Rock Step Pool

Rock step pools, like the two check dams that they replaced, dissipate the energy flow of the water as they are graded. However rock pools create more habitat in addition to erosion control. UC Berkeley students, funded through UC's The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF), designed and installed the Strawberry Creek Ecological Stabilization Project in 2014, and included rock step pools to control erosion along the creek. Fish fry (baby fish) need small nonturbulent pools to hang out in when they are young. Rock step pools also provide a pool habitat for species like the Sacramento sucker (Catostomus occidentalis) which generally lives at the bottom of the creek for cover from birds and to consume algae and invertebrates. Additionally, the California roach minnow (Hesperoleucus symmetricus) waits in midwater facing into the current to eat algae and crustaceans. The Three-spine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) also waits in the midwater to eat crustaceans, larvae of small insects, and small fish.