NEW STUDY COULD BRING BACK STEELHEAD RETURNING THE FISH TO MALIBU CREEK STILL A DAM PROBLEM.Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News MALIBU - Once plentiful 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 will return to 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. if a dam blocking their spawning run is removed, advocates for the highly prized game fish said. Before their habitat was destroyed by development and pollution or blocked by dams, thousands of Southern California steelhead swam in local rivers and creeks. Hollywood stars of the 1920s are said to have stopped productions to fish when the steelhead were in from the ocean. But now the fish are listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C.A. §§ 1531 et seq.) was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. . Steelhead are sea-going kissing cousins of rainbow trout rainbow trout Species (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae) noted for spectacular leaps and hard fighting when hooked. It has been introduced from western North America to many other countries. . Like salmon, steelhead spawn and spend their early life in freshwater coastal streams and their adult stage in saltwater. Unlike salmon, steelhead don't necessarily die after they spawn and might return to the ocean several times. Congress has authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the feasibility of removing or altering Rindge Dam The 100 foot Rindge Dam is located in Malibu Creek State Park, about 3 miles from the coast of Malibu, California. It is below Malibu Canyon Road, beneath the Sheriff's Memorial, and goes unnoticed by most who drive on the road due to it being out of view of the road. on Malibu Creek to bring back the steelhead. California State Parks This is a list of state parks and reserves in the California state park system. Jump to: External links A : Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
``We're talking about possibly the world's greatest game fish in a canyon a half-hour from L.A.,'' said David Brown of the Sierra Club Sierra Club, national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club . ``I'm in favor of grabbing this opportunity.'' The Southern California strain of steelhead is a distinct genetic group, according to Suzanne Goode, senior resource ecologist with the State Parks. She said the endangered fish, ancestors of all other steelhead, are uniquely adapted to life in warmer water. The study will examine alternatives, including outright removal of the dam, built in 1926 to bring water to Malibu Colony and now owned by California State Parks. ``The Rindge Dam is a public nuisance public nuisance n. a nuisance which affects numerous members of the public or the public at large, as distinguished from a nuisance which only does harm to a neighbor or a few private individuals. ,'' said Jim Edmondson, conservation director for CalTrout. He pointed out in an interview after the meeting that the dam no longer stores water, doesn't generate hydroelectric power and doesn't provide flood control. The area behind the dam filled with sediment by the mid-'50s. Edmondson has helped form the Southern California Steelhead Coalition - a group of 36 organizations, including local fishing clubs Heal the Bay Heal the Bay is a U.S. environmental advocacy non-profit organization based in Santa Monica, California. Heal the Bay is dedicated to protecting California's Santa Monica Bay, a region of the Pacific coast encompassed by Malibu's Point Dume on the north and the Palos Verdes , CalTrout, the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1979 and dedicated to the acquisition of land in the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills, north and west of Los Angeles, for preservation as open - to lobby for the steelhead. Money is an issue, with preliminary cost estimates of complete removal of the dam and trapped sediment running from $20 million to $40 million or more. But this is an impractical ``gold plated'' plan, according to Edmondson. He suggests a better approach, which the Corps of Engineers is including in its study, is to incrementally lower the dam and let natural winter runoff transport the sediment to the ocean, where it's needed to restore beaches. ``This might take 10 to 20 years,'' Edmondson said. ``This is a slow, ecologically sound, least cost approach.'' He said it would cost a half million dollars to remove the dam this way, with another $3 million for the environmental studies. One aspect that needs to be studied is the impact on homeowners living near Malibu Creek. ``We're dogged in our opposition unless there are proper mitigation measures to protect downstream property owners,'' said Bill Carson of the Sierra Canyon Property Owners Association, which represents several hundred homeowners below the dam. ``The property owners have legitimate concerns and fears that the Army Corps needs to study,'' Edmondson said. ``There are no fish, even as valuable as the steelhead are, that are more important than human life.'' Edmondson said a transport study would determine the sediment carrying capacity carrying capacity the number of animal units that a farm or area will carry on a year round basis, including that needed for conservation of winter feed. Usually stated as dry cows or dry sheep equivalents per hectare. of Malibu Creek. ``Once that's done, it will tell us what's feasible without endangering public safety and the speed we can notch the dam. Maybe it's six inches a year, maybe it's six feet.'' Ben Hamilton, a biologist and member of the Surfrider Foundation, said at the meeting that removal of the dam also would benefit nearshore near·shore n. The region of land extending from the backshore to the beginning of the offshore zone. near species of fish that live in the ocean below Malibu Creek. Ronald Rindge, a descendent of the dam's namesake, opposes the dam's removal, and has tried to have it protected as a California Point of Historical Interest California Points of Historical Interest are sites, buildings, features, or events that are of local (city or county) significance and have anthropological, cultural, military, political, architectural, economic, scientific or technical, religious, experimental, or other value. . ``It is folly to continue to spend money on this project until the water in Malibu Creek is once again pristine and capable of sustaining steelhead below the dam,'' said Rindge in a letter to the Corps of Engineers submitted at the meeting. But local fishermen said the steelhead are still there. ``If we don't fight for the fish, nobody else will,'' said Eric Miner, president of the Conejo Valley Fly Fishers. He said he caught and released steelhead in Malibu Creek below the dam five years ago when it was legal to fish for them. ``A decent day was 15 to 18 hookups and maybe for every ten hookups you'd land two or three,'' Miner said. ``They are very, very strong fish. ``I don't care if I catch another one. I have three little kids, and I don't want to tell them we killed off the steelhead to save a hunk of concrete.'' |
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