Restoration work at Malibu Lagoon to save the endangered South Coast Steelhead seems to be paying off. A 20-inch long steelhead was spotted in the Creek on May 15th, the first sighting in decades.
Congratulations to all those involved in the restoration efforts, including CalTrout’s Santa Clara River Steelhead Coalition Coordinator, Candice Meneghin.
“The project had a lot of critics during its implementation, because people didn’t believe that you should use a bulldozer in a sensitive habitat. The counter to that is that when you fill in a wetland with bulldozers and let that dirt stay there for 70 years, the only way to get it out again is to use more bulldozers,” said Suzanne Goode, a senior environmental scientist at California State Parks. “We feel somewhat vindicated to our critics who said that we were going to kill everything.”
For more on the restoration efforts, read the California State Parks press release. Click to learn more about our Santa Clara River restoration project and the Santa Clara River Steelhead Coalition.
Photo Credit: Jayni Shuman, RCDSMM Stream Team.
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Peter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; ecology of California stream fishes; impact of introduced aquatic organisms; and use of floodplains by fish.
Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic science and applied conservation policy, ensuring that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous projects to help inform California Trout conservation policy. His recent research interests include Coho salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and management, and policy implications of trap and haul programs for anadromous fishes in California.
Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, including the State of the Salmonids report. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional fishery management councils around the country. Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a crew member of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program.