Wolf Creek Community AllianceWolf Creek Community AllianceWolf Creek is Special!Wolf Creek is Special!

• It’s all about diversity:• Geography• Geology• Biodiversity• History• Human Impacts

Wolf Creek Wolf Creek WatershedWatershed

20 miles 20 miles longlong

50,000 50,000 acresacres

78 sq miles78 sq miles

3,000 ft

1,200 ft

Effects of Geography (and Effects of Geography (and Geology)Geology)

• Low Sierra mountain setting means that not much of the precipitation in the watershed falls as snow

• Top third of watershed flows East to West• Bottom two thirds flow North to South• Geologic diversity as well – volcanic flows,

granitic strata, gabbro and serpentine soils

BiodiversityBiodiversity

• Geography and geology provide biotic diversity

• The watershed has at least seven general types of plant communities

• The plant communities in turn support diverse animal communities

Plant CommunitiesPlant Communities• Annual Grass • Blue Oak Woodland • Blue Oak-Foothill Pine • Closed Cone Pine-Cypress • Douglas Fir • Mixed Chaparral • Montane Chaparral • Montane Hardwood • Montane Hardwood-Conifer • Montane Riparian • Ponderosa Pine • Sierran Mixed Conifer • Wet Meadow

Rare PlantsRare Plants

Rare AnimalsRare Animals

Rare Habitat – Low-Altitude Rare Habitat – Low-Altitude Mountain MeadowsMountain Meadows

The Diverse History of Wolf CreekThe Diverse History of Wolf Creek

• 500 – 7000 years of continuous habitation by Maidu peoples

• People of European Origin enter the area – the Emigrant Trail runs along South Wolf Creek

• Discovery of gold in Wolf Creek• A hundred years of gold mining, followed

by:• Sixty years of recovery

The Diversity of ImpactsThe Diversity of Impacts

• The main reach of upper Wolf Creek, and South Fork of Wolf Creek, have been heavily effected by mining

• South Wolf Creek had almost no mining• Wolf Creek around Grass Valley is

urbanized• South Wolf Creek is almost entirely rural

The Diversity of Possible FuturesThe Diversity of Possible Futures

• The Wolf Creek watershed is being rapidly developed

• Much of the watershed could soon be like the urban reach in Grass Valley

• There are still open spaces that can be preserved…

• What kind of future will we choose for the Wolf Creek watershed?

Wolf Creek Wolf Creek Community Community

AllianceAlliance

www.wolfcreekalliance.comwww.wolfcreekalliance.com

530-272-2347530-272-2347