Removing Matilija Dam Top Priority, Babbitt Says

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Friday he will make removal of Matilija Dam a top priority to save an imperiled migratory fish and restore sand flows to Ventura County beaches while also striking a blow against the nation’s larger dams.

The announcement brings home to Southern California a debate swirling around many of the nation’s 75,000 dams, which have been blamed for declining salmon and steelhead runs, coastal erosion and lost economic opportunities for outdoor recreation and commercial and sportfishing.

‘The time has come for dam removal,” Babbitt said. ‘This [Matilija] dam is really an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of dam removal in a way that’s available nowhere else. Based on what I’ve heard, I support removal of this dam. This one is right at the top of the priority list.”

Babbitt’s remarks signal that the once-obscure dam tucked into a canyon in the mountains behind Ojai has gained high-level attention at the White House and in Congress. He said he decided the dam should be a priority for dismantling following meetings this week in Washington with California members of Congress and Ventura County officials.

Although Interior Department agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation, have been studying ways to tear down Matilija Dam since summer, Babbitt’s comments mark the first time he has announced his plans for the structure.

“He’ll help move that project into high gear,” said Supervisor John Flynn, who along with Supervisor Kathy Long and Rep. Elton Gallegly, organized the meeting Monday. “To have him behind the project, how could you get anything better? I’m really excited about it.”

The 52-year-old dam was built to store drinking and agricultural water for the Ojai Valley and to reduce flood hazards on the Ventura River. Today, however, it is full of mud, provides little water and is crumbling. Though decaying sections have been removed, it still stands 190 feet tall and 620 feet wide.

Environmentalists want it torn down so southern steelhead, an endangered species, can reach high quality spawning habitat upstream in Matilija Creek. Also, about 6.1 million cubic yards of sediment, essential to replenish sand-starved beaches from Ventura to Port Hueneme, are locked behind the dam. Groups pressing for the dam’s removal include anglers, surfers, seaside homeowners and business people. California’s Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also favor its removal.

“Along the West Coast, Matilija Dam is one of the most important to remove because of the pressing need to recover steelhead. It’s emblematic of the broader problem of dams and man-made structures that have outlived their usefulness,” said Andrew Fahlund, policy director at nonprofit American Rivers Inc.

In the past two years, Babbitt has toured the nation’s rivers and streams, sledgehammer in hand, taking symbolic whacks at small dams marked for removal. At least 122 dams have been breached in the 1990s across the United States.

“He’s taken out a whole bunch of dams, but they have all been 3 to 17 feet tall,” said Mark Capelli, executive director of Friends of the Ventura River. ‘[Matilija] would be the highest dam ever removed in the United States.”

Babbitt said he believes that removing Matilija Dam could open a political breach that will make it easier to knock down some of the nation’s largest, most environmentally troublesome dams. In Washington state, for example, Congress authorized removal of two other big dams, the Elwha and Glines, but political haggling has delayed those projects.

“This is a big dam, this is the first of a kind for removal. We have an opportunity to use this as a demonstration, a model,” Babbitt said. He added that the apparent unanimous support for the dam’s removal in Ventura County is key to carrying the project to a conclusion.

But razing the dam won’t be easy. Engineers have yet to figure out a way to move all the sand stuck behind Matilija Dam down the river to the ocean without increasing flood risk in west Ventura and Casitas Springs.

And the costs of removal may be extraordinary. Although new estimates are being developed, past studies have estimated the cost at between $3 million and $150 million, although most officials say $80 million is a reasonable estimate. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Geological Survey and Army Corps of Engineers are conducting studies on how to remove the dam.

If those investigations and subsequent environmental studies produce no major surprises, Babbitt said he is confident local, state and federal governments can find the money to remove the dam, perhaps within two years, although he declined to elaborate.

“We need to get the study back to make sure there are no insoluble problems, then work on financing issues,” Babbitt said.

Babbitt said he has never seen Matilija Dam, but he plans to visit Ventura County by the end of the year to meet with local officials and tour the structure.

“Now that this is on his radar scope, that is one more ally we have,” Gallegly said. ‘We’re all working together to accomplish the same thing.”