Scott Creek Coastal Resiliency Project

Scott Creek is a small coastal watershed north of the unincorporated town of Davenport along Highway 1 in northern Santa Cruz County, CA. The Scott Creek lagoon and marsh ecosystem provides a mosaic of critical habitat for a variety of native biota. It supports Coho salmon and steelhead trout which are both listed as “endangered” and “threatened” respectively. It is also critical habitat for red legged frogs, western pond turtles, tidewater gobies, and other sensitive wildlife, including snowy plovers, that use the beach areas. It is among the most biologically significant watersheds in the Central Coast region and in all of California and has been a focal point of research on natural resource management, hydrology, and fisheries for decades. The natural function of the watershed has been degraded due to land use changes, most notably from the construction of the Highway 1 bridge over Scott Creek. This has resulted in extensive filling of the historic estuary and significant alterations to the breaching dynamics of the lagoon. Additionally, the bridge is past its useful life span and the highway corridor is precariously positioned in relation to projected impacts from sea level rise and coastal erosion.

To address impacts to this critical coastal wetland and aging infrastructure, the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County (RCDSCC), the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 5, along with other State and Federal resource agencies, are collaborating to develop a strategy to address the public access, conservation, and climate change resiliency of the Scott Creek estuary. Planning and design phases of this project have been funded through leveraging of local and other grant funds to obtain additional resources including Proposition 1 and 68 grants from the California State Coastal Conservancy and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This project provides a new planning paradigm for major transportation projects wherein infrastructure design is predicated on understanding and addressing ecological resource needs, resulting in enhanced resiliency of both ecosystems and infrastructure. It offers a transferrable model of how consensus-based collaboration leads to more innovative, effective, and efficient use of public funds to support public access and safety, coastal resilience, public trust, and ecosystem enhancement. The work accomplished thus far was made possible through a long-standing multi-agency partnership and strategic collaboration. Continued collaboration will result in:

• Implementation of a major recovery action for endangered Coho salmon and a suite of other listed species
• Ecological restoration of a diverse coastal resource
• Protection of critical transportation infrastructure along the coast
• Improved community and highway resilience in the face of climate change and sea level rise
• Improved public coastal access
• Job creation to support economic recovery

Additional Project Information:
Scott Creek Factsheet
Scott Creek Funding Summary
Scott Creek Map