Fisheries Conservation Efforts 

The images here show a steelhead and a pair of spawning coho salmon.  These are the two salmonid species native to the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Other fish species are found in our mountain streams including sculpins and pacific lamprey but these two salmon and tide water gobies are the fauna that are listed under both the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.  These splendid animals are vanishing because of damage to their spawning habit from bad land use practices.  They cannot reproduce in sediment laded streams because their eggs are smothered in sand and silt and their young can not survive the summer in sediment filled pools with insufficient water depth, warm water temperatures, low  water flows and pollution. All of these problems can be fixed but this is not going to happen without determined action from political leaders.  They have the power to demand compliance with the land use, and pollution codes that could protect these fish.  We have the power to demand effective responses from our political "leaders".  

Many years of failed policy have brought us to the desperate conditions we now see for these fish.  Coho are about to vanish forever across all of coastal California.  Steelhead are steadily declining and will soon follow coho into oblivion.  We will have lost an a vast legacy going back millions of years do to our complacency and indifference.

The Lompico Watershed Conservancy is an important Santa Cruz County organization for the conservation of Salmon and Steelhead.  We were the first local non-profit organization to complete a modern salmonid migration barrier correction project in 2004.  This project is shown in this section of our website.  These projects however are extremely difficult for reasons of permitting, insurance and funding.  We will not undertake another project unless these problems improve.  It is very frustrating how difficult it is to simply wade through the redundant and obstructive bureaucracy of government and the insurance industry necessary to carry out these projects.  The six to seven agency permits alone take nearly two years on a single relatively small job.  Despite how stupid this is, no effective reform is in sight.  These permits are the same for a project that harms fish as for one that helps them.  Government entities are doing restoration, but for political reasons they tend to choose projects that assist homeowners or public works projects as much as they choose projects because of their benefit to wildlife.  The pace of "restoration" is far slower than the rate of habit destruction, so the trends for wildlife continue to be bleak. 

The Conservancy advocates for local and state policies that promote salmon conservation in land-use and zoning, water resource management, forestry, and public works projects. In Spring 2009 we helped convince the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors to reform their log jam removal program so that it does not destroy valuable fish habitat.  This work was done in coordination with the San Lorenzo Valley Women's Club and local biologists.  This took over two years but hopefully the change in policy will have benefits lasting decades.  

Protecting these splendid and once abundant animals is well within our grasp, but it will not happen unless the public demands it. Unfortunately the many local codes and ordinances and State codes and laws that supposedly protect these fish are not enforced. This is probably this biggest single problem.  The laws are on the books but are ignored in practice.  This is true for all levels of government administration.  The CA Department of Fish and Game is at a crossroads.  It's staff has been decimated and the Department is continually under tremendous political pressure by developers, timber and mining interests, agriculture, and water agencies to avoid the enforcement of its Code.  This is a huge scandal, but it is only understood by people who follow this subject.  If you are interested please join organizations like the Conservancy, Cal Trout and others, that advocate for salmon conservation.  There is a lot of talk but precious little action.  We have very little time left before our migratory fish are a relic of history.  This is entirely avoidable.  We know how to manage land and water to protect salmon but it takes decisive action and enforcement, not more useless political stalling.