OK expected soon for fish ladder plan
By Jesse Phelps

The continuing saga of the Robles fish passage facility on the Ventura River may be headed toward a new chapter: construction. According to Rauch Communications, the public relations firm hired by the Casitas Municipal Water District, the passage may receive approval from the National Marine Fisheries Service as soon as March 21.

In a meeting held Feb. 6 in Long Beach, NMFS and Bureau of Reclamation officials set a schedule to issue a Biological Opinion. This is "essentially a permit to construct and operate the fish passage facility," said John Johnson, general manager of the Casitas District.

According to David Young, Environmental Team Leader at the Bureau of Reclamation, his bureau has already submitted a biological assessment, including a completed project description, to National Marine Fisheries Service.
Jim Leckey, assistant regional administrator for protected resources at the National Marine Fisheries Service, said, "Based on that document, we will issue a biological opinion that will assess the impacts of the project and operations of the facility on the steelhead."

Leckey said, "We're trying to get it out by the middle of March. Then they (Casitas) have to get other permits. The biological opinion is a critical factor in getting the other permits. Then hopefully, they can begin construction by summer."
While that construction project may get the go-ahead, Casitas Municipal Water District received a cease-and-desist order Feb. 24. from the Bureau of Reclamation related to construction of the Lazy River water park.

A special meeting has been scheduled for today, at 3 p.m. at Casitas offices in Oak View. "We're trying to work with Reclamation to straighten this out," said Johnson.
David Pritchett, with the Southern California Steelhead Coalition, disputed that assessment. "The district has no respect for the position of the federal government and is blatantly disregarding the order."

The fish ladder facility, designed to help recover populations of endangered steelhead trout on the Ventura River, would be a new feature of the Ventura River Project. Project facilities are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and operated by Casitas Municipal Water District. Casitas holds the water rights for operation of the project.
The concerned agencies have been working together to take steps to enhance the status of endangered Southern Steelhead in the Ventura River since 1996, though they haven't always been on the same page.

"While we are pleased that a firm date has been set, we're waiting to see what the Biological Opinion says," Johnson said, noting that one significant issue between the district and federal regulators is drought protection. Though NMFS officials have reiterated many times that they will not require water for fish in drought years, Casitas has maintained that they are concerned that providing water for fish during prolonged droughts will drain the lake.

"This could require cutbacks in water available for customers - especially for agriculture - raise water pumping costs, impact water quality, harm recreation and damage the sport fishery in the lake," said Alex Hulanicki, of Roush.
Leckey said, "The last year and a half of discussion has focused on the amount of water the fish need. We have tried to design the passage so it doesn't compromise the safe yield of the water customers."

Casitas has bemoaned the legal requirements, lawsuits and regulatory obstacles that have delayed the building of the passage and has lost $750,000 of $4 million in grant money originally obtained to help it get the passage up and running.

Mary Larson, senior fisheries biology specialist and Southern California Fisheries Restoration Grant Coordinator for the Department of Fish and game, says the initial grant was meant to facilitate design work and beginning construction. Later, her agency supplied an additional $1.5 million for "build-out of the ladder" and a Pacific Coastal Salmonid initiative grant of $750,000, which was lost due to delays.

Leckey said that Casitas "lost that grant last year because they weren't able to perform. There are a number of elements on the project. Now we can redesign the project so that they can reapply for the same amount of money for a different aspect of the project."

Larson agreed but tossed in a caveat. "They can always supply to Coastal Conservancy, to us or another granting program to recoup those funds. There's nothing preventing them from doing so. The question is: how will they compete with other applicants?"

Other sources of funding were a Coastal Conservancy grant of $1 million and a state grant through Proposition 12 of $750,000.

In order to protect its customers and stretch what it terms limited local water supplies, Casitas said it will be developing more intensive conservation programs, seeking new sources of water supply and reviewing its program for allocating limited water supplies during droughts.

But Johnson said that the big hurdle for moving forward on the fish passage is the biological opinion.
"In the next week or so, the Bureau of Reclamation will send NMFS the final project description for the fish passage facility. The Biological Opinion would then give approval to Casitas to construct, operate and repair the facility," Johnson said.

Leckey said that discussion of flow requirements have been the main holdup in the past but that it's imperative the passage be constructed nonetheless. "There's a little bit of disagreement stemming from the modeling of the passage," he said. "We think that disagreement is what it is but we need to get beyond it and build the facility. In the world of water, averages mean very little. In specific
instances where customers need water, we can help make sure they get it. Likewise, if we're not providing water for fish and we have a concrete monument in the middle of the stream, we need to make sure the fish are taken care of. The absolute number is probably not important at this point. We need to get beyond that and get some experience."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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