Austin Creek Watershed Assessment
Summary
Austin Creek is a major tributary to the Russian River. The Austin Creek watershed
is primarily rural with no incorporated cities and the Town of Cazadero as the most
populous area of the drainage. Austin Creek, as part of the Russian River watershed,
is listed as impaired by fine sediment levels under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act.
The California Department of Fish and Game identified Austin Creek in the Coho Salmon
Recovery Plan as an important steelhead and Coho salmon stream. Coho salmon are listed
as endangered under the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. Steelhead trout
are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
This watershed assessment primarily involves use of a Geographic Information System (GIS)
to complete an analysis of the features of the Austin Creek watershed, documentation
of past land uses and trends in the system. The focus of the analysis is erosion
problems, areas of major vegetation changes and other features related to water quality
and anadromous fish habitats. The assessment also includes recommendations to improve
water quality and aquatic habitats.
The Austin Creek Watershed Assessment was prepared by Laurel Marrcus and Associates and
Dennis Jackson under contract to the Sotoyome Resource Conservation District. Partial
funding was provided by the State Water Resources Control Board.
Documents
The Austin Creek Watershed Assessment Report is presented here as a
series of Portable Document Format (pdf) files. The first file
contains the report itself; the next contains large figures referenced by the report.
The other files contain the appendices.
Appendices:
-
Summary of Protocol for Determining Channel Slope and Confinement
(1.4 MB pdf)
-
Fish and Game Stream Surveys
(0.8 MB pdf)
Please contact
Sierra Cantor
if you have questions regarding this report.
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