PLAN TO RAZE DAM OK'D BY COUNTY.Byline: - Eric Leach Ventura County supervisors approved an environmental impact report Tuesday on razing the 168-foot-high Matilija Dam as part of efforts to restore habitat for the 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 See RRAS. trout. The $130 million project would be the nation's largest dam removal but probably could not be completed until 2011, officials said. Supporters called Tuesday's vote a milestone. ``A project of this scale could not have gotten this far without everybody working together. We've got dozens of agencies working on this project,'' said Jeff Pratt, director of the Ventura County Watershed Protection The term watershed refers to an area of land that drains precipitation that falls on it to a common point. These points could be streams, lakes, etc. Precipitatoin falling on any part of a watershed can travel quickly on the surface of the land, known as surface runoff, or travel through District. The move clears the way to seek federal funding for the project, which still requires congressional approval. One of the biggest problems is dealing with 6 million cubic yards of sediment built up behind the obsolete dam, located in the mountains above Ojai about 16 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Under the plan outlined in the environmental report, sediment would be gradually released to restore Matilija Creek and 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 more natural streambeds and replenish re·plen·ish v. re·plen·ished, re·plen·ish·ing, re·plen·ish·es v.tr. 1. To fill or make complete again; add a new stock or supply to: replenish the larder. 2. coastal beach sand. Tuesday's action was another key development in efforts to restore habitat for the endangered Southern California steelhead trout. Last week saw the opening of a fish ladder to help the trout move past another massive concrete barrier in the Ventura River used to divert water to Lake Casitas Lake Casitas is a lake in Ventura County, California. It was formed by Casitas Dam on Coyote Creek, two miles (3 km) before it joins the Ventura River. Santa Ana Creek and North Fork Coyote Creek also flow into the lake. . Jim Edmondson, Southern California manager for 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, said the environmental report was a major step toward removing the dam. ``There's an enormous amount of habitat for the trout above Matilija they will be able to visit for the first time in 60 years,'' he said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Ventura County Watershed Protection District will oversee the dam removal project. |
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