San Luis Obispo Creek

San Luis Obispo Creek is a stream in San Luis Obispo County, California. Its headwaters are in the Santa Lucia Mountains near Cuesta Grade, it flows through the city of San Luis Obispo, and it empties into the Pacific Ocean just west of Avila Beach. The creek is 15 miles long and drains 84 square miles. Its eleven tributaries are Brizziolari, Stenner, Reservoir Canyon, Prefumo, Castro, Davenport, Froom, See Canyon and East Fork San Luis Obispo Creeks.

Various barriers to fish migration have been created on the creek and its tributaries since the city was founded. Stage Coach Dam on the upper reaches of the creek was removed in 2002. It had been built in the early 1900s to create a water supply reservoir, but was filled in with sediment. Other barriers have been removed as well, often by creating noches in the middle to concentrate low flows or adding rock weirs to back up the water over an obstacle or provide a more gradual change in elevation.

References

* [http://www.ci.san-luis-obispo.ca.us/naturalresources/creekandpark.asp City of San Luis Obispo - Natural Resources Department]
* [http://www.special-places.org/ecm/Restoration/SLOckpages/WtrshedDescr.html The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County]