Brush Creek (Sonoma County, California)
| Brush Creek | |
| Rincon Creek | |
| stream | |
 Brush Creek looking south toward the Highway 12 bridge.
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Sonoma County |
| City | Santa Rosa, California |
| Source | |
| - location | north of Santa Rosa, California |
| - elevation | 577 ft (176 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°30′34″N 122°41′48″W / 38.50944°N 122.69667°W |
| Mouth | Santa Rosa Creek |
| - location | Santa Rosa, California |
| - elevation | 210 ft (64 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°27′9″N 122°40′40″W / 38.45250°N 122.67778°WCoordinates: 38°27′9″N 122°40′40″W / 38.45250°N 122.67778°W |
Brush Creek or Rincon Creek is a tributary of Santa Rosa Creek in Sonoma County, California. Brush Creek rises in the southern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains within Sonoma County. The lower reach of the creek is a suburban medium density residential area in the city of Santa Rosa, and that reach of Brush Creek has been restored during the 1990s under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to promote steelhead migration and spawning. Further restoration and incorporation into citywide park planning is currently underway as of 2006. The location of the confluence with Santa Rosa Creek is particularly noteworthy, since it was a locus of prehistoric life as a village of the Pomo people and a scenic geologic feature of massive flat boulder outcrops within the stream channel.
Brush Creek is a watercourse of approximately three miles in length that drains the area known as Rincon Valley in north Santa Rosa and the outlying unincorporated areas. The stream is shown on U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps as Rincon Creek. On current maps, Rincon Creek is a tributary that forms a confluence with Brush Creek approximately four kilometers upstream from the mouth of Brush Creek (near Montecito Boulevard). Thus today's nomenclature makes Rincon Creek essentially the west fork of upper Brush Creek.
The Flat Rocks feature at the confluence with Santa Rosa Creek was an important element of the prehistoric Pomo village at this site and is currently a picturesque protected area for trail hikers to enjoy. Immediately above the confluence is a modified channel that was designed to allow encroachment by residential development. The open channel has an obvious geometric form where banks have been steepened from the natural original contours; nevertheless, there is considerable riparian vegetation of Arroyo willow and Broad-leaf cattail (Typha latifolia). Chief native trees along the banks are Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) and Garry oak (Quercus garryana).
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