Copeland Creek - Management

Management

Oversight of Copeland Creek is by the Sonoma County Water Agency; in the year 2006 the Agency cleared cattails and arroyo willow from certain lower reach portions of the creek in order to improve flow characteristics. As with any flood control management strategy, unintended environmental impacts can arise from stream channel modification. The Sonoma County General Plan Open Space Element calls for a Copeland Creek Trail along Copeland Creek to connect Rohnert Park near Sonoma State University to Crane Creek Regional Park. In addition, the 2003 County Outdoor Recreation Plan calls for a Copeland Creek Regional Park of about 500 acres (2.0 km2) to be situated near Fairfield Osborn Preserve at elevation 1,500 ft (460 m). Through the city of Rohnert Park, the creek is largely channelized.

The Sonoma County Water Agency in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Game have developed a strategy for enhancing spawning capability to the Russian River and a number of its tributaries; this activity was directed at the benefit of three threatened anadromous species: Coho salmon, Chinook salmon and steelhead. A Copeland Creek Restoration Project addressed the creek channel along approximately 6,000 ft (1,800 m) of Copeland Creek, which had been overgrazed by cattle for over 100 years. Commencing in 1999, the project was implemented in four phases, the fourth and final phase of construction having been completed in the autumn of 2003. The project was designed to stabilize banks, decrease creek turbidity, exclude cattle from the creek by fencing, and improve habitat for steelhead and other native fish and wildlife. The outcome yielded a creek with less sediment load and a more natural undulation of channel, where an almost linear creek geometry had existed for the previously modified reach.