Carneros Creek (Monterey County, California)

Mexican land grants named Los Carneros, which is Spanish for "sheep", date to 1834, 1839 and 1842 in Monterey County. Just east of Elkhorn Slough was Rancho Los Carneros (Littlejohn), but east of Highway 156/101 was Rancho Los Carneros (McDougall). Also straddling Highway 101 to the east and west is the Cañada de la Carpenteria or "valley of the carpenter's shop" which was part of the Rancho Cañada de la Carpenteria. ==Watershed==

The creek contributes an average of 2,800 acre feet to Elkhorn Slough annually. Because this creek previously contained the flow of the Pajaro River (whose present day watershed is just to the north) the creek bed is very coarse sand. Carneros Creek ran dry from June until December during the 2000 water year. Because the flow in the creek drops to zero over the summer months, seawater from Elkhorn Slough can flow back into the creek bed during high tides. The source of the mainstem is at elevation on the western slope of the northern Gabilan Range, east of Highway 156/101, from whence it flows west to the highway where it is met by an eastern fork which begins further east in the Gabilan Range in San Benito County. The eastern fork flows westward along Rocks Road east of, then around the north flank of, Pinacate Peak until it crosses back into Monterey County and under Highway 156/101, joining the Carneros Creek mainstem in the Cañada de la Carpinteria. The majority of the creek has been channelized in order to maximize the amount of land available for agriculture and cattle grazing. The channel walls have been reinforced with dredge spoil levees to provide some level of flood protection for the surrounding property. However, there is evidence that Carneros Creek was once a meandering stream with connected floodplains, oxbow ponds, and wetlands that would have supported riparian habitat and amphibian populations. ==Ecology==

Agricultural and Land-based Training Association (ALBA) and through a 4-year USEPA grant, the Coastal Watershed Council (CWC) is monitoring the impacts of organic farming practices and wetland restoration on water quality in Carneros Creek at ALBA's Triple M Ranch in North Monterey County. Significant wetlands border Carneros Creek, although these have been greatly reduced by artificial levees in order to grow crops on the many small tenant farms along the creek. The federally endangered Santa Cruz long-toed salamander (SCLTS) (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) was found on Carneros Creek's Alba Ponds west of Johnson Road by an environmental DNA survey and also by field survey on Oxbow Pond along Carneros Creek, the only known breeding sites for SCLTS in the upper Elkhorn area. The federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) often co-occur with and use similar habitats as the SCLTS and will likely benefit from Elkhorn Slough Foundation efforts to restore the Carneros Creek's riparian zone. Federally endangered least Bell's vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus) were identified and reported to the California Natural Diversity Database on June 12, 2001, in the upper Carneros Creek watershed east of Highway 101. Federally threatened California red-legged frog and federally threatened California tiger salamander central California distinct population segment (DPS) were also detected at that location. Federally threatened steelhead trout south-central California coast DPS have been collected from Elkhorn Slough. Puma or mountain lion (Puma concolor) occur in the Carneros Creek watershed and are part of the central California coast evolutionary significant unit (ESU) under consideration for federal and state listing as threatened given their small numbers, poor connection to neighboring populations, and low genetic diversity. University of California, Davis wildlife biologist Calvin Duncan tracked a radiocollared puma that crossed U.S. Highway 101 along the Carneros Creek wildlife linkage in August 2024. ==See also==