our lovely river

THE CARMEL RIVER WATERSHED

The Carmel River is a natural resource that provides water for drinking, agriculture, community enjoyment, recreation, and habitat for wildlife.

The Indigenous peoples of the Carmel River watershed include the Rumsen Ohlone people in the lower watershed, and the Esselen people of the upper watershed. 

HABITATS

The river flows through diverse habitats, beginning in higher elevations with mixed evergreen forests—featuring coast redwoods and the rare Santa Lucia fir—before transitioning through montane chaparral, woodlands, coastal sage, chaparral, and finally, coastal sand dunes at its mouth.

aerial view
river water
river

LANDSCAPE

The Carmel River watershed covers 256 square miles and starts at 4,120 ft on Miller Mountain in the Ventana Wilderness. The Sierra de Salinas range is the northeastern divide, while the northern Santa Lucia Mountains form the southwestern divide. Major tributaries include Miller Fork, Cachagua Creek, Pine Creek, Tularcitos Creek, and Las Garzas Creek. The Carmel River is 41 miles long, with a direct length of 26 miles.

ECOLOGY

The Carmel River in Monterey, California is home to several endangered and threatened species, including:

  • California Red-legged Frog

  • South-Central California Steelhead

  • Smith's Blue Butterfly

  • Western Snowy Plover

To view current wildlife and flora sightings, check out our Carmel River Watershed project in iNaturalist. 

steelhead trout

STEELHEAD PROTECTION

Stream restoration and conservation efforts support steelhead trout, a unique migratory fish that travels between freshwater and saltwater throughout its life cycle. Born in the Carmel River, steelhead spend their early years in freshwater before migrating to the ocean, where they grow and mature. After several years, they return to their home river to spawn, repeating this incredible journey. The Carmel River steelhead is part of a threatened population protected under the Endangered Species Act, making habitat restoration critical to their survival. The removal of San Clemente Dam has helped reconnect upstream habitats, restoring natural river flows and providing the spawning gravels steelhead need to reproduce. Today, the Carmel River supports the largest steelhead run in the region, offering 73.7 miles of spawning habitat. The Los Padres Dam remains a major obstacle to migration, underscoring the need for ongoing conservation efforts to support this resilient yet vulnerable species.

DAMS & RESERVOIRS

The Carmel River had three dams, with their reservoirs used for drinking water and agricultural uses.

  • The San Clemente Dam originally held 1,450 acre-feet of water, but by 2002, this had decreased to less than 150 acre-feet due to silt buildup. In 1991, state regulators warned that the dam could collapse during an earthquake, risking the water it held. In January 2010, California American Water Company agreed to build a new half-mile channel to manage the sediment. The Carmel River Reroute and San Clemente Dam Removal Project was completed in 2015, restoring 6.5 miles of habitat for steelhead rainbow trout and enabling access to nearby tributaries. It became the third largest dam removal in North America and the largest in a Mediterranean hydroclimate setting.

  • The Los Padres Dam, built in 1949, is 26 miles upstream from the ocean. Originally, it held 3,030 acre-feet, but by 2008, its capacity was reduced to 1,775 acre-feet. The best habitat for steelhead trout is 6.2 miles upstream due to good spawning grounds. Sediment is filling the reservoir, especially after fires, like the 1977 Marble Cone Fire. The Los Padres dam and reservoir are an impediment to natural flow of woody debris and gravel/sediment downstream, and to steelhead trout migration. However, it also serves an aesthetic function by ensuring summer flow through many miles of river below the dam each summer.

  • The oldest dam on the river was about 2,000 feet downstream from San Clemente Dam and was part of a water pipeline. It was removed during the San Clemente Dam Removal Project in 2015. Built around 1880 by Charles Crocker and the Pacific Improvement Company, it was known as the "Old Carmel River Dam," and used granite blocks for construction. A 25-mile cast-iron pipe delivered water to the first Del Monte Hotel, crossing the Carmel River five times. Remnants of the pipe remain, but its river crossings are unrecorded.

RIVER history

We understand that for centuries, the Carmel River Valley was home primarily to two tribes: the Ohlone people of Rumsen heritage tribe in the lower portion and the Esselen tribe in the upper valley.

Click a date below to discover what happened that year.