San Vicente Creek

San Vicente Creek ("Spanish for": St. Vincent) is a Northern California coastal stream which flows entirely within San Mateo Countygnis|234642|San Vicente Creek] and discharges to the Pacific Ocean. Its waters rise on the west facing slopes of the Montara mountain block and its mouth is at the unincorporated community of Moss Beach, within the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. Historically there was a tidal marsh at its mouth, but some of this reach has been degraded by fill, especially in the construction of West Point Drive. This westernmost reach of the creek has been especially ecologically productive, and part of the reason for Fitzgerald Marine Reserve's designation on August 5, 1969 as a state reserve and was named after James V. Fitzgerald.

History

The streambanks of San Vicente Creek were inhabited by Native American as early as 3800 BC. In the year 1933, discovery of the rare plant Hickman's potentilla was made in the lower stream reach, but the species is not known to have existed past the 1970s at this location.

References