A watershed for Contra Costa County - Los Vaqueros Watershed in Contra Costa County, California - Brief Article

Sunset, May, 2000 by Amy Mcconnell

At Los Vaqueros, hike, bike or ride a horse through 18,500 acres of open space

Here's the word on Contra Cost a County's newest recreation area: It's big. So big, in fact, that without a map or some trip planning, you could very well hike for hours without ever finding the reservoir that is the heart of the Los Vaqueros Watershed. But with a little strategizing and a basic understanding of what the 35 miles of existing multiuse and hiking trails offer, you're sure to come away with an appreciation of the underutilized natural treasures that lie in the hills between Brentwood and Livermore.

The first time I visited the watershed was a cloudy day in February. Not knowing where to enter the park or how to find the reservoir, I wandered the trails for two hours. Everywhere I looked were rolling, dry grass-covered hills, many dotted with oaks, some with windmills, and some with cattle. I still hadn't found the reservoir when rain started coming down slantwise. Reluctantly I left, feeling like the knight who never finds the holy grail.

But a return visit to Los Vaqueros promptly changed my tune. In the space of just a couple of months, the hills had greened up, the skeletal oaks had leafed out, and wildflowers had started to bloom. Best of all, thanks to some research, I found the reservoir.

Protecting the water means protecting the land

For centuries, the land that is now the Los Vaqueros Watershed was used for cattle ranching. Mission San Jose raised cattle here; later centuries brought Basque cattle ranchers, known locally as "the Vascos." The Vascos were followed by ranchers, sharecroppers, and itinerant cowboys--from whom the land acquired the name Los Vaqueros. Cattle farming continued to dominate these hills until the 1980s, when the Contra Costa Water District embarked on the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Project in order to store water with lower salinity levels than are sometimes present in the delta.

According to David Sterner, the watershed's biologist, the water district took great pains to comply with strict environmental requirements, including the protection and management of a vast swath of drainage land surrounding the reservoir. Explains Sterner: "Fifteen hundred acres of land were required to create the reservoir, but as a result, we have an 18,500-acre protected watershed." That means 18,500 acres of brand-new open space.

Sterner's job--to oversee the management of the watershed's wildlife and botanical habitats--is one that many people would envy. He's the type who can identify from a distance a loggerhead shrike, which, to my eyes at least, is a mere speck in a small tree. He knows where to find golden eagles' nests (last year there were three nesting pairs in residence). And he can find basking Western pond turtles, or wetlands that resonate with the sound of croaking California red-legged frogs.

On my second visit to Los Vaqueros, I walk with Sterner up the 1/4-mile Interpretive Trail to the reservoir. Standing at the northern tip of this vast, multi-fingered water source, he explains how the convergence of two types of habitat makes the watershed a refuge for rare and endangered species. "The eastern side is typical Central Valley landscape--rolling grassland. The west is more coastal--steeper hills, oak woodlands, chaparral." The resulting broad range of animal life includes everything from the Alameda whipsnake--a species found only in the coastal habitat of Alameda and Contra Costa counties--to California tiger salamanders, San Joaquin kit foxes, and burrowing owls that thrive on the valley side.

At the end of the day, we walk up the Mariposa Canyon Trail, shaded by oaks and colored by California poppies and rare, butterfly-like Mariposa lilies. At the top of the 800-foot ridge known as Vista Grande, we peer down at the reservoir, with the Black Hills to the west and the flat Central Valley and snowcapped Sierra peaks to the east.

"When they come here, people are always impressed by how big this place is, how rugged it is, and how diverse it is," Sterner says. I'm impressed too.

Los Vaqueros travel planner

Los Vaqueros Watershed is a work in progress; though 35 miles of trails are now open to the public, another 20 miles are scheduled to open by late May. Trails will eventually link to two adjacent regional parks, Round Valley and Morgan Territory. A roughly sketched map, available at all park entrances, rates trails by their level of difficulty and indicates which are multiuse--that is, used for mountain biking and horseback riding as well as hiking--and which are intended only for hiking.

There are three parking areas, known in the park as "staging areas"; eventually there will be four. (Note: Some of the few rest rooms in the park are found at the staging areas.) Because of the watershed's vastness, your starting point will determine the type of landscape and trails you'll find. The Walnut and Dam staging areas can both be accessed from the north entrance. The Walnut Staging Area is a good starting point for mountain-biking and horseback-riding forays; closer to the reservoir, the Dam Staging Area--the starting point for the 1/4-mile Interpretive Trail--is better for hikers in search of views and diverse topography. On the south side of the park, the County Line Staging Area leads to steeper, hiking-only trails and coastal chaparral areas. By late 2000, there will also be a Marina Staging Area, where fishing and electric-motor boating will be allowed. (Boats will be available for rent.)