Blackwood Creek (California)

Blackwood Creek (Washo: dogásliʔ), is a 8-mile-long (13 km)[4] eastward-flowing stream originating on the southwest flank of Ellis Peak in the Sierra Nevada. The creek flows into Lake Tahoe 4.2 miles (6.8 km) south of Tahoe City, California, between the unincorporated communities of Idlewild and Tahoe Pines in Placer County, California, United States.

Blackwood Creek
Blackwood Creek, just above California State Route 89
Location of the mouth of Blackwood Creek in California
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionPlacer County
CitiesTahoe Pines, Idlewild
Physical characteristics
SourceSouthwest flank of Ellis Peak in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
 • coordinates37°19′12″N 122°09′19″W[1]
 • elevation8,000 ft (2,400 m)
MouthLake Tahoe
 • location
Tahoe Pines
 • coordinates
39°03′47″N 120°12′24″W[1]
 • elevation
6,234 ft (1,900 m)[1]
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftMiddle Fork Blackwood Creek, North Fork Blackwood Creek
Beaver dam on Blackwood Creek apparently broken by vandals. Beaver dams are easily crossed by trout and may serve as critical breaks for wildfires.[2][3]

History

Blackwood Creek was named for early settler, miner and fisherman Hampton Craig Blackwood, who settled at the creek's mouth in 1866. The area was heavily grazed and logged into the 1970s. "Blackwood Pass" at the head of the creek is named on the Wheeler Survey Report of 1876-1877.[5]

Watershed

Blackwood Creek is the third largest stream (by area and discharge) of the 63 Tahoe Basin watersheds flowing into Lake Tahoe. The Blackwood Creek watershed drains an area of 7,166 acres (2,900 ha) and the creek mainstem has Middle Fork and North Fork tributaries.[6] The creek mainstem is paralleled by Barker Pass Road.

Ecology

Historically, Blackwood Creek once hosted native Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi) and other native fishes and was almost as important as the Upper Truckee River to the Washoe as a fishery. It is now a critical spawning stream for Lake Tahoe's non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).[7]

Recent evidence has shown that beaver (Castor canadensis) are native to the Sierra Nevada.[8][9] Their dams do not appear to pose barriers to trout passage.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Blackwood Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  2. Ryan L. Lokteff , Brett B. Roper & Joseph M. Wheaton (2013). "Do Beaver Dams Impede the Movement of Trout?" (PDF). Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 142 (4): 1114–1125. doi:10.1080/00028487.2013.797497. Retrieved 2014-06-17.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  3. Eric Collier (1959). Three Against the Wilderness. Victoria, British Columbia: Touchwood. p. 288. ISBN 1-894898-54-0.
  4. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-04-05 at WebCite, accessed July 16, 2013
  5. Barbara Lekisch (1988). Tahoe Place Names: The Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Great West Books. p. 9. ISBN 9780944220016. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  6. Robert L. Leonard, Louis A. Kaplan, John F. Elder, Robert N. Coats and Charles R. Goldman (September 1979). "Nutrient Transport in Surface Runoff from a Subalpine Watershed, Lake Tahoe Basin, California". Ecological Monographs. 49 (3): 281–310. doi:10.2307/1942486. JSTOR 1942486.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  7. "Lower Blackwood Creek Restoration". California Tahoe Conservancy. Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  8. James, C. D., Lanman, R. B. (Spring 2012). "Novel physical evidence that beaver historically were native to the Sierra Nevada". California Fish and Game. 98 (2): 129–132. Retrieved 2014-06-17.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  9. R. B. Lanman, H. Perryman, B. Dolman, Charles D. James (Spring 2012). "The historical range of beaver in the Sierra Nevada: a review of the evidence". California Fish and Game. 98 (2): 65–80. Retrieved 2014-06-17.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
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