Friends of Stevens Creek Watershed Summit

Valley Water participated in the Friends of Stevens Creek Watershed Summit, hosted by the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. The summit brought together representatives from local cities, Santa Clara County, Valley Water, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen), resource and regulatory agencies, and nonprofit organizations to discuss the future of the Stevens Creek Watershed.

The summit explored important topics affecting the watershed’s future, including the current condition of the Stevens Creek Trail, opportunities to close remaining trail gaps, the role of wildlife corridors, and the health of riparian habitat that supports fish and wildlife throughout the watershed.

During the summit, Valley Water’s Watershed Master Plan team presented an overview of the Lower Peninsula Watershed Master Plan, which is currently under development. The presentation introduced the watershed master planning process and shared existing conditions within the Stevens Creek Watershed, including channel stability, erosion, flood protection infrastructure, fish passage challenges, habitat conditions, and other watershed characteristics. Attendees also learned how Valley Water uses performance metrics to evaluate watershed conditions and identify opportunities for future improvements.

To illustrate how the planning process informs future investments, the presentation highlighted examples of potential watershed actions, such as improving fish passage, enhancing aquatic habitat, rehabilitating aging infrastructure, improving water quality, conducting hydrology studies, and supporting groundwater management. These examples demonstrated the types of projects and planning efforts that may be considered as the master plan develops.

Through presentations, table discussions, networking, and informational exhibits, Valley Water gathered valuable feedback from community members and partner agencies. The ideas and perspectives shared during the summit will help inform development of the Lower Peninsula Watershed Master Plan and future watershed management efforts.

The slideshow and presentation from the summit are attached to this blogpost for those interested in learning more:

To view the slideshow deck, click here.

To view the presentation, click here.