One of California’s most endangered fish species – the Southern California steelhead trout – is just hanging on. Now, federal officials are considering removing protections from part of its remaining habitat in Ventura county.
Submit a public comment urging the National Marine Fisheries Service to keep steelhead habitat safe. Comments are due Friday, August 28!
Note: this will take you directly to Regulations.gov. For sample language to customize look at the bottom of this email.
What’s happening: In response to a petition by the United Water Conservation District, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is proposing to remove critical habitat designation for nine miles of Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River downstream of Santa Felicia Dam.
Here’s the shoddy argument: The habitat isn’t good enough for steelhead so it shouldn’t be protected and restored. But United Water Conservation District’s own reports document endangered steelhead in these waters. The District’s dam degrades fish habitat in the creek and under federal law, the District is required to restore this habitat.
What United Water Conservation District really wants: To shirk their responsibility under the Endangered Species Act to restore steelhead habitat downstream of the Santa Felicia Dam and avoid fixing the ongoing fish passage problems at the Freeman Diversion Dam on the Santa Clara River, which is a documented barrier to the migration of endangered steelhead.
The trout in Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River are key to steelhead recovery in Southern California! Southern steelhead once numbered in the tens of thousands; today they’re among California’s most imperiled fish. Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River are part of the remaining opportunity to bring them back.
Why? Resident trout upstream of Santa Felicia Dam maintain the genes for the steelhead trout form and NMFS previously determined that these resident fish may be an ideal source to restore not only Piru Creek’s steelhead runs, but other populations throughout Southern California.
The Santa Clara River is one of the few undammed rivers in Southern California. Piru Creek is a major tributary of the Santa Clara, but unfortunately, its two large dams permanently block historic steelhead runs that migrate up these streams all the way from the Pacific Ocean.
CalWild has long advocated for the protection of Piru Creek within the Sespe Wilderness and as a National Wild and Scenic River in the Los Padres National Forest and Ventura County. Legislation that CalWild helped draft is pending in Congress to add to the Sespe Wilderness and Piru Creek’s Wild and Scenic segments.
If this critical habitat repeal moves forward, it could block the restoration of the degraded segment downstream of the Santa Felicia Dam, as well as on-going efforts to improve fish passage at the Freeman Diversion Dam downstream on the Santa Clara River.
Public comment is Friday, August 28. To submit a comment, please go directly to the government website: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/NOAA-NMFS-2025-0050-0061.
Click on the “comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
Protected Resources Division NMFS West Coast Region
1201 Northeast Lloyd Blvd, Suite 1100
Portland, OR 97232
Attn: Southern California Critical Habitat Revision (Piru Creek)
Dear NMFS:
I oppose repeal of the nine miles of critical habitat designation on Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River downstream of Santa Felicia Dam. I agree the habitat in this stream segment is degraded, but it should be restored with appropriate flow releases from Santa Felicia Dam and by physically improving instream habitat. Southern steelhead historically used this stream segment. In fact, NMFS has identified the genetic steelhead found upstream of the Santa Felicia Dam as a likely source to restore steelhead populations throughout Southern California. United Water’s own studies show that a few steelhead can still be found downstream of the dam. The critical habitat protection for Piru Creek and the Santa Clara River downstream of Santa Felicia Dam should remain and United Water must be directed to restore flows and habitat in this segment, as well as resolve on-going fish passage problems at their downstream Freeman Diversion Dam.
