News analysis
Many years ago, the steelhead trout came to Malibu, swam up the Malibu Creek, and in some quiet little pools in the canyons, spawned. The young steelhead trout then swam back out to the ocean. There are some old-timers who can still remember when they and the other boys would fish the creek and fry the catch at creek-side.
In the last century, particularly in the last 50 years or so, fewer and fewer steelhead trout came back until finally, in 1992, the last of the trout seemingly vanished from the creek–although there have been isolated reports of steelhead sightings each year.
There have been long and heated discussions as to why this has happened. At various times the fault has been placed on a variety of factors: population growth in the Conejo Valley; treated water discharge from the Tapia Treatment plant which sends a large volume of nitrogen-enriched water into the creek; all sorts of pollutants put into the creek from businesses and homes, from gardens and driveway runoffs; from animals living near the creek; and from people living in encampments along the creek.
To one degree or another, all of the above probably contribute to the pollution of the creek. And the steelhead trout, which are apparently an understandably fussy species, have decided to bypass Malibu Creek and many other creeks in Southern California for cleaner, purer waters in other places.
The government and the environmental community want to change that and bring the steelhead back to Malibu. And for that, a plan was hatched.
It began when the steelhead trout were declared an “endangered species” several years ago and, therefore, became protected under the Endangered Species Act. This set off a stream of consequences, not the least of which, in April 2001, the entire Malibu Creek became a “protected steelhead habitat.” And by mandated law the habitat is to be protected, which brings up the issue regarding the Arizona Crossing.
Despite its name, the crossing has nothing to do with Arizona but merely describes a place on the Malibu Creek, about one mile or so up from Pacific Coast Highway, about 60 feet wide, where the creek twists and turns its way through the Serra Retreat. Serra Retreat is a box canyon that’s home to about 34 homeowners, a few ranches, many families and pets and horses.
There are only two ways in and out of the retreat. One is a back road, an easement that crosses over the creek, that has existed for more than 100 years. This is the Arizona Crossing.
In years past, when the fires came, people drove their vehicles and animals though the back road across the Arizona Crossing to evacuate the canyon. To make the crossing usable, a number of concrete blocks were set in the creek at the crossing so that vehicles can drive through the creek without getting stuck. The concrete blocks are set so that fish can swim under them and go upstream. But no one is sure how well this works.
A problem with the roadbed of concrete blocks is that it is somewhat unstable and prone to wash out in heavy rains, which come with some regularity. During the rainy season the height of the creek, which is typically only a couple of feet above the creek bed, can rise up to 10 feet or so beyond the creek bed. During a very wet season, this can happen a few times a year. Invariably, year in and year out, the blocks wash out and have to be put back in place. In the old days, homeowners would hire a small crane, pick up the blocks, which had washed down the creek, and reset them. The entire operation would take about 30 to 60 minutes.
Those were the old days.
Once the Malibu Creek was declared to be a “Protected Steelhead Habitat,” as happened in the spring of this year, everything changed. A protected habitat, in a blue water stream of the United States, like Malibu Creek, means you can no longer just put something into the creek, even if it’s only putting back what was there before. The homeowners see it as maintenance, but various government agencies see it as a “discharge of fill into the waters of the United States.”
And for that you need permits: An emergency permit from the City of Malibu to restore the crossing, a permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, a State of California Department of Fish and Game permit, a U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers permit, a federal National Marine Fisheries permit and a California Coastal Com-mission permit.
The Serra Canyon Property Homeowners Association went to the city and got an emergency permit and then proceeded to restore the crossing, which accomplished two results. First, it restored what the L.A. County Fire Department has called a “critical access” to the Serra Canyon area. And second, it made a multitude of state and federal agencies very cross with them.
The California Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) has already sent the property owners a letter warning of a $10,000 per day fine each day the blocks stay up. Not to be outdone, the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Office of Law Enforcement also sent letters informing the owners of a possible additional $17,500 per day federal fine.
The Serra Canyon homeowners are now applying for all of the various permits, with a reasonable probability that they might not be granted because, as a fisheries biologist has already said in a letter, an “Arizona Crossing in Malibu Creek is not permissible.” The National Marine Fisheries view it as “a barrier to both upstream migration of adult endangered steelhead and downstream migration of juvenile endangered steelhead,” and, therefore, a possible violation of the Endangered Species Act.
All sides have been looking for a permanent “fish-friendly” solution over the creek, which probably will mean a bridge–a rather expensive bridge. In the interim, the battle will probably revolve around whether the various government agencies are more comfortable forcing the removal of the crossing and putting residents at risk, or leaving it for now and putting the fish at risk.
This story is one of an ongoing series about the battle over Malibu Creek.