SoCal Steelhead Need Your Help

From: Sharon Tamiya
Date: Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Subject: FW: SoCal Steelhead Need Your Help
To: bob.bobssportinggoods@gmail.com

Mike - here's something for your blog or website - good cause for sure!

Sharon

Sharon L. Tamiya, Esq.

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From: California Trout [mailto:null@mail.democracyinaction.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 3:07 PM
To: Sharon Tamiya
Subject: SoCal Steelhead Need Your Help

CalTrout has a message that you may not often hear: YOU can make a difference in bringing an endangered species back from the brink of extinction.

Without your support the numbers don't look good:

500 -- the number of Southern California Steelhead, down from 500,000.

50 -- the number of miles of pristine spawning waters in the Santa Clara River blocked by the Vern Freeman Diversion

2 -- the number of steelhead sighted navigating the Diversion's fish ladder last year.

$250,000 -- the amount of funds needed for litigation to return fish passage on the Santa Clara.

Here's the difference your support -- at any level -- can make.

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The Santa Clara River once supported 10,000 returning steelhead annually. Last year just two adults were sighted. The primary reason for this calamity is the Vern Freeman Diversion, operated by the United Water Conservation District. Located just 11 miles from the sea, it blocks access up the Santa Clara River to historic steelhead spawning grounds and tributaries like Sespe Creek. It also robs steelhead of the flows necessary for their journey by diverting water to agriculture, residences and businesses in the Oxnard Plain.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) estimates that steelhead can now access just 1% of their native range. The Santa Clara offers some of the best spawning waters between Santa Maria and Baja -- a victory here will be a boon not just to this river's fish but endangered Southern California Steelhead in the entire region. CalTrout has an historic opportunity to build upon a Biological Opinion by NMFS, set legal precedent and bring Southern California Steelhead back!

But it doesn't come cheaply. CalTrout is engaged in a dialogue with the operator of a fish-blocking diversion on the Santa Clara River but we will go to court this November if a settlement isn't reached. Anticipated expense for litigation and fisheries experts is $500,000 over the next three years. Raising $250,000 by the end of this year will allow CalTrout to present a legal challenge to operations at the Vern Freeman Diversion and enforce endangered species protections.

Twenty years ago CalTrout went to court to protect the tributaries of the Eastern Sierra and to permanently re-water Mono Lake. We are uniquely poised for success again on the Santa Clara. We have the expertise and evidence for another big victory -- with your help.

You can save the Southern California Steelhead by:

Making a donation

Spreading the word to your friends and family

Following the issue at our new blog, www.freeourrivers.org, on facebook or twitter.

Thank you.