Pescadero Creek is the center of a critical linkage connecting the wildlife of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range to the south.

At about two-thirds of its course it is joined by Castro Valley Road, which passes with the stream through Hatfield Canyon,[5] then crosses into Santa Cruz County and receives from the right Star Creek,[6] which drains the eastern flank of 1,618 feet (493 m) tall Atherton Peak.

However, Stanford University ichthyologist John Otterbein Snyder indicated in a 1912 report that Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) ran in the Pajaro River watershed.

[11] The 1,200 acres (490 hectares) Star Creek Ranch on the eastern slope of Mount Atherton has been protected by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County.

The Ranch is bordered by 2 miles (3.2 km) of Pescadero Creek and harbors 350 acres (140 hectares) of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest, oak woodlands and grasslands.