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Laguna de Santa Rosa
The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a 22-mile-long (35 km) wetland complex that drains a 254-square-mile (660 km2) watershed encompassing most of the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County, California, United States.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe eating advisory for any fish caught in Laguna de Santa Rosa due to elevated levels of mercury and PCBs. In addition, there is a notice of "do not eat" for black bass.
The Laguna, whose principal tributary streams rise on the southern slopes of the Sonoma and Mayacamas Mountains, is the largest tributary of Mark West Creek. The sinuous watercourse and associated wetlands form a significant floodplain during the heavy winter rains, capable of storing over 80,000 acre-feet (99,000,000 m3) of stormwater.
Beyond its hydrological significance, the Laguna is Sonoma County's richest area of wildlife habitat, and the most biologically diverse part of the county, having been called a "national treasure" for its ecological wealth. A number of rare and endangered species occur in the Laguna, including federally listed threatened and endangered anadromous salmonid species and three endangered plants that are endemic here. From about 1870 to 1990 water quality and biota deteriorated in the Laguna, due to intensification of urban development and associated agricultural encroachment into the floodplain. In the 1990s the trend began to reverse, but the watercourse is still listed as impaired under the federal Clean Water Act for sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus, temperature, mercury, and dissolved oxygen, rendering it the most impaired water body on the North Coast of California. Notwithstanding the large historical reduction in resource extent, the Laguna de Santa Rosa is presently the second-largest freshwater wetland in coastal Northern California and still habitat to over 200 species of birds, threatened and endangered salmonid species, bald and golden eagle, osprey, mountain lion, river otter, coyote, bobcat, mink, and gray fox.
While the Laguna has been heavily impacted by human activities in its watershed over the past century, in recent years a movement has grown to preserve and restore it both for ecological functions such as habitat values and flood control capacity, and for outdoor recreation, education, and research. The nonprofit Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, founded in 1989, has professionalized and expanded the scope of its programs since 2002, spearheading efforts to protect, restore, and create opportunities for the public to enjoy and learn in the Laguna.
The principal source of the Laguna de Santa Rosa lies in the hills on the east side of U.S. Route 101 near Cotati, California. Its waters descend to the west, crossing under U.S. Route 101 and into Cotati at the West Sierra Avenue interchange. It flows under the Old Redwood Highway just south of Charles Street and joins with a drainage channel near the end of Marsh Way. (Some sources consider this channel to be the main Laguna de Santa Rosa.)
From this confluence, the Laguna turns to the northwest and crosses under East Cotati Avenue, providing portions of the boundary between Cotati and Rohnert Park. It crosses back under U.S. Route 101 near Southwest Boulevard and leaves Cotati, continuing northwestward through a series of confluences, with Copeland Creek, Washoe Creek, Hinebaugh Creek, and Five Creek. It crosses Llano Road near the regional water treatment plant, then crosses Todd Road and joins Blucher Creek. East of Sebastopol, it crosses under State Route 12 at milepost 9.63 and turns to the north. Just south of Guerneville Road, the Santa Rosa Flood Control Channel enters the Laguna, bring water from Santa Rosa Creek and its tributaries. The Laguna continues north, emptying into Mark West Creek amidst the wetlands east of Forestville.
Archaeological data in southern Sonoma County indicates the land surrounding the Laguna de Santa Rosa was under the control of three Pomo tribelets which together, controlled about 350 square miles (910 km2). These Pomo peoples were called the Konhomtara, the Kataictemi, and the Bitakomtara, whose languages were mutually unintelligible.
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Laguna de Santa Rosa
The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a 22-mile-long (35 km) wetland complex that drains a 254-square-mile (660 km2) watershed encompassing most of the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County, California, United States.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe eating advisory for any fish caught in Laguna de Santa Rosa due to elevated levels of mercury and PCBs. In addition, there is a notice of "do not eat" for black bass.
The Laguna, whose principal tributary streams rise on the southern slopes of the Sonoma and Mayacamas Mountains, is the largest tributary of Mark West Creek. The sinuous watercourse and associated wetlands form a significant floodplain during the heavy winter rains, capable of storing over 80,000 acre-feet (99,000,000 m3) of stormwater.
Beyond its hydrological significance, the Laguna is Sonoma County's richest area of wildlife habitat, and the most biologically diverse part of the county, having been called a "national treasure" for its ecological wealth. A number of rare and endangered species occur in the Laguna, including federally listed threatened and endangered anadromous salmonid species and three endangered plants that are endemic here. From about 1870 to 1990 water quality and biota deteriorated in the Laguna, due to intensification of urban development and associated agricultural encroachment into the floodplain. In the 1990s the trend began to reverse, but the watercourse is still listed as impaired under the federal Clean Water Act for sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus, temperature, mercury, and dissolved oxygen, rendering it the most impaired water body on the North Coast of California. Notwithstanding the large historical reduction in resource extent, the Laguna de Santa Rosa is presently the second-largest freshwater wetland in coastal Northern California and still habitat to over 200 species of birds, threatened and endangered salmonid species, bald and golden eagle, osprey, mountain lion, river otter, coyote, bobcat, mink, and gray fox.
While the Laguna has been heavily impacted by human activities in its watershed over the past century, in recent years a movement has grown to preserve and restore it both for ecological functions such as habitat values and flood control capacity, and for outdoor recreation, education, and research. The nonprofit Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, founded in 1989, has professionalized and expanded the scope of its programs since 2002, spearheading efforts to protect, restore, and create opportunities for the public to enjoy and learn in the Laguna.
The principal source of the Laguna de Santa Rosa lies in the hills on the east side of U.S. Route 101 near Cotati, California. Its waters descend to the west, crossing under U.S. Route 101 and into Cotati at the West Sierra Avenue interchange. It flows under the Old Redwood Highway just south of Charles Street and joins with a drainage channel near the end of Marsh Way. (Some sources consider this channel to be the main Laguna de Santa Rosa.)
From this confluence, the Laguna turns to the northwest and crosses under East Cotati Avenue, providing portions of the boundary between Cotati and Rohnert Park. It crosses back under U.S. Route 101 near Southwest Boulevard and leaves Cotati, continuing northwestward through a series of confluences, with Copeland Creek, Washoe Creek, Hinebaugh Creek, and Five Creek. It crosses Llano Road near the regional water treatment plant, then crosses Todd Road and joins Blucher Creek. East of Sebastopol, it crosses under State Route 12 at milepost 9.63 and turns to the north. Just south of Guerneville Road, the Santa Rosa Flood Control Channel enters the Laguna, bring water from Santa Rosa Creek and its tributaries. The Laguna continues north, emptying into Mark West Creek amidst the wetlands east of Forestville.
Archaeological data in southern Sonoma County indicates the land surrounding the Laguna de Santa Rosa was under the control of three Pomo tribelets which together, controlled about 350 square miles (910 km2). These Pomo peoples were called the Konhomtara, the Kataictemi, and the Bitakomtara, whose languages were mutually unintelligible.
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