Carbonera Creek is the major surface water hydrological feature in Scotts Valley, running across the western portion of the Santa's Village site and through the center of town.

They hunted deer, elk, geese, and other wildlife, and traveled to the ocean to collect shells and special rocks to make stone tools.

The average annual precipitation in the Carbonera Creek watershed ranges from 85 to 120 centimeters per year, ninety percent of this falling between November and April.

Invasive root systems of these trees are important in erosion control and their dense canopy provides food and shelter for a variety of birds and mammals, yielding high habitat value.

Additional vegetation found along creek banks includes California blackberry (Rubus vitifolius), Himalaya blackberry (Rubus procerus), poison oak (Rhus diversiloba), Naltic rush (Juncus balticus), redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana), snowberry (Symphoricarpos rivularis), Coastal wood fern (Dryopteris arguta), and other herbaceous species and decaying vegetation.

Within the Carbonera Creek watershed is one of the three known Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests, a rare assemblage of vegetation narrowly restricted to sandy, infertile Zayante soils formed over Santa Margarita Sandstone.

The surface soil and subsoil drain very rapidly and do not retain enough water to support local climax species such as Coast redwood or Douglas fir.