PIRU TOADS, TROUT COULD BE PROTECTED.Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News The wild trout in Piru Creek Piru Creek is a large stream in northern Los Angeles County and western Ventura County, California. It is a tributary of the Santa Clara River, the largest stream system in Southern California that is still relatively natural. may be able to coexist with endangered arroyo toads after all. The fish are threatened by a California Department of Water Resources History 1850-1875 California recognizes many types of water rights. These rights have developed with the State over time. Prior to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, California was part of Mexico. plan to cut back summer water flows in the popular fishing creek The United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System gives about 80 returns for streams with this name; the number gets up toward 200 when place names are part of the argument. as part of an expensive strategy to protect the toads. A draft report released early this year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated costs related to the conservation of the arroyo toad in 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, will be $1 billion. That amount did not include the impact of the loss of the wild trout fishery in Piru Creek. Dennis O'Conner, a consultant to the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, chaired by State Sen. Sheila Kuehl Sheila James Kuehl (born February 9, 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American politician, and a former child actress. She is currently a Democratic member of the California State Senate, representing the highly urbanized 23rd district in Los Angeles County and parts of southern , D-Los Angeles, recently conducted a fact-finding meeting in Agoura attended by local anglers and representatives from the DWR DWR Design Within Reach DWR Department of Water Resources DWR Direct Web Remoting (Easy Ajax for Java) DWR Durable Water Repellency DWR Delayed Word Recall (medical testing) DWR Driving While Revoked , the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. O'Conner said Kuehl wanted to know if it was plausible to take actions that will protect the toads in a way that wouldn't seriously damage the wild trout fishery - and if feasible, how to do that. ``Our concern was to find out if there is a way where all the critters that needed to be protected could get along,'' O'Conner said. O'Conner said, based on the information presented at the meeting, trout and toads can coexist. Lois Grunwald, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the service supported the DWR proposal, but that did not mean other plans to preserve the wild trout fishery could not be considered. She said the service had never considered taking action against the DWR over the endangered toads. Matt Coyle, a fly fisherman in Thousand Oaks, who has fished at Piru Creek for more than a dozen years, believes that the DWR is more interested in saving money than saving toads. ``The DWR is seeing how much water is being released and are using toads as an excuse to not meet their obligations to maintain the wild trout fishery,'' Coyle said. That's not true, according to the DWR. ``The plan to restore the natural stream flows into Piru Creek was developed to comply with 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. ,'' DWR spokeswoman Susan Sims said. ``The DWR plans to meet with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in early May. ``We are interested in hearing whether they have any alternate plans to protect arroyo toad and the fish in Piru Creek.'' The meeting will not be open to the public. Jim Edmondson, conservation director for CalTrout, commended Kuehl, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the DFG DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council) DFG Department of Fish and Game DFG District Factor Group DFG Data Flow Graph DFG Difference Frequency Generation DFG Diode Function Generator DFG Dog Faced Gremlin for their interest in seeking a solution. He said he hopes DWR will pursue other alternatives, but his organization also plans to fight the current plan. |
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