HISTORICAL ECOLOGY of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

8/7/2019 HISTORICAL ECOLOGY of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

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This publication is intended as an introduction to how historical

ecology can help local residents and resource managers

understand current conditions and develop strategies or

environmental recovery. The area encompassed by the

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve Critical Coastal Area (CCA) has

experienced substantial physical and ecological changes due to

active coastal processes and the history o agricultural and urban

development. Understanding this history can help identiy

opportunities to restore natural watershed unction within

the contemporary landscape, which in turn can help control

pollution sources. This document highlights areas o interest

or potential restoration, ocusing on three topics: salt marshes,

stream networks, and reshwater wetlands. These opportunity

areas will provide inormation or the stakeholders o the

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve participating in the CCA Program

pilot study to identiy and prioritize actions that could improve

watershed health. The CCA Program seeks to improve water

quality along the Caliornia coast through the implementation o

management measures to reduce the eects o diuse sources

o pollution, including urban and agricultural runo.

Scd ougou oc nd gion civs, historical inormation represents a valuable and oten untapped

resource or watershed management and coastal protection. Can an understanding o the historical landscape help us guide

uture landscape modiications? Can this understanding help re-establish native habitats and ecosystem unction? How did

natural and cultural processes shape the historic ecosystems that still persists as ragments in the current landscape?

For more information on the CCA program, please visit http://www.coastal.ca.gov/nps/cca-nps.html.

AuthorsAlison Whipple and Robin Grossinger Design and layoutRuth Askevold and Alison Whipple

Thanks to Kat Ridolf, Chuck Striplen, Erin Beller, and Micha Salomon

Funding or this project has been provided in ull or in part through an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board. The contents o

this document do not necessarily reect the views and policies o the State Water Resources Control Board, nor does mention o trade names or

commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation or use.www.sei.org

FITZGERALD MARINE RESERVE CCAA tool for developing an action plan for the Critical Coastal Areas program

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL ECOLOGYOF THE

May 2008

K. RidolfLooking west toward Pillar Point

US Coast Survey hydrographic chart courtesy NOAA


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1Salt Marshes

(Page 4-5)

2Streams

(Page 6-7)

3Freshwater wetlands

(Page 8)

fitzgeraldmarine reserve cca

Deer Creek

Montara C

Denniston

Martini Cr

Kano Cr

Dean Cree

Pillar Poin

OppOrtunity

AreAs

San Vicen

CCA (boundary in orange) = 8,800 acres

2 April 2008


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In the comparison below, the 1861 Pillar Point Marsh comp

(A) contains more open water (approximately 10 acres) and a

longer adjacent marsh than that shown in 1943 aerial photog-

raphy (with approximately 4 acres o open water). In 1861, only

the southernmost portion shows any emergent vegetation,

suggesting a perennial water body. The open water transitions

emergent marsh (horizontal lines) approximately at the histori

dam where West Point Ave. is today. US General Land Oce (G

survey data adds another layer o inormation to help conrm

general character and location o the marshes and creek mout

Surveyor C. C. Tracy (June, 1862) noted entering and leaving th

marsh north o West Point Ave and commented on wet, goo

grass, indicating a more continuous marsh complex than toda

The 1861 T-sheet also shows a wetland system at the mouth

o Denniston Creek(B)(interpretation aided by 1863 USCS

hydrographic map shown on p.1), the presence o which is sup

ported by the level marsh noted by Tracy. The subtidal chann

4 May 2008

18611861

ca. 1940HalMoonBayMemories.com

US Coast Survey map courtesy NOAA

S a lt M a r S h e SFITZGERALD MARINE RESERVE CCA

These pages show a preliminary investigation o the

extent and character o the salt marshes that once

existed at creek mouths along the Reserve. Pillar Point

Marsh, the largest o the salt marshes, persists today and

is home to threatened and endangered species such as

the Caliornia red-legged rog (Rana aurora draytonii)

and the Western snowy plover(Charadrius alexandrinus

nivosus). Early cartography and surveys reveal that a

similar system existed at the base o Denniston Creek.

An important cartographic source, United States Coast

Survey (USCS) topographic maps (T-sheets, described

below) provides an initial view o the historic marshes at

Pillar Point and Denniston Creeks as well as hydrologic

connections between upland and lowland systems.

These perspectives can help establish a baseline rom

which to assess the impacts o modifcations such as

groundwater pumping, sedimentation, and increased

drainage rom urban

areas, all o which

aect water quality.

The 1861 USCS T-sheet (at right),

which covers the Pillar Point area,

depicts marsh complexes and

channel networks along the coastline

(Johnston 1861). Initiated in 1807 by

the U.S. government, the Coast Survey

maps provide an early and detailed

cartographic depiction o the coastal

landscape. The unprecedented use

o geodetic surveying techniques

- employing a common reerence,

or datum, to which all points are

tied - produced remarkably accurate

maps or the time period. Despite the

absence o a standardized legend,

T-sheets show hydrologic patterns and

the distribution o coastal ecosystem

types, which can be interpreted

through a standard methodology

(Grossinger and Askevold 2005).

Pillar Point Marsh (shown below ca. 1940 and at right

in 2005), persists today as a unique system within the

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve CCA.

Open water

Marsh

Historical chann

Contemporary c(shown only on

A

B

C

D

EDennistonCreek

DeerC

reek


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The 1837 diseo map above o the Rancho Corral de Tierra land gran

uses natural eatures to locate the boundaries o the rancho. The arroyos

(creeks) and lomarias (hills) ormed the earthen corral (a constructed corra

is also shown) ater which the grant was named. The map likely shows Marti

Creek to the north, and Denniston Creek in the middle, close to Pillar Point.

Francisco Guerrero received this grant rom the Mexican government in 183The lithograph and photograph above shows his son Victor s homestead,

which became the home o James Denniston in the mid-1800s.

(C) drawn suggests that the marsh system may have been more

consistently open to the ocean than Pillar Point Marsh. The 1943

aerials show the creek in roughly the same location as the T-sheet

channel, but the marsh complex at the mouth o Denniston Creek

appears to be largely absent. The inset oblique photographs

show the mouth o Denniston Creek at the approximate time o

the 1943 aerials in comparison to today.

Interestingly, the T-sheet already shows hydrologic modications

to the Denniston Creek watershed. A ditch (D) originates rom

a reshwater marsh (E) and connects to the Denniston Creek

marsh; another connects to Deer Creek. This perhaps explains the

drained appearance o the reshwater marsh in the 1943 aerial

photography, which has since been replaced by dense vegeta-

tion. These ditches are early representations o the common trend

toward increasing drainage density by connecting creeks that

would have otherwise spread into marshes or alluvial ans (see

pgs. 6-7).

5 May 2008

1943

Point Ave

1943

Historical aerial imagery courtesy USDA

Copyright (C) 2002-2008 Kenneth & Gabrielle Adelman,

Caliornia Coastal Records Project,

www.Caliorniacoastline.org

2005

Martini Creek?

Denniston Creek?

Arroyo de en Medio?

PillarPoint

Top. Courtesy HalMoonBayMemories.com

Bottom. Copyright (C) 2002-08 Kenneth & Gabrielle

Adelman, Caliornia Coastal Records Project,

www.Caliorniacoastline.org

Map courtesy The Bancrot Library, UC Berkeley;

photograph Courtesy San Mateo County History Muse

oblique drawing courtesy HalMoonBayMemories.com

Mouth oDenniston Creek

ca. 1940

2004

C

E

B

A

D

DennistonCreek

Deer

Cre

ek


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Stream NetworksFITZGERALD MARINE RESERVE CCA

The images above and to the right illustrate hydrologic

change over time: wetland complexes and multi-thread

channels (1866), and discontinuous drainage networks

(1896) shit to a highly modifed system in1943.

The lowland streams have experienced a long history o

change; frst with ranching and agriculture, and later with the

development o the communities o El Granada, Princeton-

by-the-sea, Moss Beach, and Montara. Altered hydrographs

and sediment input can impact stream characteristics such as

width and depth, which in turn aect riparian vegetation. Map

and narrative sources like those shown here can help build an

understanding o historic stream network characteristics and

inorm interpretation o the current hydrologic regime. This, in

turn, can be used to resolve sedimentation and erosion issues

and help re-establish native species such as steelhead trout

(Oncorhynchus mykiss).

1866

US Coast Survey map courtesy NOAA

HalMoonBayMemories.com

The example here shows inormation that can

be used in comparison to contemporary stream

channel widths. The red lines imposed on the

modern imagery to the right point to locations o

known creek width, as recorded by an 1859 survey.

WebrokecampandWent

alongtheshoreuntil,le

aving

thepointwithislandrocks[Pillar

Point]tothewestofus,wepass

edover

someknollsandacross[several

small]hollowswith[rather]deep

gulches

fullofwater,atwhichweweredel

ayedby[havingto]throwsmall

bridges

overthem[forthepack-trainto

crosson].

-COSTANSO1769inStangeran

dBrown1969

6 May 2008

SanV

icenteC

reek

Den

nis

tonC

reek

For streams like San Vicente Creek and Denniston Creek, which

appear to have had sucient ow to orm distinct channels

to the ocean (see quote below let), complex, multi-thread

reaches are indicated in the 1861 T-sheet, in the locations

highlighted above. This area (in white box above) on Denniston

Creek was once known as Three Bridges, supporting the

evidence o multiple channels (Cloud 1928). The San Vicente

Creek reach is slightly diferent in that it is associated with a

reshwater marsh complex (see p. 8).


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The gure at let shows stream widths at various locations on San Vicente,

Dean, and Montara Creeks, recorded by General Land Oce (GLO) surveyor

William J. Lewis. The GLO Public Land Survey established the 6-mile square

townships we are amiliar with today across the western U.S. and conrmed

land grant boundaries. The GLO reached Hal Moon Bay in the 1850s. The

surveys contain valuable ecological inormation: surveyors noted up to our

bearing trees (marked trees with azimuth and distance to identiy the

location o survey lines) at every mile and hal-mile point (notably no trees

were ound in the Fitzgerald CCA), described distinctive eatures along their

survey lines, such as creeks (including width inormation which is shown

here), lakes, marshes, or areas o thick brush, and commented on general

soils and land characteristics.

The1896 USGS map suggests a more discontinuous drainage

networkon some o the smaller local streams prior to hydrologic

modications, which is a commonly recognized pattern among

Caliornias historic streams. Small intermittent creeks (in red

boxes above) emerging rom the steep Montara Mountains

lacked the energy to orm well dened tributary channels as

they encountered the relatively at alluvial ans o the larger

creeks. Instead, the channels dissipated like those shown in this

1896 USGS map. These networks were oten associated with

downstream wetlands. Although not depicted on the maps

examined here, GLO surveyor C.C. Tracy reported entering and

leaving a marsh along his line close to where Highway 1 is now.

The 1943 aerial photography (overlain by contemporary steam

mapping) shows a highly modifed drainage network. While

remnants o Denniston Creeks multiple channels persist,

San Vicente is a clear single-channel system. The airports

construction resulted in signicant hydromodication o the

Denniston Creek and Pillar Point drainage networks. Where

water historically drained toward Pillar Point marsh, it now

appears directed more toward Denniston Creek through

ditches. Such modication can also have the efect o

connecting the small discontinuous creeks, like those shown in

the 1896 map, to larger stream channels.

1896 1943

marsh (Tracy 1852)

Creek, 10 links, wide, course N86W.

Small spring, 5 links wide, course S.W.

Creek, 20 links wide, course, S60W.

Creek, 25 links wide, course, S61W

Deep gulch 180 links [36 m] wide, comes rom N55E.

Creek 1 chain wide, comes rom S59E.

Mouth o creek 50 links [10 m] wide, comes rom southeast.

Courtesy the Earth Science & Map Librar y, UC Berkeley Aerial imagery courtesy USDA

GLO feld notes rom William J. Lewis, 1859

7 May 20

SanV

icenteC

reek

Dennis

tonC

reek


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Fsw WndsF I T Z G E R A L D M A R I N E R E S E R V E C C A

marsh (Tra

Historical sources point to possible opportunities or the restoration o

once extensive reshwater wetlands and willow riparian orests along San

Vicente and Montara creeks. Aided by urther research, understanding the

extent and character o these reshwater wetlands could inorm eortsto improve water quality and reduce ood peaks. Also, species diversity

within the area could be potentially supported through the re-introduction

o these sensitive plant communities that are under-respresented in the

contemporary landscape.K. Ridol

Wesetou

tfromhe

re...onano

rthwesterly

coursealong

theshore,ca

rryingrewo

odfrom

thecreekh

ere,wheret

hereisal

ittle,asthe

scoutsreportedthey

hadseennow

oodwherethe

y

explored.

-CRESPI1769

inStangera

ndBrown196

9

The image rom the 1866 USCS T-sheet shown above

depicts reshwater marsh (light green) merging

into a willow riparian orest (dark green) along San

Vicente Creeks braided reaches on the at alluvial an

at the base o the Montara hills. The map suggests both

a broader and more open (covered with herbaceous

vegetation) wetland environment than the riparian

reaches ound along San Vicente Creek today. GLO surveyor C. C. Tracy (1852) also noted marshes (see above) along his survey line that crossed the creek and

passed close to where reservoirs sit today. A similar progression o marsh to willow riparian orest is suggested along Montara Creek upstream o Harte St. (not

shown). Considering the water quality and ood control benets o wetland and marsh complexes, areas where open space still exists next to stream channels

may be important sites to consider or recovering elements o the historical systems. Areas along the San Vicente and Montara creeks may contain restoration and

conservation opportunities or reshwater marshes and wet meadows.

Above, US Coast Survey map courtesy NOAA; i magery below courtesy USDA NAIP 200

In summary,historical

ecology provides a tool or

developing action plans or

Critical Coastal Areas. Historical ecology research provides

both technical inormation and an educational perspective

that can help us recognize and respond to environmental

change. While this preview shows some o the types o

analysis that could be useul or the Fitzgerald Marine

Reserve CCA, much more historical inormation about the

local landscape is available and remains to be compiled.

For more inormation about historical ecology methods

and resources, please go to www.sei.org/HEP.

SanV

icente

Creek

SanVice

nteCr

eek

8 May 2008

marsh (Traearly

road

way

Highway1

Documents

HISTORICAL ECOLOGY of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve