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Toll-Road Dissing NOAA Now Fights to Protect Local Steelhead

Wednesday, Mar. 11 2009 @ 4:40PM

By Matt Coker in 241 Toll Road, A Clockwork Orange, Naranja News

Perhaps environmentally sensitive locals should withhold sending support to the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council and instead cut checks to the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was, after all, the NOAA that dealt what many believe to be the final death blow to extension of the 241 Foothill South toll road through a state park and perilously close to Trestles. Now the NOAA is sticking up for local steelhead trout.

Rodney R. McInnis, the NOAA's Southwest regional administrator, writes in a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board stamped Feb. 20, 2009, that his agency's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) protests the South Coast Water District's application to "appropriate" water from Aliso Creek because there is historical evidence steelhead trout once lived there and could possibly return again.

"NMFS has documented steelhead presence recently in creeks directly adjacent to Aliso Creek; specifically, San Juan Creek, Arroyo Trabuco Creek and San Mateo Creek," states the letter. "NMFS is therefore concerned that the proposed action would reduce the chances for steelhead recovery within Aliso Creek by reducing the quantity and quality of instream habitat for steelhead immigration and emigration, spawning and rearing. Furthermore, diverting water may cause take of steelhead, which is prohibited under Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act."

McInnis goes on to note that the water district's application "does not acknowledge historical presence of endangered steelhead in the Aliso Creek Watershed," and thus lacks strategies to deal with potential harm to the fish. The NMFS will withdraw its protest if a new application addressing the steelhead situation is filed, the letter concludes.

McInnis' missive mirrors the concerns raised in protests to the water district proposal filed by George Sutherland, project coordinator with the San Clemente-based South Coast chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Michael Hazzard of the Laguna Beach-based Clean Water Now! Coalition. Hazzard and the coalition's fearless leader, Roger Butow, have spun off a new eco-group, Friends of the Aliso Creek Steelhead.

Butow says the NOAA's participation, coupled recent support for Aliso Creek steelhead protection from California Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State Water Resources Control Board, Trout Unlimited and Cal Trout should make it easier to slap polluters up and down the watershed.

That's great. But now that I've thought about it, do keep sending those checks to the Sierra Club, Surfrider and the NRDC. They have cuter tote bags than the NOAA.

3 Comment(s) / Post a Comment

Michael Beanan says:

Matt,

Daily non-native dry weather flows of 5 million gallons of urban runoff from Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel not only floods Steelhead spawning grounds but also feeds severe toxic algae blooms in our ocean. Its a creek not a river. Our community is committed to end ocean pollution with sustainable solutions.

The mis-information being circulated in your name damages your credibility and perpetuates pollution of the creek and coastal environment. Please take the time to learn more about creek ecology in a semi-arid environment, natural beach sand berms and the impacts of urban runoff from inland developments on ocean pollution.

Michael Beanan
South Laguna Civic Association

Website research:

Trout Unlimited defines Steelhead Trout as "a unique form of rainbow trout. Like salmon, they spend most of their adult lives in the ocean, but spawn in freshwater streams. Southern steelhead are adapted to seasonally dry streams in the arid climate at the extreme southern end of the steelhead range."

Reference: Trout Unlimited - George Sutherland (949) 361-0274, gsland@cox.net

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries describe the life cycle of the Steelhead Trout as:

"Juvenile steelhead rear in fresh water 1- 4 years and then spend 1-5 years (usually 2-3 in California) in the ocean. Southern steelhead usually spend less time in fresh water because of inhospitable conditions in the lower reaches of Southern California streams. Therefore they may migrate to the ocean or have greater dependency on coastal lagoons during the first year. Fish movements both upstream and downstream coincide with flow pulses from storms. These coastal streams are characterized by sand bar build up during low flow summer months at the mouth."

Reference:

Southern California Steelhead ESU

http://swr.ucsd.edu/hcd/SoCalDistrib.htm

visit: www.coastcartoonstudio.com to learn more

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted on Saturday, Mar. 14 2009 @ 9:30AM

Roger E. Butow says:

Mike Beanan conveniently ignores the fact that federal and state laws acknowledge the unacceptable limitations on steelhead recovery that dams. weirs and impounding of streambeds (diverting) represent.
MB keeps disingenuously typifying theft of water resources as "harvesting, " when in fact any idiot who GOOGLES steelhead will learn that such 'harvesting" strategies are the fishery NGO main concerns and jeopardize potential restoration and recolonization programs.
He's either getting money from the snake oil technology firms and water districts that can't manage water resources or one dumb bunny about endangered aquatics.
The solution? Wastewater facilities like OCSD have already begun Advanced Waste Treatment (AWT) upgrades that polish/clean the INFLUENT (incoming wastewater) to higher standards (called TERTIARY) for landscape and potable. In the case of Aliso Creek, 25 million gallons per day are dumped into the ocean unused, literally "wasted."
If MB really wanted what's best for stream ecologies his Neighborhood Association would give up robbing the riparian/aquatic ecologies and begin putting pressure on his partner-in-crime, South Coast Water District, to make that upgrade NOW.
The water/san districts already have the water inside their own plants---They're just too cheap to go from Secondary to Tertiary, it's easier to dehydrate an entire watershed thus stranding aquatics, creating ecosystems filled with dirt and weeds.
Then too, MB is a buddy of long time OC Weekly "friend" Garry Brown, a man who greenwashes for the bad guys and never met a developer he didn't like.
Lay down with dog, come up with fleas Mikey.

Posted on Monday, Mar. 16 2009 @ 3:00PM

michael beanan says:

A little science knowledge goes a long way. In a semi arid ecology, like Aliso Creek or San Mateo Creek, our long dry season supports a beach sand berm for unique fish habitats. Virtually every study of the Aliso Watershed points to excessive discharges of urban runoff from inland cities as the key contributor to flooding the Aliso Lagoon and contaminating Aliso Beach. In reducing non-native creek flows, we can re-establish beach sand berm conditions for tidewater gobi and southern steelhead trout recovery. Steelhead in particular require long periods in lagoons to undergoe smoltification as they adapt from a freshwater creek environment to an adult life in ocean seawater.
Critics of urban runoff harvesting to restore historical creek flow conditions perpetuate ocean pollution presently polluting Aliso Beach and South Laguna coastal waters. The dog with the loudest bark is rarely the brightest.

Posted on Sunday, Jun. 7 2009 @ 7:14AM