From the headwaters to its confluence with the Yuba River, volunteers at Sierra Streams Institute (SSI) monitor 11 sites in the Deer Creek watershed every three months. In this blog series, we hope to introduce you to some of our long-standing monitoring sites throughout the Deer Creek watershed, some of the creatures you might see there, and share the opportunities we have for you to get involved in monitoring your local watersheds!
Deer Creek begins as a series of springs and a trickle of snowmelt from the ridgetops above Nevada City, CA. SSI’s headwaters monitoring site is located at the confluence of the North Fork and South Fork of Deer Creek right above Scott’s Flat Reservoir. The headwaters site is a sentinel location where SSI has monitored water quality regularly since 2001.
Aside from flow regulations on the South Fork of Deer Creek, the headwaters site is relatively unimpacted by human influences such as roads and agricultural runoff. This makes the headwaters an important site for comparison with downstream locations which are impacted by roads, agriculture, and dams. The minimal impact at the top of the watershed means that the headwaters site consistently exhibits water with low turbidity, low nutrients, low temperatures, high dissolved oxygen, and a neutral pH. In other words, this site provides great habitat for cold water fish, highly sensitive “indicator” species of benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) , and other animals seeking refuge from the summer heat!
In addition to quarterly water quality monitoring, SSI performs physical habitat surveys and creek surveys annually. These surveys gather data on benthic macroinvertebrate populations and the habitat available to them. This means there are at least 5-6 opportunities to get out to this beautiful headwaters site each year! If you’re interested in volunteering and getting to experience the remote and pristine headwaters of Deer Creek, check out our webpage for volunteer opportunities and internships.