The riparian area has a rich prehistoric past with settlement of the Southern Pomo people on much of the middle and lower reach banks.

A significant stream restoration project was created in the downtown Santa Rosa reach in the late 1990s, allowing steelhead and coho salmon to migrate to productive upstream spawning areas.

The lower elevations of the Hood Mountain headwaters consist of the Boomer soil association, which group has well-drained loams over a clay-loam subsoil.

[4] Considering the steepness of much of the terrain there is a remarkable lack of erosion, primarily because human access has been historically low, and vegetative cover has been kept intact.

On the gentle rolling slopes that join the valley are Haire series moderately well drained clay loam soils, which are used for dry-farm pasture and some vineyards.

Below the downtown confluence with Matanzas Creek, which drains the northern slopes of Sonoma Mountain, can be considered the lower reach of this watershed.

[5] In these oak woodlands, the dominant understory plants are toyon, blackberry, western poison-oak and in occasional drier patches some coyote brush.

Common animals observed include California mule deer, gray squirrel, raccoon, skunk, Western pond turtle, river otter and opossum.