HEADWATERS
Restoring Riverine Habitat (cont.)
Santa Margarita River Non-Native Removal
Further south in coastal San Diego, Orange, and Riverside Counties, CalTrout is leading steelhead habitat enhancement efforts in the headwaters of the Santa Margarita River. The Santa Margarita River offers one of the best opportunities for steelhead recovery in Southern California and is a NMFS-designated high priority recovery watershed. This river has year-round flow and pristine headwaters in an undeveloped state. However, it is over-run with non-native aquatic species such as large-mouth bass, bluegill, and crayfish, which are a major threat to steelhead because they out-compete native species for food and prey on their eggs and juveniles. With support from the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, Earth Island Institute, and US Fish & Wildlife Service, CalTrout is working with California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Conservation Corps to remove non-native species and also reduce sediment in the Santa Margarita River to improve spawning gravels and rearing areas for steelhead.
San Luis Rey River Water Conservation
CalTrout is also providing a platform to empower Coalition partners to improve watershed health consistent with steelhead recovery. The San Luis Rey Watershed Council is lead on a water conservation and trout habitat improvement project in the San Luis Rey River. This river has special significance for steelhead recovery in Southern California. The West Fork San Luis Rey River has the most southern native rainbow trout population of steelhead lineage in the United States. The nearby tributary Pauma Creek hosts the largest wild rainbow trout population in the region. The water conservation project at the base of Pauma Creek is an innovative pilot project to install a weather station and soil moisture sensors to improve agricultural irrigation efficiency, and do residential grey-water installations throughout the community. The goal of the project is to sustainably manage water availability to residents and businesses while providing habitat protection for the resilient trout and steelhead populations.