Macklin Creek

Macklin Creek is located on the west slope of the Sierra. Timber trees present are red and white fir, Abies magnifica and Abies concolor, lodgepole, sugar and Jeffrey pines, Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana, Pinus lambertiana, and Pinus jeffreyi. Quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides, and black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa, occur in the meadows. Along most of the stream banks are dense growths of willow, Salix sp., and mountain alder, Alnus tenuifolia.

In this creek is the only remaining genetically pure stock of the Lahontan cutthroat trout, Salmo clarkii henshawi. The creek's gradient is gentle except for 0.8 kilometer (0.5 mile) above its confluence with the Middle Fork of the Yuba River where it is quite steep with numerous falls which prevent upstream migration from the river. Originally the fish occurred in the Lahontan basin which in California includes the Truckee, Walker and Carson River drainages and Lake Tahoe. The introduction of lake, brown and rainbow trout into these areas has resulted in drastically diminished and hybridized populations of the Lahontan cutthroat trout. It vanished in the 1940's from Lake Tahoe, the type locality. Considered a subspecies because of its geographical isolation from other stocks, this trout grows to a larger size and is adapted to highly mineralized water. The Macklin Creek occurrence is outside of its former known range.

Integrity: The creek is virtually undisturbed.

Use: Research, educational. Remainder, private.

Ref: La Rivers, Ira, 1962. Fishes and Fisheries of Nevada. Nev. St. Fish & Game Com., 782 pp.

July 1975