Going With the Flow

The dream of dismantling Matilija Dam moved beyond talk Monday as local, state and federal officials met to launch a study to determine whether it makes sense to tear down the 52-year-old dam near Ojai.

Removal of the dam has become a cause celebre among many Ventura County leaders, who consider the cracking concrete edifice an impediment to Matilija Creek and an anachronism from days when the only good stream was a dammed stream.

Surfers, local politicians and some businesspeople want it removed to allow sand to flow to beaches to benefit tourism and buffer erosion. Conservationists, biologists and fishermen scorn the dam because it has hampered migratory steelhead trout, an endangered species.

“It’s very encouraging,” said county Supervisor Kathy Long, whose district includes the 198-foot dam. “I’m pleased everyone is interested in this.”

Taking a big step, officials from the U.S. Department of Interior joined with representatives from other federal agencies, as well as the state and Ventura County, to plan a critical study that will determine whether removing the dam is feasible and how the job would be accomplished. The group met Monday for discussion and to tour the dam 16 miles north of Ventura.

The Board of Supervisors invited the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to visit Ventura County to conduct the study. The bureau once built hundreds of major dams across the country.

As dams fill with silt and are increasingly implicated in the demise of salmon and steelhead in the West, dam operators are under pressure to modify them or remove them to help fish and restore recreational uses.

For some time, the sportfishing organization California Trout, as well as the Surfrider Foundation and Friends of the Ventura River, have endorsed efforts to remove the dam. No community group has surfaced in opposition.

In the coming year, investigators will examine how to best remove Matilija Dam: Should the entire dam be torn down, or just part of it? How should the creek be diverted during the work? What happens to all the concrete rubble during demolition?

A key problem is determining what to do with the mud, sand and rock that has accumulated at the dam. So much sediment--an estimated 6.1 million cubic yards--is entombed behind Matilija Dam that it no longer serves to keep back flood waters, the reason for which it was built, officials say.

Sediment removal could eat up as much as 90% of the dam’s decommissioning cost. Said John LaBoon of the Reclamation Bureau: “Sediment removal is definitely the biggest problem here.”

The study will assess an exact cost to remove the dam. Estimates from previous studies range from $3 million to $82 million. Even proponents acknowledge that with such a large price tag, much of which could fall on local governments, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of Matilija Dam.

Given those concerns, the bureau will examine alternatives to dam removal. The federal study, to cost no more than $200,000, could be done by September 2000, said Allan Oto of the Reclamation Bureau.

Although previous studies have explored the feasibility of removing Matilija Dam, none has had the official backing and stature of this effort. Among the agencies participating are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, Los Padres National Forest, California Department of Fish and Game, Ventura County Flood Control Department and the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) this spring urged the federal government to undertake the study.

“This project has a lot of support in our office and all the way up to the office of the secretary [of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt],” Oto said.