FISH LADDER SET TO RESTORE STEELHEAD POPULATION.Byline: Eric Leach Staff Writer Environmentalists and government officials gathered Thursday at the Ventura River The Ventura River is a river in Ventura County, California. The river forms at the confluence of Matilija Creek and North Fork Matilija Creek, 15 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. to open a $9 million fish ladder designed to promote the recovery of the endangered Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, steelhead trout. The fish passageway will allow the steelhead to get around the massive concrete Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
``It's the best thing we can do for these fish - to let them go home,'' said Craig Fusaro, a member of the board for the Central Coast region of the California Trout California Trout is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) conservation group dedicated to “protecting and restoring wild trout and steelhead waters throughout California”. Organization. Neal Fishman, deputy executive officer for the California Coastal Commission The California Coastal Commission is a state agency in the U.S. state of California with quasi-judicial regulatory influence over land use and public access in the California coastal zone. , said the Ventura River is the most significant stream in the effort to help the endangered steelhead recover in Southern California. ``Coupled with the removal of the Matilija Dam, the Southern California steelhead can return to its ancestral grounds and thrive,'' he said. ``When the dam comes down, it will open another 20 miles of spawning habitat. ``This project is essential to the project to take down the dam. It's a real winner from the environmental point of view.'' The Casitas Municipal Water District is paying for much of the project, but the California Coastal Conservancy The California Coastal Conservancy is a government agency that aims to protect coastline resources along the California coastline. External links
Ventura County Supervisor John Flynn, 71, said he was elated by the project and could recall standing in the Ventura River when he was a boy and watching the steelhead swim between his feet. ``This project tied in with bringing down the Matilija Dam is a big step in restoring the river. This is man being a good custodian of the earth.'' Ron Merckling, a spokesman for the Casitas Municipal Water District that built the project and paid for it with help from a number of other agencies, said officials estimate about 200 steelhead now swim in the river. Larry Week, chief of the native anadromous anadromous said of fish; those living most of their lives in the sea but entering rivers to spawn. fish and watershed branch of the California Department of Fish and Game, said there were once as many as 5,000 steelhead in the Ventura River before the Matilija Dam was built in 1948. ``This (fish ladder) is a critical part of the steelhead recovery effort,'' he said, expressing hope there will once again be thousands of steelhead in the river and spread to other Southern California coastal streams, including perhaps Malibu Creek Malibu Creek is a year-round stream in western Los Angeles County, California. It drains the southern Simi Hills and the westernmost San Fernando Valley, flows south through the Santa Monica Mountains, and enters Santa Monica Bay at Malibu Lagoon, in Malibu. in Los Angeles. The $130 million project to raze raze also rase tr.v. razed also rased, raz·ing also ras·ing, raz·es also ras·es 1. To level to the ground; demolish. See Synonyms at ruin. 2. To scrape or shave off. 3. the Matilija Dam is supported by officials in Ventura County and will be the nation's largest dam removal effort, but when it gets under way depends on environmental studies and approval by federal officials. One major problem with removing the dam is dealing with the more than 6 million cubic yards of sediment built up behind it, Merckling said. The sediment could damage the fish ladder, and officials hope to build a channel to move the sediment around the ladder. The fish ladder also will allow young fish to return downstream to the ocean, about 14 miles below the fish ladder. The fish usually travel up the river during periods of high water flow from snow melt between January and June. Casitas began the process of planning for the fish passage facility in 1996, prior to the listing of the Southern California steelhead as an endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. by federal environmental regulators. Eric Leach, (805) 583-7602 eric.leach(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) At the Robles Diversion Dam, a fish ladder has been added for steelhead trout to swim upstream in the Ventura River. (2) Casitas water board president James Word speaks during the opening of the Robles Fish Passage Facility on Thursday. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion