The County of Santa Barbara hired Stoecker Ecological to prepare watershed and salmonid data about San Jose Creek and present this information along with restoration recommendations to landowners and the recently formed San Jose Creek Watershed stakeholder group. A main focus of this effort was informing community members about the historic and existing habitat conditions for steelhead trout, population documentation, limiting factors such as barriers, and recovery opportunities present in the watershed. Steelhead assessment and recovery recommendation information was eventually added to the San Jose Creek Watershed Plan in 2006.
The upper end of the San Jose Creek flood control channel blocks steelhead migration to almost the entire watershed and all suitable spawning habitat.
Only two impassable migration barriers, including this road crossing, occur on San Jose Creek upstream of the lower flood control channel and trout are abundant.
Photo courtesy J. Kuyper.
