REPORT BACKS UP DAM'S REMOVAL ENVIRONMENT WOULD BENEFIT FROM CLEAR WATERWAY AT MATILIJA CREEK.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

OJAI - In the nation's largest-ever dam removal project, the 15-story Matilija Dam would be dynamited and a vital waterway cleared, restoring the sand-starved Ventura coastline and creating an environment for the endangered steelhead trout to breed, a new report says.

The 2,000-page environmental impact report details the steps for the $110 million project - tearing down the massive concrete wedge damming Matilija Creek and handling the 6 million cubic yards of sediment that have built up behind the wall since it was built in 1947.

``Pulling this off will be remarkable,'' said Steve Bennet, chairman of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, which has championed the dam removal.

``You have a completely useless dam that is causing a lot of problems for Ventura County. There are tremendous advantages to taking the dam out and no advantages from leaving the dam in place.''

According to the plan, workers would dredge about 2 million cubic yards of fine sediment from the shallow lake north of the dam, mix the sand with water to a gravy-like consistency and pipe the slurry south for spreading on 118 acres near Highway 150 and the Ventura River.

The dam - 8 feet thick at the top and 35 feet thick at the base - would be blasted and the concrete trucked to a recycler.

And behind the dam, designers would carve a winding channel through the remaining sand, gravel and rock to re-establish the creek flow.

Razor-wire fences would be removed and a trail installed for walking and biking.

The end result would re-create the Matilija Creek depicted in 1940s-era black-and-white photos, when it meandered through the rocky canyon that drew day-trippers and anglers from nearby cities.

``We want people to be able to access the creek again after 30 years,'' said Paul Jenkin, coordinator of the Matilija Coalition and environmental director for the Surfrider Foundation's Ventura chapter.

For activists like Jenkin, the new EIR marks a crucial point in the decades-old movement to dismantle the dam. All major interests have agreed the dam should be dynamited, rather than removed piece by piece, condensing a potentially 20-year project into a two-year effort.

While the new EIR outlines the general dam-removal proposal, project managers said there are still details to figure out. The EIR must be approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manager in Washington, D.C., and funding must be secured.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., had the project included in the Water Resources Development Act, which, if signed by the president by the end of the year, would allow proponents to apply for federal money next year.

Federal funds are expected to cover 65 percent of the $110 million cost and local or state funds will make up the remaining 35 percent.

The brainchild of Ventura County environmentalists, the dam removal project is now headed up by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Ventura County Watershed Protection District - marking a shift in philosophy and practice by the agencies.

The Watershed Protection District, formerly the Flood Control District, built Matilija Dam, despite warnings the facility would never live up to its designed purpose. The Army Corps of Engineers has a long history of damming, dredging and pouring cement to contain the nation's rivers.

``In years past we felt we could control nature; now we realize we have to work with nature,'' said Jay Field, a spokesman with the corps office in Los Angeles.

Matilija Dam was built in 1947, when many of Southern California's creek and rivers were dammed, with the idea that uncontrolled water was dangerous and a waste.

The Flood Control District dammed Matilija Creek about a half-mile before it joined the Ventura River to create a reservoir to store water for irrigation.

But the dam was plagued with problems from the beginning. Designed to hold more than 7,000 acre-feet of water, the reservoir soon filled with sediment and now holds just 500 acre-feet.

That rock and fine sediment once flowed down the river to restock sand on the beaches, which are now retreating from serious erosion.

Kerry Cavanaugh, [phone]

kcavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO:

The Army Corps of Engineers and the Watershed Protection District will hold a public meeting on the Matilija Dam environmental impact report at 6:30 p.m. on July 28 at the Ventura County Government Hall of Administration, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura. The report is available at www.matilijadam.org.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box, map

Photo:

(1) Paul Jenkin, coordinator of the Matilija Coalition, looks out over the dam, which has been in place in Ojai since 1947.

(2) The Matilija Reservoir now holds the sediment that once would have flowed out to Ventura County's beaches.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

Matilija Dam