3 Waterways Called Key for Steelhead

Taking an important step to save the steelhead trout, federal wildlife officials Friday identified 140 waterways in the West, including three in Ventura County, as critical habitat for the once abundant and prized game fish that is now sliding toward extinction.

The list released by the National Marine Fisheries Service will require special management strategies on the designated rivers, streams and estuaries to help recover the species, which is threatened by water diversions, dam building and pollution. The list includes waterways in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho that the fish uses to migrate from the Pacific to inland spawning beds.

Among the waterways affected in California are Calleguas Creek and the Ventura and Santa Clara rivers in Ventura County; San Antonio and Santa Ynez rivers in Santa Barbara County; parts of Santa Monica Bay, and portions of the Sacramento, Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers in the Central Valley.

Designating water bodies vital to fish recovery indicates where conservation efforts are needed, and invokes regulations under the Endangered Species Act that could include limiting a wide range of human activities on those waterways.

The types of activities that could be scrutinized, and possibly restricted, include road building, water diversions and sewage treatment. About 31,000 square miles of watersheds in California are affected, according to the fisheries service.

“This is habitat that has steelhead in it and we’re going to be working in these watersheds to recover these species,” said Jim Lecky, assistant regional administrator for the service.

But the proposal quickly drew fire from critics, including scientists, environmentalists and sportfishing enthusiasts, who say it does not go far enough to protect steelhead. They say some of the best spawning grounds for steelhead are not recognized in the federal proposal because the grounds are behind dams.

Among the waterways not on the “critical habitat” list are Matilija Creek near Ojai and Malibu Creek, two streams where environmentalists, anglers and some elected officials are proposing to tear down dams.

In the Central Valley, 90% of the best steelhead spawning grounds are behind dams, said Dennis McEwan, senior fishery biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game.

“In many cases, the historical habitats above these dams is where most of the spawning and rearing habitat is located,” McEwan said. “It means it’s going to make it more difficult and you won’t recover the species if you can’t get them above the dams.”

Limiting the fish to areas below dams will also require finding water for them. That could force water agencies to dramatically change operations, including restrictions on water releases and hydropower production, said Jim Edmondson, executive director of California Trout.

“It’s a stunning announcement. It means we’ll have to get more water for the fish from these dams and that sets up a water war,” Edmondson said.

But Randy Brown, chief of environmental services for the state Department of Water Resources, said managing streams for steelhead is less problematic than it would be for other endangered fish. Brown added, however, that he envisions situations where water releases from reservoirs would have to be timed to steelhead migrations. “And that’s going to cost money,” he said.

Alternatively, the dams could be removed. Dam removal is expensive, but the practice is gaining favor in the Northwest and other parts of the country where dams have outlived their usefulness or caused more harm to fisheries than benefit for water storage or flood protection.

The National Marine Fisheries Service contends the waterways steelhead now have access to below dams should be sufficient to preserve the species. But in coming months, more studies will be done and that conceivably could result in some tributaries upstream of the dams being deemed essential and included in a comprehensive plan to recover the fish, Lecky said.

“We don’t have enough information before us to make a scientifically supportable determination that that habitat [behind dams] has to be restored to ensure the survival of the species,” Lecky said.

The public has until May 6 to comment on the federal government’s listing, which was included in the Federal Register on Friday. Public hearings very likely will follow and a final version of a recovery plan is due next year.