Lake Spafford occupies part of the original main channel of Putah Creek, which was once part of an extensive Central Valley network of streams and rivers. Periodic flooding deposited rich alluvial soil that supported lush woodlands and thickets inhabited by many waterfowl and birds, along with grizzly bear, deer, antelope, elk, and other mammals. Seasonal flooding so troubled the early inhabitants of Davisville that around 1870 they began dredging a more southern watercourse on lower land to divert the creek. Those efforts were partially successful, and in the 1940s the Army Corps of Engineers sealed off the original north fork of Putah Creek to create the Arboretum waterway. In 1968, during a major Arboretum development project, the creekbed was widened to form the lagoon called Lake Spafford. The waterway is now fed only by seasonal rains and campus runoff, a pattern that resembles the Central Valley riparian cycle in which meandering rivers create isolated oxbow ponds as winter floodwaters overflow their banks and summer waters recede. These isolated ponds experience the same low oxygen levels and algae bloom that affect water quality in the Arboretum, and many native amphibians, fish, and invertebrates are adapted to such conditions. The Arboretum waterway supports populations of turtles, frogs, crayfish, carp, sunfish, and bluegill. F. Edwin Spafford made lasting contributions to the University of California and the Davis campus between 1954 and 1987, serving in a series of administrative and governmental relations roles after earning his B.S. and M.Ed. degrees from Davis, and his service to the University, the campus, civic and political leaders, alumni, and the wider community earned him the honorary title of Assistant Vice Chancellor Emeritus from the UC Board of Regents.