Marin Creek

Marin Creek
(Upper) Marin Creek
Village Creek (Lower Marin Creek)
Daylighted portion of lower Marin Creek (Village Creek) in the Gill Tract, UC Village area
Marin Creek is located in California
Marin Creek
Location of the mouth of Marin Creek in California
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionAlameda County
CityBerkeley and Albany, California
Physical characteristics
Sourcesprings
 • locationBerkeley Hills
 • coordinates37°53′24″N 122°16′31″W / 37.89000°N 122.27528°W / 37.89000; -122.27528
MouthEastshore embayment, San Francisco Bay
 • location
Albany Beach, United States
 • coordinates
37°53′19″N 122°18′31″W / 37.88861°N 122.30861°W / 37.88861; -122.30861
Basin features
River systemCodornices Creek

Marin Creek is a creek tributary of Codornices Creek in northwestern Alameda County, California.[1] The lower stretch of Marin Creek is also known as Village Creek.

Overview

The creek runs from the Berkeley Hills through the cities of Berkeley and Albany to San Francisco Bay. Throughout much of its course, it runs in culverts. Below San Pablo Avenue through the University Village, it runs in the open in several stretches. It was daylighted in the course of the construction of the Target store between Eastshore Highway and the Union Pacific tracks.[1][2][3] The creek empties into a slough it shares with Codornices Creek and Schoolhouse Creek. The slough, which has been largely filled in, lies between the Golden Gate Fields racetrack and the Eastshore Freeway.[4]

Open sections of the creek are maintained by Friends of the Five Creeks, a community organization.

In the early 20th century, a portion of the creek flowed through a channel in the center of Marin Avenue in Albany, which has since been culverted. In fact the creek has been culverted nearly in its entirety under Marin Avenue.[5] Culverting of this creek has led to flooding and drainage problems in Albany, as this practice is not a sound or permanent method of containing drainwater.[6]

The University of California Berkeley daylighted a portion of Lower Marin or Village Creek. The 900-foot (0.27 km) stretch of the creek through UC Village has been modeled into an 1,125-foot (0.34 km) 0.77 acre (.31 hectares) riparian habitat with the purposes of habitat restoration and community protection from a 100-year flood.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Codornices Creek Watershed Map, Guide to San Francisco Bay Area Creeks, museumca.org, Museum of California, retrieved March 12, 2008
  2. ^ Creek mouths along the Bay Trail in Berkeley, Albany, and south Richmond, by Susan Schwartz, Friends of Five Creeks, March 9, 2003, retrieved March 12, 2008
  3. ^ Marin Creek, ACME.com, retrieved March 12, 2008
  4. ^ Eastshore State Park Walk, The Pre-Goldrush Waterfront, Susan Schwartz, October 1999, retrieved March 12, 2008
  5. ^ M, Diablo Audubon, retrieved March 12, 2008
  6. ^ CITY OF ALBANY CITY COUNCIL AGENDA STAFF REPORT, February 4, 2008, retrieved March 12, 2008
  7. ^ Post Project Appraisal of Village Creek Restoration, Albany, CA , by Melissa Asher and Kaumudi Atapattu, Fall 2005, retrieved March 12, 2008