Year-long project launches to improve Butano Creek

Nature will be getting a helping hand in Butano Creek.

The San Mateo Resource Conservation District is beginning a year-long project to clear sediment from the creek and improve water quality.

“Lower Butano Creek, where it runs through the marsh, has completely filled in with sediment.  This blocks threatened steelhead trout and endangered coho salmon from the entire Butano watershed for spawning…[and] a sediment-filled channel exacerbates flooding and road closures,” according to the District’s announcement of the project.

This work is intended to allow steelhead and coho salmon to swim freely upstream again.  The project will improve the water quality in the creek and in Pescadero Marsh – for the benefit of the fish, and other wildlife in the marsh.  And for the human population in the area, the work is also expected to reduce the impact of flooding (though not prevent it) at Pescadero Creek Road.

It all starts in September, with removal of some trees and brush along the creek, downstream from the Pescadero Creek Road Bridge.  The District does not anticipate any effect on traffic (unless you’re stopping to take pictures), but you might see some of the tree removal work as you drive by.

Work is scheduled to finish up in October 2019 – and in the meantime, if you’d like to know more about what’s being done, you’ll find an abundance of information here.

Photo Credit: Outdoor Project