Berm removal in the Santa Monica Mountains may help endangered steelhead trout
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The California Department of Parks and Recreation will begin removing a berm next week — built up over 20 years to be 30 feet high and wide and 1,000 feet long — that blocks the waters of Topanga Creek and keeps endangered steelhead trout from reaching the ocean year-round.
Local residents in the 1960s through the 1980s piled material, including asphalt, concrete, soil and possibly cars, onto the area off Rodeo Grounds Road and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, to ensure their homes weren’t flooded during heavy rains.
The $3-million project, paid for by various state and local agencies, will remove 26,000 tons of material and test it for lead contamination before trucking it to landfills. It also will remove non-native plants and restore the riparian area with native plants such as cottonwoods and sycamores.
The berm removal should be done by early October, and restoration of the 12-acre area by late fall, according to state officials.
Officials hope the restoration will give the federally endangered Southern California steelhead trout, a silvery gray-speckled fish about 2 to 3 feet long, a chance to make a comeback.
About 60 years ago, roughly 1,500 steelhead swam from the ocean and up the creek to spawn in the winter. Now, only about 10 swim Topanga Creek each year, and “those that show up are faced with barriers and bad habitat,” said Nica Knite, a Southern California manager with California Trout, a conservation group.
As recently at the 1950s, about 50,000 steelhead swam in southern waterways, from the Santa Maria River to Baja California’s Domingo Creek. Today, fewer than 500 swim that area, Knite said.
These Southern California steelhead hold a special place in the evolutionary chain, with DNA that makes them descendants of the original species that appeared after the Ice Age melt, Knite said.
“They’re actually the first ones that evolved, and they are able to tolerate the warmer waters that we have in Southern California,” said Suzanne Goode, a senior environmental scientist with the parks department. “This is really significant because of climate change. The fish up north cannot tolerate the warm waters, so as northern streams become warmer, we may hold the key to having steelhead trout.”
— Tami Abdollah