Matilija Dam Removal a Step Closer

Ventura County supervisors signed off Tuesday on an environmental review of plans to tear down Matilija Dam near Ojai, setting the stage for a project designed to rescue an endangered migratory fish and restore sand flows to depleted beaches.

Despite concerns about potential decreases in area water supplies, the Board of Supervisors unanimously endorsed a report outlining the environmental challenges and benefits posed by the $130-million project.

If funding is secured and all goes as planned, the design process will begin next year, with removal scheduled to start in 2008. The project would take three years to complete, marking one of the largest dam removal efforts in the nation’s history.

“We’re beginning to put some life back into this watershed; we’re breathing life back into it,” Supervisor John Flynn said. “We’re proving that men and women can be good custodians of the Earth.”

A coalition of government officials, environmentalists, water agencies and others has been working for years on plans to dismantle the 190-foot-high structure.

Roughly $79 million in federal funding for the project was approved earlier this year by the House and by the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, but must still pass the full Senate and be signed by the president. The remaining costs would be picked up by state and local sources.

Built in 1947 to provide water storage for agriculture and limited flood control, the dam has trapped so much sediment that its capacity has been dramatically diminished. The dam has about 5% of its original capacity and can hold less than 500 acre-feet of water.

Biologists say the structure’s removal would allow water to flow freely down the Ventura River, restoring a historic run for the endangered steelhead trout. About 5,000 steelhead once swam upstream each year to reach breeding grounds. Today, their number is about 200.

“Your vote today ... will be the most significant action to recover the endangered steelhead” since the species was listed as endangered in the late 1990s, said David Pritchett, program coordinator for the Southern California Steelhead Coalition.

Removing the dam would also let sand and sediment from storm runoff flow naturally to the sea, replenishing Ventura’s eroded beaches, said the report approved Tuesday.

“The dam was originally given a lifespan of 36 years, and here we are 50 years later,” said Paul Jenkin, representing the Matilija Coalition and the Surfrider Foundation. “Really, Ventura County is leading the way on this.”

But some speakers expressed concern that the demolition could reduce water supplies for residential and agricultural customers in the Ojai Valley.

“I hope to continue farming for the next 20 years, and I think as a county we need to take into account where we’re getting our water,” said fifth-generation farmer Emily Thacher, one of several people who spoke about potential water losses. “Water supply is very important if you want green spaces to stay in your county.”

County leaders pledged to continue working with residents, farmers and water agencies to ensure that supplies were not reduced.

And with the environmental review approved, supervisors said project planners -- led by the Ventura County Watershed Protection District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- could begin to more specifically address some of the concerns that have been raised.

“We don’t have all the answers yet,” said Supervisor Steve Bennett, whose district includes the project area. “But I firmly believe the [water users] will be better off after this project than before.”