Vestiges of the creek

It is mind blowing to consider that Temescal Creek was culverted only in the 1970s through the late 1980s. Before that, the creek was open to the sky and to its ecosystem. As neighborhoods built up around the creek, and especially once roads were paved and highways moved in, the creek became constricted. When moving water is confined to a small space, the water usually begins to scour the land beneath it, cutting deeper and deeper and causing the creek to be "incised," or carved into the earth. Incisement often turns rain events into flooding events. After a particularly large flood event in 1962, plans were made to bury the creek inside a concrete pipe below street level. Fish could no longer swim up the creek, insects and plants were removed or buried along with the creek, and the ecosystem became much more sterile. For this reason, the opportunity to experience wild flora and fauna in this section is radically reduced. Even the creek that runs behind the DMV is a facsimile of the actual creek.