Steelhead trout spotted in Ballona Creek

The picture isn't particularly clear, but it's photographic proof nonetheless that we've got fishies in Ballona Creek. Two steelhead trout were spotted yesterday, bringing joy to environmentalists all over L.A.

Why are two fish such a big deal? This once-natural waterway got totally paved over by the Army Corps of Engineers, basically making it a huge concrete storm water drain -- an action now generally seen as extreme, since it ruined the ecosystem around the waterway. Enviro groups have since been working to  revitalize Ballona Creek into a working eco-system. 

The fish serve as a sign that that work's been paying off. I heard the good news via a group email from Andy Lipkis, President of local enviro-org TreePeople:

This is an indicator of success of the functioning community forest!  Well, actually, not till they are spawning every year by the thousands...but none-the-less...a hopeful sign of what is possible. Those  lovely fish are just waiting out there to swim up stream and get smoked--I mean--re-inhabit the watershed.  And they are hanging out next to a school that we've greened and maintained for years with Sony's  Citizen  Foresters! (not that we can actually claim any credit for these fish...but maybe they smell the trees).

Lipkis didn't actually see the fish. He heard about them from Melina Watts, Malibu Creek Watershed Coordinator, who heard about them from Steve Williams, Conservation Biologist at the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, who apparently saw two trout at 9 am yesterday under the foot bridge just west of the Overland Avenue overpass in Culver City and snapped the above photo.

Ballona Creek has many activist groups involved, from TreePeople to Ballona Creek Renaissance to Ballona Wetlands Land Trust. Check them out -- or check out the Ballona Creek Bike Path first hand and get a workout in!

Photo by Steve Williams

Comments

[Will Campbell]

Ooooo! I bike along the creek by that bridge on my way to work. I'll be on the lookout.

[isaac roman]

nice stream you guys have down there. since when were rocks half dvd players mixed with cardboard. amazing how hard headed nature is, just don' understand why any body would destroy an ecosystem just to build houses and make $$$$$$. not a good trade off. karma kills. maybe if you take all that concrete out and stopp dumping your trash into the river, it might help..come on L.A.!!!!!!! fix your city beore you move to nor cal and destroy our land

[Rodney North]

I've never even lived in LA but I've heard about the LA "river" and such for years, and think this is great, great news. Don't let these 2 brave piscian re-pioneers be the last!