“It takes a village to raise a steelhead,” they say. Okay, they is me and no one says that… yet. But the greatest feats of conservation are never accomplished alone, so you get the point. With that in mind, Debbie Sharpton and Southwest Council Fly Fishers International Conservation are and will be doing valuable work for the endangered Southern Steelhead by cleaning out invasive species in Malibu Creek, and we are teaming up with them to get the word and the folks out. Catch and not release?! Read below to learn more about what SWCFFI Conservation is up to and how you can participate. Your help is needed and appreciated!

Steelhead young of year photo courtesy of Jenna Krug, RCDSMM

The California Department of Parks and Recreation ("State Parks") is finishing the engineering and permits to remove Rindge Dam from Malibu Creek State Park. SWCFFI Conservation is launching an organized effort to help State Parks prepare the streams above the dam so the returning steelhead have the least amount of manmade stressors while they fight back from the brink of extinction. If you have ever caught a steelhead you know that given a chance with good clean habitat, they will prevail! You can be a part of this historic effort!

Currently, southern steelhead have access to only 3 miles of Malibu Creek. Behind the dam lies many miles of excellent stream structure to support spawning and growth of young steelhead. Young steelhead trout chances of survival are diminished by competition for habitat and predation by the presence of nonnative species of fish, bullfrogs and crayfish. The nonnative largemouth bass and catfish are the likely suspects for the elimination of the native Arroyo Chub from Malibu Creek up to Las Virgenes Creek. The steelhead young of year don't stand much of a chance.

Now is the time to act! Get involved! After the dam is gone, work in areas accessible to steelhead will be off-limits until they get off the endangered species list! All you need now is a fishing license and a pledge to State Parks and SWC Conservation to catch and remove! Have some fun hiking the beautiful Malibu Creek State Park while you do it!

Made possible by a generous grant from Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers, SWC Conservation will organize and support fishers that want to help the steelhead's chances of survival. The program includes fishers and independent efforts as well as group events focused on removing the nonnative fish and bullfrogs. With the help of Laura Bedoyan, a CSUN computer science graduate student, easy access to a data sheet to track what you catch and take is all we ask of you. We will provide you with an agreement with State Parks, a special ID card, a freezer to put the fish if you don't want to eat it, and a method to rack up volunteer hours towards an Angeles District parking pass for one year.

We are currently building a fishing map of Malibu Creek above Rindge Dam, below the dam is closed due to steelhead accessibility, and are looking for some volunteers to help scout and map. For those that haven't done so already, please SIGN UP HERE.

Team Up with SWCFFI to Clean Up Malibu Creek