Lower Peninsula Watershed Condition Assessment 2016: Southwest San Francisco Bay, Santa Clara County, San Francisquito to Stevens Creeks. Technical memorandum prepared for the Santa Clara Valley Water District

This report describes baseline information about the amount and distribution of aquatic resources, and evaluates that overall ecological conditions of streams using the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM), for the Lower Peninsula watershed in Santa Clara County; consisting of Stevens-Permanente Creek, Adobe Creek, southern extent of San Francisquito Creek, and their tributaries. The Lower Peninsula watershed covers approximately 98 square-miles with creeks flowing from the Santa Cruz Mountains into southwest San Francisco Bay and its tidal wetlands. 

The Santa Clara Valley Water District’s (District) Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program has many priorities, including Priority D for restoring and protecting vital wildlife habitat, and providing opportunities for increased access to trails and open space. The D5 Project focuses on ecological data collection and analysis at a watershed scale to support the District, other County agencies and organizations in making informed ecological asset management decisions. The key performance indicators (KPIs) for D5 are to: 

1. Establish new or track existing ecological levels of service for streams in 5 watersheds. 

2. Reassess streams in 5 watersheds to determine if ecological levels of service are maintained or improved.