FILLMORE : Council Backs River Management Idea

The Fillmore City Council has agreed to support a proposal to develop a management plan for the Santa Clara River between the city of Santa Clarita and the ocean.

The council voted Tuesday to send a city Planning Department staff member to a series of meetings with wildlife and resource management agencies, landowners, mining companies and representatives from four other cities along the river--Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula and Santa Clarita.

The group will examine a proposal from the state Coastal Conservancy and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create the Santa Clara River Management/Enhancement Plan. Cathy R. Brown, a biologist with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the plan will consider “conflicting uses of the river, and we’ll try to balance them.”

Fillmore’s representative will work with other members of what Brown termed the Santa Clara River Working Group to decide how to gather information about the river and enhance its use for both people and wildlife.

“We need to do studies so we can make more informed decisions about the river,” Brown said. “Hopefully, we will be able to help farmers by applying regulations more consistently and taking a more cooperative approach.”

Besides joining the working group, the Fillmore council requested that at least one city official and two area landowners be represented on a management team that will oversee the working group.

The Santa Clara River Working Group is not expected to meet until later this summer, after funding for the studies has been found, Brown said. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Coastal Conservancy and the State Department of Parks and Recreation have agreed to fund about half of the projected cost of $540,000, city officials said.