| Blackwood Creek | |
| Pushpin Map: | USA California |
| Pushpin Map Size: | 300 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the mouth of Blackwood Creek in California |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | California |
| Subdivision Type3: | Region |
| Subdivision Name3: | Placer County |
| Subdivision Type5: | Cities |
| Subdivision Name5: | Tahoe Pines, Idlewild |
| Source1: | Southwest flank of Ellis Peak in the Sierra Nevada Mountains |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 37.32°N -122.1553°W |
| Source1 Elevation: | 8000feet |
| Mouth: | Lake Tahoe |
| Mouth Location: | Tahoe Pines |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 39.0631°N -120.2067°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 6234feet |
| Tributaries Left: | Middle Fork Blackwood Creek, North Fork Blackwood Creek |
Blackwood Creek (was|dogásliʔ), is a 8adj=midNaNadj=mid[1] eastward-flowing stream originating on the southwest flank of Ellis Peak in the Sierra Nevada. The creek flows into Lake Tahoe 4.2miles south of Tahoe City, California, between the unincorporated communities of Idlewild and Tahoe Pines in Placer County, California, United States.
Blackwood Creek was named for early settler, miner and fisherman Hampton Craig Blackwood, who settled at the creek's mouth in 1866. The area was heavily grazed and logged into the 1970s. "Blackwood Pass" at the head of the creek is named on the Wheeler Survey Report of 1876-1877.[2]
Blackwood Creek is the third largest stream (by area and discharge) of the 63 Tahoe Basin watersheds flowing into Lake Tahoe. The Blackwood Creek watershed drains an area of 7166acres and the creek mainstem has Middle Fork and North Fork tributaries.[3] The creek mainstem is paralleled by Barker Pass Road.
Historically, Blackwood Creek once hosted native Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi) and other native fishes and was almost as important as the Upper Truckee River to the Washoe as a fishery. It is now a critical spawning stream for Lake Tahoe's non-native rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).[4]