Watershed Descriptions

Aptos-Soquel – Back to Study Area

Area¹: 199,777 km²

Planning Watersheds¹: 9

Description: The Aptos Soquel watershed is located along the Pacific coast in southern Santa Cruz County. The communities of Capitola, Soquel, Aptos, and Rio Del Mar are located in the Aptos Soquel watershed. The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, Capitola City Beach, New Brighton State Beach, and Sea Cliff State Beach are in the watershed. The Soquel Demonstration Forest abuts the northeastern edge of the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. To interactively explore features of this watershed, visit the Interactive Mapping section of this Web site.

Streams²:

Salmonids³:

• coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)
• steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Watershed Groups: Friends of Soquel Creek

Watershed Plans:

Ownership⁴: State and Private

Landcover and Landuse⁵:

Source Information:

¹California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Watersheds (CALWATER 2.2) for Hydrologic Sub-Area Name and Planning Watershed Name (see metadata for srp_calw22)
²U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Stream Reach File 3 (see metadata for srp_rf3)
³Personal communication: Jerry Smith (San Jose), Don Alley (Brookdale), Kristen Schroeder (Santa Cruz County), 2004.
  County of Santa Cruz Map of Steelhead and Coho Salmon Distribution in Santa Cruz County, May 2004.
⁴California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Conservation and Public Lands (Legacy Project) (see metadata spr_govtowna)
⁵California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Multi Source Landcover Data (2002) (see metadata srp_fveg)

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