California Natural Resources Agency

1416 – 9^th Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, California 95814
Attn: Secretary Mike Chrisman

Dear Secretary Chrisman:

I am writing to you on behalf of the Native Son’s of the Golden West, Pebble Beach Parlor No. 230, Pescadero California.  We are located in San Mateo County.  Many of our members are avid fishermen who have lived in the Pescadero Watershed for decades, and in some cases, all of their lives.  I as well as some of our members are in our 60’s, and have an acute awareness of, and a love for our watershed and its fisheries.  We have a peripheral knowledge of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and support its adoption, along with when necessary, possible enforcement.

Pescadero Creek, and most importantly Pescadero Marsh, a natural reserve managed by State Parks within your Agency, have listed coho salmon as endangered, steelhead trout as threatened as well as red-legged frog, San Francisco garter snake and the tidewater goby as being a threatened listed species.  We have even had our high school students studying the fish.  The steelhead rearing in the Pescadero lagoon have been on a steady decline in numbers for over 15 years due to annual, ongoing fish kills (each year the number of steelhead killed varies but some years number in the thousands, some years in the hundreds). There is general agreement that the cause of the fish kills is not attributed to upstream activities or inputs, but rather is caused by poor water quality within the marsh itself which is delivered into the lagoon thru a series of permitted and constructed canals built in the mid 1990’s.

Dr Jerry Smith, San Jose State Professor began marsh/lagoon studies in 1980.  Dr. Smith was hired by State Parks in conjunction with their restoration project completed in 1997.  Dr. Smith’s estimated steelhead rearing in Pescadero Lagoon (using the fish seining method) are as follows: 1985 = 10,000, 1986 = 20,000 to 25,000 (state parks restoration project was completed in 1995) 2007 = 1500, 2008 = 750.  The fishery count has plummeted.  We believe that it is more than a coincidence that the decline of our steelhead population coincides with the annual fish kill which began in the mid 1990’s. It is our belief that our healthy, sustainable population of native steelhead is in jeopardy if the cause of the fish kill is not addressed.

For nearly a decade now, our Native Sons group has annually alerted the agencies about this problem.  After seeing no response from State Parks, we engaged fishery expert Jim Steele, retired Branch Chief from California Fish and Game to offer advice regarding possible actions which may be taken to reduce or eliminate the delivery of this lethal water.

We are certain that your agency, the California Natural Resources Agency, along with its mission statement, and other interested people on the San Mateo Coastside all agree that this valuable habitat needs to be restored at least to its functioning “pre-restoration project” condition to avoid any further “fish kills”.  It concerns us that a variety of State and Federal agencies (State Parks, Fish and Game, NOAA, US Fish and Wildlife) have been meeting for over 3 years, discussing the issue, but have yet to develop consensus on how to move forward.  In fact, the Coastal Conservancy has hired a facilitator to assist in this agency discussion, but still no remediation efforts have been initiated. We cannot afford to have these valuable, listed resources destroyed due to lack of action or interest.

Our rural community of Pescadero is proud of our sustainable native population of steelhead and equally proud and aware of the other multitude of sensitive species which occupy our watershed.  Our Native Sons group has sponsored and conducted restoration projects to enhance and protect these valuable resources.  We have convened “Steelhead Festivals” and “Science Forums” to educate our local community members.  We believe in community based solutions to watershed management and are disappointed that our local ideas and energy has been excluded from the agencies approach to the Fish Kill.

We acknowledge the importance of studies, but we believe that long term studies should not thwart “short term” remediation projects.  The time for studies has passed, and we are down to the wire.  We cannot, and will not wait for extirpation of these species.  We need your help to get us past the “Why” and move to the “How”.  Please look into this matter, provide oversight, and delegate someone who will ensure action to save these important resources.

Awaiting your prompt response:

Sincerely,

Coastal-Alliance for Species Enhancment
Steve Simms
President NSGW/CASE