Conejo Creek Dam Project Spawns Ire

Plans to build a diversion dam on Conejo Creek near Camarillo have raised the ire of conservationists who contend that the small stream is critical to the survival of southern steelhead trout.

Environmentalists hope to convince federal wildlife officials to designate the waterway as a prime habitat for the endangered fish.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the creek is important for the species,” said Ed Henke, an Oregon-based environmentalist who has championed initiatives to restore populations of the once-plentiful steelhead. “That, I think, is what the evidence is telling us here.”

Yet proponents of the project say there is no evidence that indicates Conejo Creek is or ever was an important spawning habitat for the ocean-going fish.

They say the $9-million dam is needed to satisfy the area’s increased water demands and relieve pressure on an already overused system of underground aquifers.

“This is an issue that only recently came to our attention, because there’s been nothing that would have indicated that this is steelhead habitat,” said Donald Kendall, executive director of the Calleguas Municipal Water District, which is helping design the dam. “And quite frankly, I don’t think there’s ever been anything that’s shown this is a sustainable habitat.”

Like a slender thread weaving through the hills of east Ventura County, Conejo Creek begins in the Thousand Oaks area north of Hill Canyon and meanders south toward Camarillo before emptying into Calleguas Creek and the Pacific Ocean.

Last month, the National Marine Fisheries Service listed Calleguas Creek--along with the Ventura and Santa Clara rivers--among 140 western waterways absolutely necessary for the preservation of southern steelhead trout.

A final decision on whether to keep Calleguas Creek among those waterways deemed critical habitat for the rare fish is pending while the service hears arguments from both opponents and supporters.

Federal officials will meet today with conservationists and water district representatives to collect data needed to make their final decision.

If endorsed by the service, those waterways would be subject to strict controls that would limit development, road construction, diversion dams and sewage treatment.

Critics such as Henke said that because Conejo Creek empties into Calleguas Creek it, too, should be subject to the same restrictions.

“I think it’s safe to say that if a steelhead swims up the Calleguas Creek it could also swim up the Conejo Creek,” Henke said. “And I believe there’s enough evidence to support that.”

However, project supporters say the evidence is specious because it relies on neither empirical nor scientific analysis and that past studies conducted by state and federal agencies have not found conclusive evidence to suggest either Conejo Creek or Calleguas Creek are critical habitats for the fish.

They point out that most of the water that flows down Conejo Creek is treated discharge from the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant in Thousand Oaks.

Ventura County has been at the center of the steelhead debate since it was added to the endangered species list in August 1997. No one knows exactly how many steelhead trout live in Southern California.

Last year, environmentalists launched a campaign to raze Matilija Dam so the fish could swim to their natural spawning grounds far upriver.

In another instance, pressure from environmentalists prompted the Casitas Municipal Water District last month to approve a $2.3-million fish ladder at a Ventura River dam as part of a plan to aid steelhead migration.

Conservationists have also called for more stringent guidelines for water use in the western United States to protect the species, whose decreased numbers are blamed on pollution and closed spawning grounds.

Plans for the Conejo Creek diversion dam are already underway.

Engineers are finishing preliminary blueprints for the 3-foot earthen berm that would be located just south of where the creek crosses under the Ventura Freeway at the western edge of the Conejo Grade.

The dam project will be spearheaded by the Camrosa Water District and would be used primarily to supply irrigation to farmers in Camarillo and the Santa Rosa Valley.

If plans for the dam are scuttled, water district officials said, it will be a tremendous loss, particularly when newer and more novel concepts of water usage need to be found and exploited.

“The dam is important because we’re reclaiming water that we would have had to import from the north,” said Henry Graumlich, resource manager for the Camrosa Water District.

“[The dam] would cut at least some of our need for imported water, which is something we need to do.”