| Salsipuedes Creek | |
| Name Other: | Arrollo De Salsipuedes[1] |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | California |
| Subdivision Type3: | County |
| Subdivision Name3: | Santa Barbara |
| Subdivision Type5: | City |
| Subdivision Name5: | Lompoc |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 34.5269°N -120.385°W[2] |
| Source1 Elevation: | 1000feet |
| Mouth: | Confluence with Santa Ynez River |
| Mouth Location: | Southeast of Lompoc, California |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 34.6317°N -120.4128°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 115feet |
| Tributaries Right: | El Jaro Creek |
Salsipuedes Creek is a 9.9miles long stream,[3] flowing north to join the Santa Ynez River just southeast of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, California. Salsipuedes Creek, along with its major tributary, El Jaro Creek, is the largest tributary to the lower Santa Ynez River, shortly before the river reaches the Pacific Ocean.
The river was first named by the Spanish Arollo del Jaro.[1] In the Spanish language it means "get out if you can", a name conferred on flashy streams in narrow canyons.
The Salsipuedes Creek/El Jaro Creek watershed drains approximately 47.1sqmi and flows roughly 25.1miles from its headwaters along the coastal Santa Ynez Mountains to its confluence with the lower Santa Ynez River.[4]
Salsipuedes Creek runs north from its source along Jalama Road until it is met by El Jaro Creek, a 13-mile long tributary, just south of where Jalama Road meets U.S. Highway 1, then Salsipuedes Creek mainstem continues north along Highway 1 to Santa Rosa Road, where the creek has its confluence with the Santa Ynez River. El Jaro Creek has two tributaries with intermittent flows, Los Amoles Creek and Ytias Creek, which are 3.5miles and 4.2miles long, respectively.[5]
Upper Salsipuedes Creek and El Jaro Creeks have perennial flows and provide good steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) habitat.[5] Southern steelhead trout were listed as endangered in 1997, when the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the anadromous trout below Bradbury Dam on the Santa Ynez River as critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. North American beaver (Castor canadensis) improve juvenile rearing habitat for salmonids and are prevalent on Salsipuedes Creek, coincidentally the best trout habitat in the Santa Ynez River watershed.