ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Threatened

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1997

CRITICAL HABITAT: Approximately 1,465 miles of stream habitat and 386 square miles of estuarine habitat designated in 12 central coast and Bay Area counties in 2005

RECOVERY PLAN: None

RANGE: Coastal streams from the Russian River in Sonoma County south to Soquel Creek in Santa Cruz County and tributaries of San Francisco and San Pablo bays

THREATS: Habitat destruction and modification from dams, water diversions, urban development, livestock grazing, gravel mining, logging, and agriculture

POPULATION TREND: An estimated 94,000 steelhead spawned in streams of the central California coast in the early 1960s. Steelhead numbers in the Russian and San Lorenzo rivers, which support the largest runs in the area, have declined sevenfold since then. Most coastal streams in the region have remnant runs of 500 fish or fewer. Of the 58 watersheds tributary to the San Francisco Bay estuary, only 24 still support steelhead and/or resident rainbow trout.