Pajaro River

Aerial view of the Pajaro River at Watsonville, California. The river empties into the Pacific Ocean about 2.5 miles (4 km) west of this photograph. View is to the east.

The Pajaro River (pájaro is bird in Spanish) is a river in Northern California, forming part of the border between Santa Cruz County and Monterey County and between San Benito County and Santa Clara County.

Its headwaters are in the Diablo Range, from which the river flows west for 30 miles, passing the city of Watsonville and emptying into Monterey Bay. The San Benito River joins the river about 15 miles upstream from the ocean. San Felipe Lake, also called Upper Soap Lake, is a permanent lake on the upper reaches of the river, upstream of its meeting with the San Benito River. Lower Soap Lake, also called Soap Lake, is an intermittent body of water a few miles downstream of the upper lake. This type of water body forms when the channel below is unable to keep up with the flow coming from upstream.

In 2006, the Pajaro River was designated as America's most endangered river by the American Rivers organization.

References

• Pajaro River Watershed Flood Prevention Authority
• The Trust for Public Land
• Columbia Gazetteer of North America
• American Rivers press release: "Pajaro River Among America's 'Most Endangered'"