Amid Palisades Fire Devastation, Biologists Wonder How Southern Steelhead Will Be Impacted In Area Waters
The Southern California devastation from the Palisades Fire and the other blazes that have also widespread destruction of homes, businesses and a death toll that continues to rise has without a doubt a terrible tragedy. As those affected wait for the fires to be fully contained and start over, a secondary concern will be how fish and wildlife species will be affected from the blazes’ aftermath. Steelhead were once omnipresent in Southern California waters, but the species suffered a steep decline and last year was listed as endangered. Our longtime correspondent Tim Hovey, a former California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, wrote about his experiences in restoring California’s Southern steelhead in 2017.
Just what the Palisades Fire will have on one of the few watersheds still containing these anadromous fish reaims to be seen. Here’s more from a story in the Los Angeles Times, which posted the following headline: “Palisades Fire Threatens Last Population of Steelhead Trout in the Santa Monica Mountains.”
The steelhead of the Santa Monicas have endured numerous trials. In 2018, the Woolsey fire torched miles and miles of the mountains, but not Topanga Creek — a refuge for the fish.
“Topanga is really the only place that they were left,” said Evans, who oversees fisheries programs for the state wildlife agency’s South Coast region. Spared by wildfires, they barely hung on during the drought, he added.
The Palisades fire sparked last week, devastating the West L.A. neighborhood of Pacific Palisades and rampaging through the Santa Monicas.
As soon as it’s safe, Evans said, personnel will trek into the mountains, where the trout live, and determine if they can take any preventive action. That might entail moving the fish to a facility for a few months, to let the “first flush of terrible water kind of get out and then put them back.”
The Times report also stated the nearby Eaton Fire, which sadly obliterated the community of Altadena, could also threaten resident trout adjacent San Gabriel Mountain creeks and rivers.
