Uvas Creek supports one of the last remaining wild runs of steelhead

“Upstream” has been installed near lake Silveira in Morgan Hill. Photo courtesy Evelyn Davis

By Robert Airoldi

Robert Airoldi

Local artist Evelyn Davis has completed and installed her latest bronze wildlife sculpture on the Little Llagas Creek Interpretive Trail in south Morgan Hill. It is of two life-sized steelhead trout titled “Upstream.” It is located near Lake Silveira on a beautiful boulder, which she purchased from Peninsula Building Materials. It was installed by Abonce Landscaping of San Martin.

Before she started the sculpting, Davis met with Herman Garcia of Coastal Habitat Education & Environmental Restoration to learn about the local steelhead. He gave her the recorded measurements of a steelhead he and his group rescued and released several years ago in the same creek. The steelhead was 33 inches long. Her sculpture is a reflection of that native fish.

She thanked Garcia, Martin Abonce, and the wonderful crew at Bronze Works Foundry for helping her accomplish this several-year-long project.

“Team work,” she said. “These projects always take a long time, but the economy and COVID also slowed us down.”

She said she learned many fun and interesting things about the physiology and lifestyle of steelhead trout in the process of creating this sculpture. They sense their surroundings and navigate through their lateral line that runs down each side of their body. Another fun fact: rainbow trout and steelhead are the same species but different lifestyles. Steelhead are rainbow trout that are over 16 inches and are also anadromous. Uvas Creek supports one of the last remaining wild runs of steelhead, according to C.H.E.E.R.

Davis also created the sculpture of the fox in the Third Street Creek Park, the deer in the median across from Trail Dust and the owl on the trail by the Centennial Recreation Center.

Few Californians know California was once the target of a series of pirate raids. This overlooked period of early 19th century history is the subject of a new book by regional author William Briggs. It’s titled “That Pirate, Bouchard.”

The book recounts the adventures of the French-born privateer Hipolito Bouchard, who sailed for Argentina during the South American wars of independence from Spain. Privateers practiced a form of government-sanctioned piracy and Bouchard sailed around the world searching for Spanish ships and coastal seaports to plunder. In 1818 he attacked and burned Monterey before raiding Santa Barbara and sacking the mission at San Juan Capistrano.

According to Briggs, a former California State University communications professor and dean, Bouchard’s California raids didn’t yield much plunder, but they did demonstrate the weak hold Spain held on Alta California in the last days of empire. Bouchard is revered as a national hero and Father of the Navy in three South American countries. But to Californios, he was “Ese Pirata, Buchar” (“That Pirate, Bouchard”), said with fear and scorn.

“It’s a fascinating story of global revolutions with an important California connection and a very human central character,” Briggs said. “He was one of the last great privateers in the Age of Sail.”

“That Pirate, Bouchard” is available online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at local book sellers. The author will hold a book talk from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 24 at BookSmart in the Vineyard Town Center.

Six graduating high school students and alumni of Charter School of Morgan Hill have been awarded scholarships by the Charter School of Morgan Hill Foundation. In the past seven years, the Foundation has awarded $33,000 in scholarships to CSMH alumni for use in their pursuit of higher education at their chosen institutions. In 2023, the CSMH Foundation will be awarding $1,000 to each recipient.

While the criteria for selection includes academics, participation in intra or extra-curricular activities such as sports, leadership, employment, and community volunteerism, a written essay is also required as part of the application. In these essays, it is clear that the CSMH project based learning model has set these students up for success as they navigated four years of high school.

CSMH Foundation Alumni Scholarship recipients are Madeline Arnott, Miya Avila, Emily Dougherty, Kathryn Huffman, Jonny Ledesma, and Kyla Spencer.

Wonderful job, all! Best wishes for your future.