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Steelhead are a unique form of rainbow trout. Like salmon, they spend most of their adult life in the ocean, but spawn and rear in freshwater streams and rivers. Streams along the central California coast and in the San Francisco Bay Area may support both winter-run anadromous steelhead and resident rainbow trout forms. Their diverse life histories have allowed steelhead to adapt to changing environmental conditions for millennia, but they haven’t been able to withstand habitat losses from water diversions, dams, and urban development.
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 2005 in 12 central coast and Bay Area counties
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.
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SAVING THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST STEELHEAD TROUT
After central coast steelhead were listed as threatened in 1997, the Center and a coalition of fishing and environmental groups worked to improve legal protections for these fish and the streams essential to their survival and recovery. The National Marine Fisheries Service ignored its duty to designate critical habitat or issue protective regulations. A lawsuit by the coalition resulted in protection of critical habitat and regulations that prevent illegal “take” of central coast steelhead.
The critical habitat protections were withdrawn in 2002 when the Bush administration refused to defend the Fisheries Service against a lawsuit brought by the National Association of Home Builders. The Fisheries Service only agreed to consider re-establishing the habitat protections in response to another lawsuit by a coalition of environmental and fishing groups, including the Center. However, the final critical habitat areas designated in 2005 were significantly reduced and excluded important riparian habitat, streams that don’t currently have steelhead, and areas above dams. The final steelhead listing excluded resident rainbow trout and steelhead trout landlocked above dams from the listed populations, even though these fish are an important genetic component for maintaining and restoring steelhead runs.
The Center has worked closely with Bay Area and central coast watershed groups to protect and restore steelhead trout, helping the Alameda Creek Alliance to revive a steelhead run in Alameda Creek, assisting the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network in protecting riparian corridors in Lagunitas Creek, and joining the Coastside Habitat Coalition in advocating for coastal San Mateo County streams.
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Contact: Jeff Miller
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