Little consensus on releases, cost
By Jesse Phelps

When it comes to the numbers surrounding steelhead, about the only thing people agree on is that there is too few of them, and that it will cost a lot of money to restore those numbers.
The key stumbling block is the proposed fish ladder at Robles Diversion Dam, which diverts water from the Ventura River channel to Lake Casitas. Representatives of Casitas Municipal Water District and many local residents have expressed concern that, should sufficient water for the fish be allowed to run down the channel, lake and groundwater levels could be negatively impacted.
Serious disagreement on the amount of water required for fish passage has emerged. The National Marine Fisheries Service has provided a figure of 2,000 acre-feet per year, a figure Casitas calls its maximum safe yield.
"We say it'll be more than that," said Coultas. "The screen is very fine and what happens if the facility gets plugged up?" Casitas' General Manager John Johnson estimated the requirements to be more in the neighborhood of 3,200 acre-feet.
"John's calculation of 3,200 includes other operational criteria," said Coultas. "My gut is that it's somewhere in between."
The passage has already cost Casitas somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000. "We have about a half million in for just the design," Coultas said. He also said the total project estimates are about $6.2 million "but won't know until the bids come in."
Coultas also said the amount of water necessary in the river for the fish to swim "appears to be a matter of opinion. According to NMFS, it takes about 50 cubic feet per second. This refers to the depth of water over the shallowest riffles. The river changes every time there's a big storm so it seems to be something of a moving target."
Steven Howard, staff scientist and fisheries biologist for Entrix, a biological consulting firm in charge of the river's Habitat Conservation Plan, said that "50 CFS will distribute quite a linear distance. Spread it out like that and then it's not that much water. If you have a channel that's just 3-feet wide, it's pretty deep. It all depends upon the channel morphology." Howard explained that "big huge boulders" and other obstructions can cause trouble spots.
"They probably got that number by looking at the worst bottleneck spots on the river," said Howard. "There's a certain time of year when they'd want to target the fish coming up the river, in between storm events, when fish could be stranded in the river."
Debate continues, but Coultas expressed something close to surety that construction will proceed soon. "I'm 99 percent sure the ladder will be built. What kicked this off was a lawsuit from California Trout. CalTrout would proceed with the suit in the event the ladder wasn't built. Obviously a judge is going to look at it and say, 'Yeah, there's an endangered species and we better build it.'"
Many of the agencies involved in the Ventura River Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan will hold a public meeting on Feb. 19 in the Topping Room of the E.P. Foster Library in Ventura from 7 to 9 p.m. The fish passage will be among the topics on the table and anyone with interest is encouraged to attend.
© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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