Removal Would Destroy an Asset

Proponents of removing the Matilija Dam cite two reasons for doing so:

* To restore full sediment flow to the beaches.

* To provide additional spawning areas for steelhead trout, which would help save them from extinction.

The sediment trapped by the dam has come about over a 50-year period. The dam does not trap all sediment, because much of it is in suspension in the water flowing over the dam during peak storm runoff and does reach the beaches. Whether the sediment-flow argument is valid depends on whether the sediment trapped by the dam each year justifies the cost of removing the dam.

The argument that removing the dam would help save the steelhead by increasing its spawning area is weak. There is no guarantee that removing the dam would bring back steelhead to this waterway.

Steelhead thrived below the dam for many years after the dam was built in 1948. Are there any steelhead now in the Ventura River? How many steelhead have returned to the Santa Clara River since the Freeman Diversion Dam and fish ladder were constructed for millions of dollars years ago? If there are no or very few steelhead, manual transport to upper spawning areas should be considered.

The decline of steelhead in Southern California has been caused by many factors, primarily the degradation of marine and stream waters resulting from the ever-increasing urbanization of coastal watersheds.

It is significant that the impetus to remove Matilija Dam is coming from special fish interests and taxpayer-funded public agencies that seem to have little concern for cost-benefit analysis. Not only would removing the dam cost as much as $75 million, according to one estimate, but doing so would destroy a multimillion-dollar asset that could be rehabilitated for critical water shortage and flood-control purposes.

Taxpayers are not clamoring to spend $75 million on a Las Vegas gamble that removal of the dam will solve Ventura County’s beach erosion problems or “save the steelhead.”

The option of rehabilitating the Matilija Dam to full storage capacity and flood-control capability needs to be seriously examined.