Protected Status Is Sought for River : Environment: The Sespe is one of the last major untamed streams in the state. Some want to save it from a dam; others see it as a valuable water source for a thirsty region.

By LARRY B. STAMMER

July 7, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER

It is one of the last remaining wild rivers of significance in California, a 55-mile stream abounding with fish and tumbling rapids.

Not far from its banks, hot springs bubble up through the Earth’s crust, and Indian pictographs painted on rocks silently echo an ancient way of life that revered nature.

To the Chumash Indians, who inhabited the region thousands of years before the Spanish arrived, it was known as S’eqpe , a word in the Ventueno dialect meaning kneecap. Today it is called the Sespe. Little-known to most Southern Californians, it is barely an hour’s drive from the din and sprawl of Los Angeles.

Now, after years of efforts to save the river from dam builders and the tide of urban growth, defenders of Sespe Creek are hoping Congress soon will grant the rugged region of Los Padres National Forest in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties special protection as a national wilderness.

An attempt to enact a bill last year died in the Senate because of differences between California’s two senators over how much of the creek to protect. Lawmakers say prospects this year are better.

What remains in dispute, however, is whether to place all 55 miles of the Sespe off limits to dam builders by declaring it a wild and scenic river, or to allow dams at either end of the waterway.

As Southern California reels from a fifth year of drought, Ventura County water agencies are casting an envious eye on the Sespe. They see it as a major source of badly needed water to quench the thirst of their cities and their robust agricultural sector.

At the same time, arguments for preserving the creek as a wild river never have been more compelling.

Not only is the Sespe the last untamed major river in Southern California, but it also bisects the habitat of the endangered California condor. Later this year scientists are scheduled to reintroduce the bird into the Sespe wilderness after nearly a decade of captive breeding in zoos.

The clash between the demand for water and the impulse to preserve nature is not new. Similar controversies have played out from the Grand Canyon in Arizona and California’s Mono Lake to the Platte River in Nebraska.

But few have involved an unspoiled wilderness as close to a major metropolitan center as the Sespe.

Weaving through deep canyons and narrow gorges, Sespe Creek runs in a wobbly path from west to east before heading south to Fillmore. There, it spills into the Santa Clara River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean near Ventura Harbor.

Stretches of the river are filled with mauve sandstone boulders the size of small houses. There are deep natural pools and churning spas fed by waterfalls. Native rainbow trout and bluegills patrol the depths.

Most of the Sespe watershed is arid, a mountainous region fit for lizards and yucca plants. But there are surprises.

Not far from where the Tar Creek tributary intersects the Sespe above Devil’s Gate about eight miles north of Fillmore, a waterfall cascades down a mountainside beneath a luxuriant canopy of trees. Water glazes moss-covered stones, and giant ferns are in abundance. Until now, the Sespe’s fate has essentially remained a Ventura County issue. But the pressing need for more water, the impending release of the condor, and a growing interest nationally in the fate of wild rivers is changing that.

Earlier this year, American Rivers, a river-protection group based in Washington, listed the Sespe as one of the nation’s 15 most threatened rivers. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Ojai-based Keep the Sespe Wild Committee are closely monitoring developments.

“It used to be a small local issue. Now it’s growing up and down the state,” said Don Edwards, an Ojai wildlife biologist and longtime Sespe advocate.

The fight over the Sespe is part of a renewed effort by environmentalists to save wild rivers. Recently, for example, American Rivers and the Wilderness Society issued a joint declaration urging the Bush Administration to revitalize the nation’s commitment to save wild waterways.

Less than a third of 1% of the river miles nationally have wild and scenic protection. By comparison, 4% of the land lies in national parks and another 4% is protected by being designated wilderness.

But at a time of increasing restrictions on water usage, almost any new water source is tempting. The battle over the Sespe is pitting local water agencies, chambers of commerce and agricultural interests against river protectionists.

“The more intense or severe our need for water becomes, the more desperate we’re going to be, seeking water from whatever source that’s available,” said Gene Daffern, president of the Greater Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

Overall, it is estimated that damming the Sespe would produce about 20,000 acre-feet of water annually, or 5% of Ventura County’s current annual water demand.

Neither of two bills now before Congress specifically authorize a dam. Nor do they rule them out.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) has introduced a bill designating large portions of the Los Padres National Forest as wilderness, but he has left provisions for Sespe Creek blank until he can decide how much of the creek to protect.

A bill by Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) would confer wild and scenic status to 31.5 miles of the river, including some of its most dramatic vistas.

The measure also would safeguard nearly a quarter-million acres of the Sespe watershed from development by declaring it a national wilderness area. Another 178,250 acres elsewhere in the national forest, which stretches from Los Angeles County to Big Sur, would be given the same protection.

But the bill falls short of the total protection for Sespe Creek sought by environmentalists, who are urging protection for the entire creek.

The bill calls for setting aside 10.5 miles of the creek near its headwaters at Cold Springs as an area to study for future protection or as a dam site--a move intended to speed up the legislation by putting off a hard choice.

The ploy has mollified water districts and agricultural interests. But it has left environmentalists wondering if they should take what they can get now and fight for the rest later.

“It’s hard for me to understand why they are trying to create this niche in the legislation--and in the land. I think they should preserve it all,” said Phil White, a mechanical engineer and water conservation consultant who is a leading advocate of keeping the Sespe wild.

Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said Southern Californians will be hard pressed to make a case for more Northern California water if they won’t even talk about developing their own resources.

“People in Northern California (may ask), ‘What makes your environmental reasons any more pressing than ours?’ There’s a responsibility to be able to respond to that question,” Laird said.

The response from environmentalists is sure and quick.

“It’s the best, complete undammed river ecosystem in Southern California,” said Alasdair Coyne of the Keep the Sespe Wild Committee. “From Mexico to Big Sur there are 15 major rivers. They have 28 dams between them. The Sespe is unique. It’s completely free-flowing.”

Dam opponents argue that water from a dam would be costly, would choke off the major source of sand for Ventura County beaches and would threaten an already dwindling steelhead run from the Pacific by blocking their return inland.

“In terms of sensitive species, the steelhead is second only to the condor,” said fish biologist Brooks Harper of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

While the Sespe abounds with rainbow trout, its steelhead run from the Pacific has been declining. Recently, prospects have improved, thanks to a $2-million project to enable the fish to get around a diversion dam on the Santa Clara River.

But a high dam on the Sespe would be “extremely damaging,” Harper warned. “At one time there were many steelhead streams from Southern California to Baja. Today, very few steelhead streams have the potential to be brought back like the Sespe. The question is, can we afford to lose (it)?”

White, the engineer, estimated it would cost $3.4 million a year to dredge up enough sand to replace the 570,300 cubic yards that, on average, are carried down the Sespe each year to Ventura beaches.

He also said a dam at Oat Mountain, just north of Fillmore, would straddle the San Cayetano earthquake fault, which scientists have warned is capable of generating a major temblor. Last year, the Fillmore City Council, citing the threat, went on record opposing a dam.

Although scientists associated with the condor recovery program support the legislation, they too have problems with the notion of a dam.

“Any dam anywhere on the Sespe would get me aroused. I think a lot of old-time condor people feel the same way,” said Lloyd Kiff, an ornithologist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History who heads the condor recovery team.

Michael Wallace, curator of birds at the Los Angeles Zoo, added, “Anything that will bring more people into that area is likely to diminish the value and the safety of that area for the condor.”

As an alternative, dam opponents have called for greater water conservation and waste-water reclamation. A study last year by White’s firm estimated that more than 49,000 acre-feet of water could be reclaimed in Ventura County--far more than the 20,000 acre feet that would be impounded by a dam--and at a third of the cost.

Some of the Sespe’s water is captured--but only after it leaves the creek and enters the Santa Clara River. The United Water Conservation District this year opened a $30-million dam on the Santa Clara, which diverted 35,000 acre-feet.

Known as the Freeman Diversion, the facility channels some of the river water into holding ponds that recharge underground aquifers. The rest flows into the ocean. A dam on the creek would impound the additional 20,000 acre-feet that now travels to the Pacific.

As for waste water, dam proponents dispute how much can be reclaimed.

“Even if you crank in all the reclamation possibilities in the county and the Freeman Diversion, and all the water conservation that’s possible, you still end up short in balancing the water checkbook,” said Frank Brommenschenkel, vice president and general manager of Santa Paula Water Works.

Advocates of dams say that even if they eventually lose the argument over the need for more water, they may win on other grounds.

“I’m fairly convinced that someday it will be necessary to do something up there just for flood-control purposes,” Brommenschenkel said. “It’s only going to be a matter of time and that’s going to be a new story to the whole thing. . . . I think you’re definitely talking a dam.”

From a ledge overlooking a potential dam site near the end of the Sespe, White thought back to his boyhood, then spoke of the wild river, the condor, and the dramatic scenery that would be flooded by a dam.

“I walked as a kid to Devil’s Gate,” he said, pointing upstream. “It is a very spectacular section. It was my first wilderness experience. It could be--and should be--for other people.”

Sespe Creek

Sespe Creek, the last major wild river in Southern California, runs 55 miles from its headwaters at Pine Mountain to its confluence at Fillmore with the Santa Clara River. Congress may decide this year how much of the creek to protect as a “wild and scenic” river. 1--Under a bill by Rep. Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-Ventura), 10.5 miles would be studied for suitability as a dam site or for protection as “wild and scenic” river. Such a designation would prohibit a dam.

2--Under the same bill (HR 2556), a four-mile stretch between Rock and Howard creeks downstream to Trout Creek would be declared scenic, blocking any dam there.

3--This 27.5-mile stretch between Trout Creek and a point near Devil’s Gate in the Oat Mountain area would be declared a wild river, precluding dam construction under HR 2556.

4--Area is excluded from the legislation, leaving option of building a dam in the section above Fillmore. Known as the Oat Mountain site, a dam would probably flood scenic Devil’s Gate upstream. The Sespe empties into the Santa Clara River, which flows to the Pacific near Ventura Harbor.