Protect Piru Creek Habitat for Endangered Southern Steelhead
National Marine Fisheries Service
Now is the time to raise your voice to protect an iconic native species from extinction! Sign your name by September 5 to help save Southern steelhead and crucial habitat in Piru Creek.
California Trout opposes United Water Conservation District’s (United) petition to remove designated critical habitat in lower Piru Creek for dual-listed Southern California steelhead. United’s petition disregards the best available science and historic documentation. It fully ignores established recovery practices under the Endangered Species Act.
Historically, Southern steelhead thrived, with tens of thousands of them swimming through Southern California rivers and streams. Today, their numbers have dipped dangerously low due to impacts from habitat loss, fragmentation, and the encroachment of urbanization. These fish are crucial indicators of watershed health and river ecosystem integrity. They are a vital part of the environment that you, your family, neighbors, and friends all depend on and play a part in. If one piece of the environment changes or goes away this affects every other species - plant, animal, and human. Piru Creek provides essential habitat for these fish — without it, Southern steelhead are one step closer to disappearing forever.
The Endangered Species Act mandates critical habitat designation based on best science and restoration potential. It recognizes that areas essential for species conservation need special management and protection for species to recover. Removing lower Piru Creek’s protections would undermine regional steelhead recovery efforts.
We need your help! Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to deny United’s petition and retain critical habitat protections. Sign our letter below to tell NMFS that you fully oppose United’s petition to remove designated critical habitat in lower Piru Creek for endangered Southern California steelhead - by September 5, 2025.
Sponsored by
To:
National Marine Fisheries Service
From:
[Your Name]
As a concerned California resident, I write to you today to express my opposition for United Water Conservation District’s (United) petition to remove designated critical habitat in lower Piru Creek for dual-listed Southern California steelhead.
Southern steelhead are an iconic native species, but without adequate designated habitat we risk losing them forever. That’s not a California I want to live in. Do you? You must act immediately to prevent further habitat loss for this severely endangered fish species.
Recent research tells us that Southern steelhead populations are in danger of extinction within the next 25 to 50 years, if current trends persist. Since their listing as an endangered species in 1997 under the federal Endangered Species Act, Southern steelhead numbers have continued to decline to precariously low levels. In the past 25 years, only 177 adult Southern steelhead were documented in their native range!
Early scientific surveys and intrinsic potential models by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) identify Piru Creek as important habitat for Southern steelhead, capable of supporting these fish throughout all stages of their life cycles. Anadromous steelhead require unimpeded ocean‑to‑headwaters pathways to complete their full life cycles. Lower Piru Creek forms a critical migration gateway in the Santa Clara River watershed. Wet‑year flows enable Southern steelhead to reach headwater habitat.
The Endangered Species Act mandates critical habitat designation based on best science and restoration potential. It recognizes unoccupied or degraded areas needing special management for species recovery. Removing lower Piru Creek’s protections would undermine regional steelhead recovery efforts.
It’s not too late to save the Southern steelhead species from blinking out – but if you don’t act urgently, we may very well miss our chance. Alongside California Trout, I urge NMFS to deny United’s petition and retain critical habitat protections.
Sincerely,
A Concerned California Resident