I suppose that answer all depends on what outcome you’re looking for. If it’s grant monies from the Coastal Conservancy, it’s a creek. If it’s to marginalize the value of the habitat surrounding the beaver lodge and dam, it’s a drainage ditch.
I can’t seem to recall the last time a drainage ditch or run off supported the following: bats, beavers, crayfish, carp, tulles, turtles, mallards, muskrats, otters, egrets, herons, song birds, swallows and geese.
Yesterday I ran into a woman out on the lawn adjacent to the primary dam mulling over plans for the Alhambra Creek Restoration project. Perhaps I should have corrected her and told her that the creek was just a ditch.
Linda Meza
