The Alameda Creek Alliance is a volunteer based community watershed group working to restore native steelhead trout to Alameda Creek.
The Alameda Creek watershed is the largest drainage in the southern San Francisco Bay region, encompassing almost 700 square miles. The watershed includes remote wildlands along upper Alameda Creek within Sunol and Ohlone Regional Wilderness Preserves and SFPUC watershed lands; the rapidly urbanizing towns of Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and San Ramon in the Livermore Valley along the Arroyo Mocho and Arroyo de la Laguna tributaries; the hamlet of Sunol and the Sinbad and Stonybrook Creek tributaries in Niles Canyon; and the urbanized Tri-City area of Fremont, Union City, and Newark on the San Francisco Bay Plain. The watershed boasts the highest peaks [Mount Isabel and Mount Hamilton] and highest waterfall [Murietta Falls] in the East Bay and is also known for natural landmarks such as Little Yosemite in Sunol Preserve and Coyote Hills at the creek`s mouth.
Alameda Creek and its tributaries historically supported anadromous fish runs of steelhead trout, coho salmon, Pacific lamprey and river lamprey, and possibly chinook salmon. Despite extensive urbanization, flood control projects, and major dams, Alameda Creek still supports one of the best assemblages of native stream fishes in the San Francisco Bay region. At least a dozen native fish species have been documented in recent years, including rainbow trout, Pacific lamprey, California roach, hitch, Sacramento blackfish, hardhead, Sacramento pikeminnow, Sacramento sucker, threespine stickleback, Sacramento perch, prickly sculpin, and tule perch.
Adult steelhead thought to be native to Alameda Creek have been documented in the flood control channel attempting to migrate upstream during winter spawning runs from 1997 through 2005. These fish are currently blocked by impassable barriers in the creek.