Photograph by Edmund Lee
Saratoga Creek offers a habitat for people and birds.
By Carolyn Leal
Saratoga Creek, one of Saratoga's chief environmental resources, will be celebrated Sunday, May 19 during a Watershed Festival in Wildwood Park.
The day, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will include live entertainment, food, games, technical talks and activities for children. Barbecued trout sandwiches will be for sale by reservation only (Call 262-9204).
Entertainment will feature the Redwood School Band at 10:30 a.m.; the fifth-grade choir from Argonaut School at 11:30 a.m.; Les Landin and his Skillet Band at 12:15 p.m. and speakers at 1:15 p.m.
At 2 p.m., San Jose Children's Musical Theater takes the stage, followed by Greg Burner and accompaniment at 2:45 p.m; and the Saratoga Community Dixieland Band at 3:30 p.m.
The Youth Science Institute staff will present a program on denizens of the creek, including the red-shouldered hawk, great horned owl, mountain king snake and gopher snake.
Other presentations include a slide show on wildlife in the creek by Craig Breon of Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society; a computer demo for Saratoga Creek by Charles Preuss of Coyote Creek Riparian Station; a program on bats in the Saratoga Creek watershed by David Johnston of the Coyote Creek Riparian Station; a discussion of organic pollution and health risks for Saratoga Creek by Chris Rummel of the Santa Clara County Environmental Health Department; the Community Creekwatch explained by Chris Fischer; State of the Creek review by Karen Cotter and volunteers; a water conservation skit by Santa Clara Valley Water District; science education and monitoring of the creek by Diane Reynolds of St. Andrews School.
The Saratoga Union School District will display inhabitants of the creek in an aquarium and participants will be able to view organisms through a video microscope. Computers will be set up to demonstrate monitoring of the creek. The California Native Plant Society will display native plants .
Saratoga Art Docents Sarah Lovgren and Barbara Lulu will display drawings of aquatic insects and participants will be given a chance to try their hand at scientific illustration.
A three-panel mural on canvas of Saratoga Creek and Wildwood Park, titled "Sunday at Wildwood Park," will be on display. The mural was created by Saratoga school children, painting in the style of French artist Georges Seurat. T-shirts with the mural are available by contacting Saratoga, Foothill, Argonaut or Redwood schools.
The celebration is sponsored by the Coyote Creek Riparian Station and the Saratoga Union School District. Assisting are: Santa Clara Valley Water District, Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies, Saratoga Rotary Club, Saratoga Springs, the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, California Native Plant Society, Habitat Restoration Group and Youth Science Institute.
Saratoga Creek is about 25 miles long, starting high on the ridge top at Skyline Boulevard, according to Johnston, director of the Coyote Creek Riparian Station.
Johnston once walked the length of the creek, from where it begins as McElroy Creek, atop Mt. Bielawski at 3,231 feet. It's an exercise he does not recommend to others because of the steep terrain. The creek flows into Saratoga Creek at Saratoga Springs resort and runs two miles, following Highway 9, before it reaches Wildwood Park.
Saratoga Creek runs all year round. It continues along Saratoga Avenue and then follows Lawrence Expressway, becoming an intermittent stream, Johnston said. It passes through Central Park in Santa Clara, before flowing into San Tomas Aquino Creek, through Guadalupe Slough and into San Francisco Bay.
"The Watershed Festival is a celebration of the creek as a resource, a habitat for people, birds and trout," Johnston said.
Wildwood Park is located behind Saratoga Village on Fourth Street. Parking is at Saratoga School on Oak Street. The festival is free.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, May 15, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved