Stream of Dreams : Many Hope Endangered Listing Would Draw Trout to Malibu Creek

SIERRA CANYON —  With the decision Tuesday by the federal government to nominate steelhead trout as an endangered species, state wildlife officials and local environmentalists are hopeful that Malibu Creek and several other Southern California streams will again teem with the prized fish as environmentalists say they did a nearly a century ago.

The listing, if finalized next year as expected, will probably require local water agencies and cities to build new fish ladders, limit the amount of water they can take from the county’s rivers and possibly call for the dismantling of a 1920s-era dam on the creek.

Currently, state wildlife officials estimate that 50 to 75 steelhead--a type of rainbow trout distinguished by its salmon-like migration to the ocean--make their home in the creek. But officials believe that number could triple if they could demolish Rindge Dam, a 100-foot-high structure located on the creek 2 1/2 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean.

A 1996 report by the California Fish and Game Department described state-owned Rindge Dam as “the major obstacle to restoring the steelhead run on Malibu Creek.”

The dam confines the trout, a favorite with local anglers, to the final 2 1/2-mile stretch of the creek. With the barrier removed, wildlife officials say, the fish would expand their habitat about 5 miles upstream.

State fish and game officials estimate the adult steelhead population in California is about 250,000.

About 500 of the fish spawn in four major Southern California streams--including Malibu Creek in Los Angeles County, the Santa Clara and Ventura rivers in Ventura County, and the Santa Ynez River in Santa Barbara County.

To restore the Malibu Creek trout run, state officials estimate the cost of removing the dam at $7 million to $15 million, a potential price tag of about $200,000 to $300,000 per fish now living in the creek below it.

But who would pay for the changes is open to debate.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Malibu real estate company owner Louis T. Busch, a longtime resident.

“Taking it down is a waste of time and money,” he said. “The steelhead are not going to go beyond the dam, if there were any there to begin with. I’m sure local homeowners will challenge it.”

“I think it’s absolute economic folly,” said Ron Rindge, whose grandmother build the dam. “I used to fish in that creek in the early 1940s. I question whether there were more than 50 to 75 steelhead in Malibu creek in the early 1940s.”

Built in 1926 by May K. Rindge and the Marblehead Land Co., Rindge Dam created a reservoir that provided water for coastal Malibu agricultural land and the handful of local residents there.

By 1967, however, the reservoir behind Rindge Dam was filled with so much sediment the structure was no longer classified as a dam by the state. The structure was later purchased by the state along with surrounding Malibu Canyon land.

“It doesn’t hold water anymore. It’s full of sediment,” said Jim Edmondson, executive director of California Trout Inc., a major player in the bid to protect the fish. “It’s a facility that doesn’t serve man or beast,” and therefore should be removed, he said.

Opponents of removing the dam contend that the creek bed upstream from the dam site is dry most of the year anyway, so no fish could live there. Proponents argue that the stream bed carries cleaned-up water from the Tapia sewage treatment plant that the fish could live in.

The state wants to provide access for migrating fish, said Andy McLeod, a deputy state resources secretary, but “whether it necessitates taking down the dam remains to be seen.”

Fish ladders have been installed in some similar situations, proving a route for migrating fish, or a hole could be cut in the dam to give the fish access to the upper creek, state wildlife officials said.

Local water officials, meanwhile, reacted with indifference. “We don’t think the listing will affect service to our customers,” said Randal Orton, who oversees watershed management programs for the nearby Los Virgenes Water District.

Some of the biggest changes would be on the Ventura River, affecting the Casitas Municipal Water District, which diverts and purifies river water to serve its 55,000 customers in western Ventura and the Ojai and Ventura River valleys--40% of them farmers and ranchers. Casitas stores river water in Lake Casitas, a reservoir formed by the Robles Diversion Dam, about 14 miles upriver from the ocean.

The state Department of Fish and Game says a fish ladder at the Robles dam is critically needed to protect the remaining steelhead population.

Another proposal considers removing Matilija Dam, a 100-foot-high dam built in 1948. Its construction blocked steelhead from a 10-mile stretch of the creek and its tributaries, all perfect breeding grounds for the trout, which favor the cooler waters deeper into the mountains.

But despite the difficulties facing the trout, rancher and fly-fishing enthusiast Steve Smith said he still sees an occasional steelhead from his property on Santa Paula Creek. As a citrus rancher, Smith said his livelihood comes before his hobby. But he believes that the proposed listing does not have to mean farmers and consumers will suffer.

“I see the farm viewpoint as well as anybody, but I don’t see why we can’t coexist,” Smith said. “Protecting something like the steelhead trout isn’t going to affect anybody’s livelihood.”

When he bought his property 10 years ago from a 95-year-old woman, Smith said, she told him of the days when the creek was overflowing with steelhead.

“I want to see steelhead in Santa Paula Creek again,” he said. “For selfish reasons. I think it would be the ideal cocktail in March; go out and watch the steelhead going up the creek in your frontyard.”

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