This 144 acre site is located on Los Osos Creek, just upstream of the Morro Bay estuary. The site is owned by George Martines, a private landowner. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District (CSLRCD) have purchased permanent wetland reserve easements on the property. The State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) provided funding for the CSLRCD easement. The easements were acquired in order to return 111 acres to flood plain and riparian habitat and serve as a sediment deposition area, trapping sediment before it could enter Morro Bay. Thirty-three acres are permanently protected in an agricultural easement. As this is still private property, there is no public access to the site. Project Background: One key component of the plan is to provide a sediment trap on Los Osos Creek near its confluence with Morro Bay. To accomplish this, the wetland reserve easements were purchased in 1995. Historically, the site was a freshwater wetland and riparian forest. In the twentieth century the site was converted to agricultural use. The creek bed was moved and levees were constructed along the creek to control flooding. It was farmed continuously until 1995. Since 1995 the site has been allowed to revert to wetland. The floods of 1995 did most of the work by rupturing the levees and seeding the area with millions of willow trees. Today, the site is functioning as a sediment trap and is outstanding wildlife habitat. Mature steelhead trout have been observed in the creek. Large bucks roam the willows. Birds and waterfowl are constantly in abundance. In the winter of 1997-98, it was estimated that more than 70,000 cubic yards of sediment were accumulated on the site. Recent News:
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