Water Agency Acts to Aid Endangered Trout

A local water agency decided Wednesday to build a $2.3-million fish ladder at a Ventura River dam as part of an ambitious plan to keep the endangered steelhead trout from becoming extinct.

The Casitas Municipal Water District board voted unanimously to pursue measures aimed at improving river conditions for the fish and helping it reach prime spawning streams in the Topatopa Mountains above Ojai.

The decision establishes the river as a focal point for steelhead recovery in Southern California, where the prized game fish abounded before dams, pollution and water diversions decimated it.

Casitas district officials acknowledged that their actions are motivated by legal and well as environmental concerns. One of those threatening suit is California Trout Inc., a pro-fishing group that charges that Casitas’ management of the river and Robles Diversion Dam conflicts with the Endangered Species Act and is pushing steelhead to the brink.

“It’s an investment we need to make to protect the fish,” said district General Manager John J. Johnson. “We want to take the high road, so if they do decide to take us to court, we can tell the judge we are taking every reasonable action to take care of the fish.”