Austin Creek Watershed Assessment

Summary
Austin Creek is a major tributary to the Russian River. The Austin Creek watershed is primarily rural with no incorporated cities and the Town of Cazadero as the most populous area of the drainage. Austin Creek, as part of the Russian River watershed, is listed as impaired by fine sediment levels under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. The California Department of Fish and Game identified Austin Creek in the Coho Salmon Recovery Plan as an important steelhead and Coho salmon stream. Coho salmon are listed as endangered under the federal and state Endangered Species Acts. Steelhead trout are listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act.

This watershed assessment primarily involves use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to complete an analysis of the features of the Austin Creek watershed, documentation of past land uses and trends in the system. The focus of the analysis is erosion problems, areas of major vegetation changes and other features related to water quality and anadromous fish habitats. The assessment also includes recommendations to improve water quality and aquatic habitats.

The Austin Creek Watershed Assessment was prepared by Laurel Marrcus and Associates and Dennis Jackson under contract to the Sotoyome Resource Conservation District. Partial funding was provided by the State Water Resources Control Board.

Documents
The Austin Creek Watershed Assessment Report is presented here as a series of Portable Document Format (pdf) files. The first file contains the report itself; the next contains large figures referenced by the report. The other files contain the appendices.

• Austin Creek Watershed Assessment Report   (9.4 MB pdf)
• Large Figures   (9.9 MB pdf)

Appendices:

1. Summary of Protocol for Determining Channel Slope and Confinement   (1.4 MB pdf)
2. Fish and Game Stream Surveys   (0.8 MB pdf)

Please contact Francesca Innocenti if you have questions regarding this report.