Calabazas Creek
| Calabazas Creek | |
| stream | |
 |
|
| Name origin: Spanish | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Sonoma County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Stuart Creek |
| City | Glen Ellen, California |
| Source | Mayacamas Mountains |
| - location | 4 mi (6 km) northeast of Glen Ellen, California |
| - elevation | 530 ft (162 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°23′54″N 122°28′26″W / 38.39833°N 122.47389°W |
| Mouth | Sonoma Creek |
| - location | Glen Ellen, California |
| - elevation | 236 ft (72 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°21′45″N 122°31′29″W / 38.36250°N 122.52472°WCoordinates: 38°21′45″N 122°31′29″W / 38.36250°N 122.52472°W |
| Length | 5.2 mi (8 km) |
| Basin | 7.7 sq mi (20 km2) |
Calabazas Creek is a 5.5-mile-long (8.9 km)stream in the Sonoma Valley, California, US, that rises in the southern Mayacamas Mountains and empties into Sonoma Creek near Glen Ellen.
In the Spanish language, calabazas means squash, pumpkins or gourds. The word calabazas is found on a diseño of part of the Agua Caliente land grant in 1840, just west of the Arroyo de los Guilicos. Gudde felt that this stream may be an early record of Calabazas Creek, although the Los Guilicos Warm Springs are a little west of Calabazas Creek.
One of Sonoma County's oldest stone arch bridges, from the year 1915, spans Calabazas Creek near Dunbar School.
As of 2007 the Sonoma County Open Space District has acquired 1,290 acres (5.2 km²) in this watershed for conservation purposes, and is currently drawing up plans for future public access.
Calabazas Creek has historically hosted a robust steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) run. As late as 2001 spawning gravel studies were conducted in Calabazas along with Graham Creek, Bear Creek, Carriger Creek and mainstem Sonoma Creek; these studies demonstrated that adequacy of spawning gravels and absence of sedimentation are not limiting factors for anadromous fish propagation.
The upper reaches of Calabazas Creek are relatively pristine with a dense forest canopy of mixed oak woodland, while the lower reaches on the Sonoma Valley floor have considerable encroachment by rural residential development, vineyards and other agricultural uses.
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