Cost-Sharing Pact OKd for Dam-Removal Study
A push to tear down Matilija Dam took a step forward Thursday with the announcement of a cost-sharing agreement between Ventura County officials and the Army Corps of Engineers.
The pact covers a $4.2-million study that will help determine whether the federal government moves forward with a proposal to remove the obsolete dam just north of Ojai.
So much silt has settled behind the dam that it serves no useful purpose, starves the beach of sand and blocks the county’s once-plentiful steelhead trout from their spawning grounds, officials say.
If the Board of Supervisors approves the agreement next week, the county would pay half the study’s costs and the federal government the other half.
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