The Martis Creek watershed is east of the Sierra Nevada crest and drains. It has four perennial tributaries, in order : West Fork Martis Creek, Middle Fork Martis Creek, East Fork Martis Creek, and Dry Lake Creek. The tributaries join Martis Creek above Martis Creek Reservoir, except for Dry Lake Creek. The United States Army Corps of Engineers has identified significant problems with Martis Dam, including significant seepage and seismic dangers which they are currently studying. Shortly after its construction in 1972, the seepage was discovered and the water behind the dam has been maintained at a minimal level since.
Ecology
The Northstar Habitat Management Plan is being developed to enhance the forests, aquatic, riparian, and meadow habitats around Northstar at Tahoe, recognizing that these environments provide habitat for a range of sensitive species, including northern goshawk, California spotted owl, pileated woodpecker, American marten, mule deer, willow flycatcher, mountain yellow-legged frog, and mountain beaver. North American beaver have re-colonized Martis Creek. The presence of beaver dams has been shown to either increase the number of fish, their size, or both, in a study of brook, rainbow and brown trout in Sagehen Creek, which flows into the Little Truckee River. Recently novel physical evidence demonstrated that beaver were native to the Sierra until at least the mid-nineteenth century, via radiocarbon dating of buried beaver dam wood uncovered by deep channel incision in two locations in Red Clover Creek, a Feather River tributary that is also east of the Sierra Nevada crest. Beaver ponds are associated with high cutthroat trout populations in a study of successful translocations into streams in Colorado and New Mexico because they provide deep pond refugia for adult trout in small headwater streams. Prior to the arrival of European inhabitants and fish species declines probably related to logging and overgrazing, Martis Creek was an important year-round fishery for the Washoe people. Fishery resources included Lahontan cutthroat trout and a variety of smaller species, such as sucker and chub. In June 1978 the California Department of Fish and Game stocked LCT in Martis Creek Reservoir, after reducing non-native resident trout using piscicides. This stocking attempt was unsuccessful.
