Development has not been kind to the steelhead trout. Once estimated to number more than 25,000 adults, there are now only about 500 who survive the swim from the Pacific Ocean to spawn deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Development has not been kind to the steelhead trout. Once estimated to number more than 25,000 adults, there are now only about 500 who survive the swim from the Pacific Ocean to spawn deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The problem is that they could not all squeeze through a tiny channel beneath a road crossing Shingle Mill Gulch, some four miles north of Corralitos. It is one of just several obstacles that prevented the fish from reaching their spawning grounds.
But at least this problem will soon be resolved. Federal stimulus funding is being used to build a 60-foot long bridge across the creek to replace that strip of road. This will, in turn, widen the stream and enable the trout easier access. The entire project is expected to cost $3 million, with this bridge costing just under one-third of that. Half of the money is coming from federal stimulus funds, while the remainder was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and a private individual who owns the nearby land.
The NOAA has declared the steelhead trout of Central California to be a threatened species. Read More at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
