canyon Creek to the northeast.

Modified extensively by man-made runoff and erosion control measures, Wood Canyon Creek is referred to by the Watershed and Coastal Resources Division of Orange County as the Wood Canyon Channel. Some stretches of the creek are lined with riprap and there are three grouted riprap drop structures on the creek, each 3 to 5 feet (0.91 to 1.52 m) tall. The riparian zone surrounding the creek is one of the most prominent in the Aliso Creek watershed as a whole, although urban runoff has degraded its health.

Notes