Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Endangered Species & Wildlife Category
Click here to view all posts

Lawsuit planned over steelhead; Santa Clara River fish ladder targeted

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 2, 2008 at 6:09 am

From the Ventura County Star:

In the latest salvo in the battle over steelhead trout, an environmental group this week took the first step toward filing a lawsuit against the United Water Conservation District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, claiming the water agency is not doing enough to protect the federally endangered fish in the Santa Clara River.

“We have to take decisive action now,” said Nica Knite, program manager for California Trout, which filed a notice Monday that it planned to sue over the issue. The suit is not just about protecting the steelhead, but the entire river, she said. The steelhead “is an indicator of the ecosystem health of the entire Santa Clara River watershed,” she said.

Knite’s group contends United Water hasn’t done what was specified in a July document by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which regulates the management of the steelhead.

The biological opinion said the United fish ladder that goes around the Freeman Diversion doesn’t work and the agency must fix it or build a new one. It said actions are needed as early as this winter to help the fish get around the structure, which diverts water from the river to the Oxnard Plain.

United’s general manager dismissed Knite’s claims as well as parts of the biological opinion, saying the water district is doing all it needs to do to protect the fish. “We are not going to be intimidated,” Michael Solomon said. “We are going to protect the environment and do our responsibilities and protect our constituent’s water supply.”

Solomon said the reason why only two fish have used the ladder in the last 11 years is that there is not a significant population of steelhead in the river. Read more from the Ventura County Star by clicking here.

October 2, 2008 · Filed Under Endangered Species & Wildlife

Comments

Leave a Reply