Tag: Resource Conservation District for the Santa Monica Mountains

Saving Steelhead, one at a time

By Rosi Dagit

Guest Contributor

What a crazy time!!!

We were so grateful we rescued the trout before the first storm hit on Jan. 26, which filled all the pools with mud.

Think that any fish we left in the creek were killed by that and additional storm events that have made it possible to walk across formerly deep pools.

Thanks to the coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and National Marine Fisheries Service, we released the trout back into the wild last Monday, Feb. 10, in a beautiful watershed along the Central Coast in Santa Barbara County.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they were able to find shelter from the most recent storm. However, I won’t be able to go back and check on them for a bit.

We really hope this sets the stage for CDFW and NMFS to be more proactive in translocating trout so that we have more watersheds holding more fish, creating population redundancy and resilience. 

We are putting together a video that will be on the RCD website next week but attached below are a few photos.

Thanks to all who care about our southern steelies! 

Rosi Dagit is the Principal Conservation Biologist for Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains