Maacama Creek

Maacama Creek is a 7.3-mile-long (11.7 km)^[4] stream in northern Sonoma County, California, U.S.A., which empties into the Russian River near the city of Healdsburg.

Maacama Creek
Location of the mouth of Maacama Creek in California
Etymology	Wappo language
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Sonoma County
Physical characteristics
Source	McDonnell Creek
• location	Pine Mountain, 12 mi (20 km) northeast of Healdsburg, California
• coordinates	38°44′15″N 122°43′40″W[1]
• elevation	3,360 ft (1,020 m)
2nd source	Briggs Creek
• location	north shoulder of Mount Saint Helena
• coordinates	38°42′23″N 122°39′45″W[2]
• elevation	2,630 ft (800 m)
Source confluence	confluence
• location	8 mi (10 km) northeast of Healdsburg, California
• coordinates	38°40′28″N 122°44′36″W[3]
• elevation	300 ft (91 m)
Mouth	Russian River
• location	4 mi (6 km) east of Healdsburg, California
• coordinates	38°36′50″N 122°47′1″W[3]
• elevation	141 ft (43 m)[3]
Length	8 mi (13 km)from confluence to mouth
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Redwood Creek, Franz Creek

Course

Maacama Creek begins at the confluence of McDonnell Creek and Briggs Creek near Peter Hill in the Mayacamas Mountains. From there, it flows south, paralleling Briggs Ranch Road almost to State Route 128, where it turns westward. It parallels the highway for about 0.7 miles (1.1 km) before passing under to meet Redwood Creek. Upon entering the Alexander Valley, it turns southward again and parallels Chalk Hill Road until it meets Franz Creek. It then flows west another 0.71 miles (1.1 km) to enter the Russian River about 4 miles (6 km) east of Healdsburg.

History

Habitat and pollution

As of 2000, Maacama Creek and all its major tributaries all supported steelhead trout. Franz Creek also harbored California freshwater shrimp, and Redwood Creek and Maacama Creek hosted coho salmon.^[5]

Bridges

Two bridges span Maacama Creek: The Chalk Hill Road bridge is a 170-foot (52 m) concrete arch built in 1915, and State Route 128 crosses the creek at milepost 17.25 on a 147-foot (45 m) concrete continuous tee beam built in 1931.^[6]

See also

• List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: McDonnell Creek
2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Briggs Creek
3. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Maacama Creek
4. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 9, 2011
5. Cox, Bill (2000). "Major Streams in Sonoma County" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-12-04.
6. "National Bridge Inventory Database".