Little Sur River
The Little Sur River is a long river on the Central Coast of California. The river and its main tributary, the a long South Fork, drain a watershed of about of the Big Sur area, a thinly settled region of the Central California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The South Fork and the North Fork both have their headwaters in the Ventana Wilderness, straddling Mount Pico Blanco. Portions west of the national forest and Old Coast Road lie within the El Sur Ranch. Some portions of the North Fork are on land owned by Granite Rock Company of Watsonville, California, which has owned the mineral rights to on Mount Pico Blanco since 1963. The North and South forks converge about from the coast where the river enters the Pacific Ocean.
The river's steep canyons and high chaparral-covered ridges are host to a number of rare species including the Santa Lucia Fir, Dudley's lousewort, and virgin stands of old-growth redwood.
Watershed
Protections
In 1973 the California State Legislature, recognizing the river's "extraordinary scenic, fishery, wildlife, outdoor recreational values" and to protect its "free-flowing and wild status," added the river to the California Protected Waterways System. Responding to the state's request, in 1981 Monterey County added the river to its Protected Waterways Management Plan and encouraged the state in its Big Sur Coast Land Use Plan to designate the Little Sur area as a "coastal resource of national significance." The mouth of the river is protected because it is surrounded by private land, preventing public access.Wildlife
The Little Sur River watershed provides habitat for mountain lion, bear, deer, fox, coyotes and wild boars. The upstream river canyon is characteristic of the Ventana Wilderness region: steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating valleys. Because the upper reaches of the Little Sur River watershed is entirely within the Ventana Wilderness, much of the river is in pristine condition. The California Department of Fish and Game says the river is the "most important spawning stream for steelhead" on the Central Coast. and that it "is one of the best steelhead streams in the county." The Little Sur River is a key habitat within the Central California steelhead distinct population segment which is listed as threatened.A U.S. fisheries service report estimates that the number of trout in the entire south-central coast area—including the Pajaro River, Salinas River, Carmel River, Big Sur River, and Little Sur River—have dwindled from about 4,750 fish in 1965 to about 800 in 2005. The total number of steelhead in the Little Sur River was estimated at less than 100 in 1991.
Vegetation
The watershed is populated with coastal redwood, Douglas fir, western sycamore, bay laurel, bigleaf maple, and tanbark oak. Mixed in with the redwood and Douglas fir is a riparian habitat containing alder, poison oak, and thimbleberry. The upper slopes are usually a mix of chaparral, covered by coyote bush, ceanothus, chamise, manzanita, sagebrush, and bush lupine. On a few upper slopes may be found patches of open grassland dotted with black oak, canyon live oak, and tanbark oak favored by the early Esselen inhabitants.The Little Sur River watershed contains stands of some of the most impressive uncut coastal redwood trees in the entire Big Sur area, including specimens over tall. It also contains the largest and tallest stands of Douglas fir on the Central Coast, up to in height. A stand of the rare Santa Lucia fir, described as "the rarest and most unusual fir in North America," are found on Skinner's Ridge, east of Pico Blanco Boy Scout camp.
Geology
The river canyon is deep and narrow, and even in the summer sunshine only reaches the canyon bottom for a few hours. The land is mostly steep, rocky, semi-arid except for the narrow canyons, and inaccessible. The upstream river canyon is characteristic of the Ventana Wilderness region: steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating valleys. Upstream from the Boy Scout camp are narrow gorges, waterfalls, and a few large pools.Several northwest-trending faults cut across the Little Sur River drainage: the Sur, the Palo Colorado, and the Church Creek faults. The river flows mostly west for much of its length, unlike other rivers in the region which tend to flow to the northwest or southeast. Near Camp Pico Blanco, the river meets the Palo Colorado fault and follows it northwesterly for about, before turning west towards the Pacific Ocean. The lower length of the South Fork follows the Sur fault zone until it meets the North Fork. West of the Sur fault the earth is composed of Franciscan Assemblage rocks, some exposed serpentine, and overlying sandstone. Most of the Little Sur River geology is to the east of the Sur fault. This area is marked by deep canyons cut through granitic and metamorphic rocks of the Salinian Block. Upstream from the Boy Scout camp the gorges are full of mica schist and gneiss, and granodiorite, quartz monzonite, and quartz diorite. At the river's mouth are some of the largest sand dunes on the Big Sur coast.
The north and south forks of the Little Sur River straddle either side of Mount Pico Blanco, Spanish for "White Peak." It is topped by a distinctive white limestone cap, visible from California's Highway 1. The native Esselen people revered the peak as a sacred mountain from which all life originated. They believed that three creatures—the eagle, coyote and the hummingbird—rode out the Great Flood atop the mountain and went on to create the world.
Weather
The Little Sur River basin climate, protected for the most part from coastal fog by Pico Blanco, is characterized by hot, dry summers and rainy, mild winters. Annual temperatures average to. Annual precipitation ranges from, with a pronounced summer drought. This interior is hotter than the coastal region and receives less moisture from fog in summer. Severe spring rains have caused mud slides on steep slopes above roads near the hair-pin turns, which briefly closed the road into the Pico Blanco Boy Scout camp during the spring of 1967 and 1969.Tributaries
The river originates in the area of the Ventana Double Cone and flows to the Pacific Ocean. The upper part of the river's watershed is in the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest. The rest, mostly near the coast, is privately owned. Precipitation increases with altitude at Big Sur. Higher elevations can receive over per year, about higher than lower areas.The main river, locally known as the North Fork, is in a bowl-shaped watershed, fed by several creeks and surrounded by Launtz Ridge and Pico Blanco to the west, Devil's Peak to the north, Uncle Sam Mountain to the east, and Ventana Double Cone to the southeast. The North Fork flows mostly over granite bedrock. Upstream tributaries include Skinners Creek, Ventana Creek, Comings Creek, and Puerto Suelo Creek. A one-armed man named Vogler built a cabin east of Devil's Peak in the 1880s, later purchased by the Comings family, for whom the location and creek are named today.
The South Fork of the river flows over granite bedrock, with portions of limestone and marble bedrock. The river has eroded the limestone and marble such that it travels underground in several locations. Tributaries on the South Fork include Rocky Creek, Turner Creek, Bixby Creek, Mill Creek, and Lachance Creek, many of them named for former homesteaders like Antare P. Lachance. Bixby Creek was the site of a landing built to transfer tanbark via cable to ships anchored offshore. The South Fork is unrestricted by any man-made dams, but an impassable waterfall about high upstream prevents steelhead from migrating further.
Boy Scout camp
is at elevation on the North Fork. Upstream tributaries include Jackson Creek, Pine Creek, Puerto Suelo Creek, and Comings Creek. A small creek enters the Little Sur River via a waterfall at the location of the seasonal reservoir in the camp proper. The immediate camp environment consists of seven distinct biotic habitats: coast redwood/mixed evergreen forest, white alder riparian woodland, herbaceous vegetation, aquatic habitat, bare alluvium, bare ground, and Sur Complex bedrock. The camp is accessed via the narrow and winding Palo Colorado Road, from the coast, which was closed due to the 2017 Soberanes fire, and remains closed. Some of the redwoods in the vicinity of the camp were planted between 1910 and 1921.Dam
There is a seasonal high concrete flash board dam on the North Fork of the river in the Camp Pico Blanco. Built in 1953, it creates a small recreational reservoir about in size. In 2002, the California Department of Fish & Game attempted to stop the Monterey Bay Area Council from using the dam. After intervention by Rep. Sam Farr and Senator Bruce McPherson, the Fish and Game retreated from preventing the council from filling the dam, but stipulated that certain regulations must be adhered to.The National Marine Fisheries Service discovered shortly afterward that the Council appeared to have filled the dam in violation of these regulations, "dewatering" the river below the dam and killing at least 30 threatened steelhead trout. The council could have been subject to fines of up to $360,000. The council avoided paying a fine by building a $1 million custom fish ladder.
Habitat for endangered species
Steelhead trout
In 1895, a fishing journal reported that "there are plenty of large fish in the stream, and there are several fine streams running into the North Fork, all full of California trout." A 1903 state report similarly reported that "The Big and Little Sur Rivers... are noted for trout-fishing."Image:Taricha torosa torosa.jpg| thumb|left|Coastal Range newt
A 1965 report said the stream contained about of prime habitat for the threatened steelhead.
An advertisement from 1910 for the Idlewild Resort at the junction of the North and South forks of the river described the pool at the mouth of the river as "the famous '1000 Salmon trout pool.'"
In 2002, Fish and Game staff surveyed the Little Sur River in the vicinity of the Camp Pico Blanco and found "numerous" steelhead fry and fingerlings. They described the river as "probably the most productive steelhead river south of the San Francisco Bay at this time." The Little Sur River is considered by the California Department of Fish and Game to be the "most important spawning stream for steelhead" on the Central Coast and "one of the best steelhead streams in the county."
As of 2011, fishing is limited to the fourth Saturday each month from May through October 31 each year. Only artificial lures with barbless hooks may be used.