On Sunday's OC Register, an article by Brooke Edwards Staggs
appeared announcing that the U. S. Forester Service is considering removing old
rock dams and other obstructions to improve the ability of Southern Steelhead,
trout, and arroyo chub to move freely in the Trabuco, Silverado, Holy Jim, and
San Juan creeks.
Public feedback to the federal agencies is very important in
the decision making project. Accordingly, the Cleveland National Forest
Officials have invited the public to submit feedback on the proposal by emailing your comments to [log in to unmask]
or mailing them to Kirsten Winters,
By way of background, the Sierra Sage Group of the Sierra
Club have long been on record as encouraging the various public bodies to
remove barriers to the natural movement of fish in these streams. A few years
ago, steelhead were discovered attempting to migrate up the Trabuco Creek for
spawning purposes as they currently do in the San Mateo Creek. Unfortunately,
they were stopped by concrete structures and were never able to make it
upstream. While this proposal only addresses the portions of the streams in
the National Forest, it is a start. Hopefully, their action will provide an
impetus to Cal Trans and others to remove the artificial barriers on the lower
portion of the streams..
Please send an email or letter to Kirsten Winter this week
to show our support for this action.
Mike Sappingfield
Sierra Sage Group
Sierra Club