Oso Creek Trail

Oso Creek Trail. . , History , The Oso Creek Trail started in April 1997 as a community collaboration where volunteers gather in late spring to celebrate the Earth and the arts in Mission Viejo. The trail is nestled along the riparian corridor of the Oso Creek Valley and conveniently connects residence to City facilities, the commercial core and surrounding neighborhoods. , The Oso Creek Trail represents the pro-active efforts of the community and the City to develop a backbone city trail system. , The goal of the community efforts is to produce a long-term benefit for many future generations to enjoy. The trail has been developed with numerous amenities and features that serve to educate and honor the community. These features include the Peace Obelisk to honor victims of 9/11, the mosaic history walls in the Character Garden, the vibrantly painted butterflies, the Celebration Garden, the Wave Wall on the Upper Oso Creek Trail, and the community murals surrounding the Village Green. , The Oso Creek Trail is a walking garden where the spirit of the community is alive and where people gather for a common cause to make a difference. , The Oso Creek and the development of the trail system have allowed many users to become exposed to the wonderful plant and animal life that exist along the trail and to experience the local ecosystem at work. This beautiful creek naturally flows from north of the Santa Ana Mountains and eventually joins the Trabuco Creek and ultimately to the Pacific Ocean. , The Oso Creek Valley played a significant role as the Mission Viejo Company uncovered and preserved many rare fossils including baleen and toothed whales, long snouted dolphins, primitive sea lions, sharks, rays and a variety of bony fish along the creek bed. When the grading of the creek was completed, it was engineered to carry increased storm water; and reclaimed water lines were installed along the eastern side of the creek to move recycled water from the Upper Oso Reservoir down to Mission Viejo residential areas for landscape beautification. , The creek edge was replanted with indigenous plants that occur along a riparian streambed including Coyote Bush (Baccharis pilularis), Mulefat (Baccharis salicifolia), Mexican Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), and willows (Salix sp.). Over the years, the plant varieties have shifted and changed as Mother Nature takes the creek back to a more natural state. The success of the natural vegetation growth brings increased wildlife back to the creeks edge. The wildlife includes House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), Goldfinch (Carduelis Costa's Hummingbird (Calypte costae), turtles (Clemmys sp.) and Great Blue Herons (Ardea Herodias, and Great Egret Ardea alba). , The Oso Creek Trail was created using both riparian and drought-tolerant plant material that is sustained with minimal irrigation. Overt h 60 varieties of plants were planted to cre walking garden of the Oso Creek Trail. The significant tree is the California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa). This tree survives along the creek bed but is also drought tolerant and can sustain itself with some supplemental water. The City Tree, Coast (Quercus agrifolia) and the Olive tree (Olea euroPaea) are iconic trees of Mission Viejo used along the trail. The unique combination of the riparian plant material along with the more drought-tolerant plants creates a striking and ever-changing walking garden and ecosystem that is accessible to the user. Take the time to see if you can identify the plants and animals listed here as you walk along the trail. , What is a Watershed? , A watershed is an area of land that all drains to the same body of water. Most of Mission Viejo is in the San Juan Creek watershed which totals 133.9 square miles reaching from the Santa Ana Mountains to Doheney State Beach. Water that falls in or on this area travels through streets, pipes, creeks and rivers all the way to the ocean. In Mission Viejo, Oso Creek is the main route for the water to travel through the San Juan Creek Watershed. , Where Does the Water Come From? , Many years ago, Oso Creek was dry throughout most of the year. Today, the development of our City and others in Orange County has caused water to flow through the Creek all year long. The water we see in the Creek now comes mostly from human activities like over irrigation and residential car washing. The water you see also contains pollutants that it picks up while traveling through our on its way to the creek. Things you can see like pet waste and litter and things you can't see like bacteria, fertilizer and pesticides all travel untreated through our storm drain system out to the ocean. , What Has Been Done? , In the late 1970s, the Oso Creek Barrier and Return Water Pump Station was installed. This station, located just north of Oso Parkway along the creek, captures the water flowing through Oso Creek during dry weather and sends it to the Upper Oso Reservoir. The water is stored until needed and then mostly used for irrigating City-owned landscaped areas. Currently, over 70% of Mission Viejo's landscaped areas are irrigated with reclaimed water.