Thursday July 25, 2024
KEYT —
One of California’s critically endangered species is making a comeback for the first time in years and it’s flourishing in a secret spot in Santa Barbara County.
“If you look right down by the wall you can see the babies,” said Brian Trautwein, Senior Analyst/Watershed Program Director for Environmental Defense Center.
Under a canopy of trees and beneath the surface of a mossy creek, tiny Steelhead or Rainbow Trout fingerlings scurry by; some in large schools. Local environmentalists call the discovery “exciting.”
“The Southern California Steelhead is one of the rarest fish in America,” said Trautwein. “To see even one in a pool in a local creek is amazing but to see several is highly unusual. And, to see them actually spawn and have hundreds of juvenile Steelhead is almost unheard of.”