Steelhead survival at stake with Santa Barbara Mission Creek project

From the Daily Sound

By JOSHUA MOLINA -- July 9, 2010

Can the steelhead survive in Santa Barbara?

City officials, environmentalists, and water quality advocates sure hope so.

Starting next week, the city will begin work on a near -$800,000 project to help the endangered steelhead trout swim up Mission Creek and spawn.

Crews will remove concrete near the Tallant Road bridge, create pools for the fish to live and rest, and bury a protruding sewer main line deep into the creek to reduce sewage spills.

The construction will force the closure of Tallant Road from Samarkand Drive to Alamar Avenue from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays from July 12 to July 26.

The project is intended to improve the habitat for the fish, enhance creek water quality and restore native vegetation in Mission Creek. Officials will also plant 1,500 plants and trees in the creek

“Mission creek has really been neglected over the years,” said Santa Barbara City Councilman Das Williams. “There was a time when that fishery was a part of the local economy. It is my hope that 100 years from now it will be again.”

Dozens of years ago, steelhead were so plentiful that they could be fished out of the creeks with a pitchfork.

As it stands now, the concrete apron near the bridge, and the concrete channel county flood control projects much lower stream, make it difficult for the steelhead to swim upstream. Steelhead have been spotted in the creek sporadically over the years, but their overall numbers have been in sharp decline.

Adult steelhead trouts live in the ocean, but when they spawn they attempt to return to freshwater streams where they were born. Landlocked steelhead, referred to as rainbow trout, can live their entire adult lives in freshwater. Many of them live in the ponds upstream near rattlesnake canyon and the Museum of Natural History.

City officials said removing the concrete apron near the bridge will create an important passageway for steelhead on their journey from the ocean to rattlesnake canyon.

“Wherever you have concrete the water flows really fast, and it is difficult, if not impossible, for the fish to swim upstream,” said George Johnson, city creeks supervisor. “One of the main functions of the project is to assist the endangered steelhead trout.”

Johnson also said that helping the steelhead survive right now is particularly critical in the wake of the Jesusita fire.

“The big fire filled the pools with sediment and we are finding very few fish,” Johnson said.

Fish need about 12 inches of depth to swim. Crews will create ponds for the fish and a slope so that they don’t have to jump the concrete channel to swim upstream.

The project has been in the works for years and was one of the original ideas put forward by the city’s creeks committee last decade.

David Pritchett, an environmental scientist and founding member of the creeks committee, said the project is a good step toward creating a quality habitat for the fish and improving water quality for Santa Barbara residents.

“A healthy Mission Creek, with migrating steelhead and clean water, is part of our quality of life in Santa Barbara and becomes yet another attraction for visitors to come here and insert their money into our local economy,” Pritchett said. “Fish passage restoration is historic preservation of our ecological heritage.”

The city obtained about $750,000 in the grant money to fund project. City funds will pay the rest. Officials acknowledge that this project is just one of several important steps necessary to help steelhead survive.

The biggest obstacle exists lower stream. Two county concrete flood control projects built in 1934 and 1961, which combined are about one-mile long, remain the biggest barriers. Plans are in the works to build a fish conduit within the concrete channel to help the trout pass through.

“Even though the fish passage conduit still is not yet completed, this is a good approach by the city to plan and implement the upstream ecological restoration projects opportunistically, when the plans and funding are secured,” Pritchett said.

Williams added that the health of the fish means a healthy environment for everybody.

“The fish is an indicator species of the overall health of the ecosystem,” Williams said. “It is about making this creek system beautiful and creating something this community can be proud of.”