The following letter was sent to Jason Shea, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, regarding Malibu Creek (Rindge Dam) Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study.
The premise of the feasibility study is that the removal of Rindge Dam, or a surmounting of the dam by a fish ladder, would make additional spawning grounds in the upper watershed available to steelhead trout. This might (not guarantee) aid the reinstitution of steelhead trout to Malibu Creak.
The fallacy of the premise is that the upper watershed is hostile habitat for the steelhead trout, due to temperatures that are 20 to 30 degrees higher than in the lower watershed during much of the year. Historically, steelhead were blocked from the upper watershed by one or more 10-foot waterfalls in the vicinity of the Rindge Dam. The pristine and cool water quality required by steelhead in their natural habitat has been absent since 1965-68, caused by the urbanization of the upper watershed and effluent being discharged from the Tapia sewer treatment plant. Water in the upper watershed creek was of short duration, as streams went underground most of the year, particularity in drought years. Fish do not live in dry stream beds. The erection of the Century Dam in the 1911-13 era was primarily to alleviate the lack of water to serve the Crags Country Club. When water disappeared underground, the quest for water went down into Malibu Canyon in the lower watershed, not toward the Ventura Freeway.
My conclusion is that no dam removal or fish ladder over the Rindge Dam should be planned or carried out as long as degraded water of Malibu Creek below the dam exists and the water returned to cool, pristine conditions. Purified water in Malibu Creek is the number one priority for human and other natural species before all else.
The Rindge Dam is a historical structure protected by the laws of the United States as well as in California. It is historically attached, or “tethered to,” the Adamson House at Malibu Lagoon State Beach. The grounds still contain a water valve labeled with a metal tag, “dam water.” The water was used to irrigate the Malibu delta and the Adamson estate, now a national state landmark.
The impetus for removing the Rindge Dam or surmounting it with a fish ladder is coming from the environmental community and government agencies, not from taxpayers who have paid out millions of dollars since 1972 in studies, tests, staff time and costs. Your feasibility study should acknowledge the Rindge Dam is a historical structure protected by law. Further, it is folly to continue to spend money on this project until the water in Malibu Creek is once again pristine and capable of sustaining steelhead below the dam.
Any unexpended monies should be transferred to agencies trying to clean up the waters of Malibu Creek. If those agencies already have enough money to do this, then transfer unexpended funds to projects benefiting only the human species, such as the U.S. Coast Guard for homeland defense, education, health care, libraries and other societal needs desperately needing funds to improve the human condition.
Ronald L. Rindge