|
Dutch Bill Creek |
Grape Creek |
Green Valley Creek |
Mill Creek |
Mark West Creek
Mill Creek
Mill Creek is a tributary to Dry Creek, west of the City of Healdsburg in the Russian River watershed. Other major tributaries within this sub-basin include Felta, Wallace, and Palmer Creeks.
Photo credit: Trout Unlimited
|
Mill Creek and its tributaries drain a basin of approximately 24 square miles and the system has a total of 29 miles of USGS blue-line streams with an elevation gradient ranging from 1400' at the headwaters to approximately 60' at the Dry Creek confluence. The watershed is primarily hardwood, chaparral and conifer forest with land use being mainly timber, rural residential and agricultural vineyards.
The Mill Creek watershed is considered to be a high priority watershed for coho recovery and was recently identified as having some of the best summer rearing habitat in the Russian River watershed, according to a recently issued Biological Opinion (National Marine Fisheries Services, 2008). Water quantity was among the greatest areas of concern identified in 2002 by the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG). In addition to coho salmon, the watershed supports habitat for numerous aquatic species including steelhead, sculpin, and Pacific giant salamander. Juvenile coho have been released from the Russian River Coho Captive Broodstock program into Wallace, Palmer, Felta and Mill Creeks.
A number of resource enhancement projects addressing sedimentation, fish passage and habitat enhancement are currently being identified and developed in order to build upon past efforts in this watershed. Currently, Sotoyome RCD is formulating a watershed assessment and action plan for the Mill Creek watershed as a part of the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program, sponsored by DFG. The purpose of the plan is to provide tools and resources for the stewardship of this unique watershed area and in so doing, bring these efforts into a larger context.
click to download map in printer friendly pdf format
 5.8MB
Photo credit: Trout Unlimited
Mill Creek
|
