Ventura County supervisors signed off Tuesday on an environmental review of plans to tear down Matilija Dam near Ojai, setting the stage for a project designed to rescue an endangered migratory fish and restore sand flows to depleted beaches. Despite concerns about potential decreases in area water supplies, the Board of Supervisors unanimously endorsed a report outlining the environmental challenges and benefits posed by the $130-million project.
If funding is secured and all goes as planned, the design process will begin next year, with removal scheduled to start in 2008. The project would take three years to complete, marking one of the largest dam removal efforts in the nation's history.
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A coalition of government officials, environmentalists, water agencies and others has been working for years on plans to dismantle the 190-foot-high structure. Roughly $79 million in federal funding for the project was approved earlier this year by the House and by the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, but must still pass the full Senate and be signed by the president. The remaining costs would be picked up by state and local sources.
Built in 1947 to provide water storage for agriculture and limited flood control, the dam has trapped so much sediment that its capacity has been dramatically diminished. The dam has about 5% of its original capacity and can hold less than 500 acre-feet of water. Biologists say the structure's removal would allow water to flow freely down the Ventura River, restoring a historic run for the endangered steelhead trout. About 5,000 steelhead once swam upstream each year to reach breeding grounds. Today, their number is about 200."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-matilija15dec15,1,7459668.story?coll=la-headlines-california
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