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Money : 7/9/2010

Can the City spend some money and build a conduit for the homeless bums to migrate upstream to Santa Maria? The ecological health of our SB culture depends on keeping the bums moving and not seeking refuge in some dirty sesspool in town. That too ensures the economic vitality of our tourist dollars.

Pavit N. Ditchit

: 7/9/2010

Homeless bums do not have any passage barriers to migrate to Santa Maria.

Doin' What Comes Naturally : 7/9/2010

Since the foothills and mountains used to burn naturally every decade or so, the creeks would fill with ash and debris following every fire and rainy season.
Why should the effects of the Jesusita Fire be any different from what is a natural chain of events?
Seems funny to spend $800,000 so the fish can have sex further up the creek. Is there some sort of steelhead stigma to copulating and being born in the lower westside?

El Barbareno

: 7/9/2010

Ha nice "KABRON" hit up on that bridge

Really...? : 7/9/2010

So the City and the Enviro's are going to make it all good again... Maybe they should consider all the un-natural -NON NATIVE TREE LITTER that clogs our creeks and causes excessive alge growth due to clogged waterways. Over the years (according to City publications), the City of Santa Barbara takes pride in the fact that they have planted over 40,000 trees along our streets. Well, those trees ARE NOT NATIVES and cause real harm to our waterways, but that would go against everything the City and Enviro wackos support- more trees being planted!
I can literally fill (and do), one large green waste can a WEEK of tree litter (Jacaranda, eucalyptus & pine) material from just in front of my house.
When we are worried about floods, maybe the city crews will be out there cutting down the 1500 plants and trees the "Creeks Division" will be planting in Mission creek...!
This town, according to Jim Armstrong and City Council is totally broke, yet we are taking tax money generated by a 2% bed tax to make another city funded bureaucracy (employees and benefits) to mess around with our creeks! We never heard the results from the last Creek Division "project" of the poop smelling-tracking dogs that were supposed to find out where the human fecal material was coming from... Can we say with confidence it was the bums that sleep and deficate in the lower creek areas?
What a joke! And the City expects the taxpayers to believe we are in financial straits...?

Tip of the Iceberg : 7/9/2010

Grasping for straws?
Mr. Williams most certainly has missed the point of stream flows here and other locations. Before population expansion well - stream use, for these people, the streams would flow almost year around. A healthy environment for humans includes water to drink and use, does this mean he is for taking out the new well in San Roque, capping the lower eastside wells, and closing off Cachuma water through the man made tunnel?
As the watershed from Winchester to Rincon continues to have greater demands on it, why spend ridiculous amounts of money for pools? Interesting also, the hotel tax for creek restoration has more then enough money in it, so a question arises why is the City of SB getting grant money from governments that are deficit ridden? Is that money being "borrowed" for other purposes?
Readers better read closely the "upstream ecological restoration" statement. This has been very broadly interpreted by Pritchard to mean "taking private property rights" and creating walking paths right along the back yards of residents of creek locations. Have a wall critical to protecting your property in the 50-100 year floods? Good luck, the city has already proposed plans to remove them for the "ecology." His often extreme views so often angered creek residents they derisively named him the Creek Nazi.
They should build creek bulbouts and roundabouts while they are at it.
More wasted money, more intrusive government, and more special interest politics.

Mission Creek Wader

: 7/9/2010

I always like how some people rant and rave about not knowing anything about readily available information.

The Google

: 7/9/2010

Who is Pritchard?

... : 7/9/2010

Everyone's an expert apparently...

Me

To Who is Pritchett : 7/9/2010

Best I can tell he's got an opinion on pretty much every topic you can possibly raise and pretends to know something about everything. I'm always suspect of whatever it is he's peddling because most of the time it appears he goes on pure conjecture rather than fact.
This appears to be another example of just that. Visitors are going to come to Santa Barbara to see our migrating steelhead?

Tiredofblowhards

Layperson... : 7/9/2010

You don't have to be an "Envoronmental Expert" or Professor from UCSB to figure out non native tree litter is a huge factor in our creek pollution.
Just go the the Santa Barbara Historical Museum and look at the picture(s) of Santa Barbara taken from the pier looking towards the Mission dated in the late 1800's. There are virtually NO TREES in the City!
So go ahead and RE-WRITE history; Maybe you can indoctrinate some more of your "students" on the environment as it should be.

and what about Sewer Lagoon? : 7/9/2010

So what about Sewer Lagoon? Without Mission Creek being open to the ocean, what's the point of all of this?
Then, they need to outlaw fishing.

Mr. M

Sweet! : 7/9/2010

Way to put your money where your mouth is, SB! It's one thing to talk, theorize, and bemoan, but when we actually take action, I can't help but be proud! Great job! I hope the result is as beautiful as it is beneficial to this major urban creek.

Love this City!

Great work : 7/9/2010

Every long journey begins with a short step - great plan! It's all good.

Walleye

Steelhead restoration : 7/9/2010

When was the last time a sober person saw a steelhead migrate up Missiion Creek?
Where did the $750 thousand dollar grant money come from? Curiousaly, that is not mentioned
This isn't a steelhead restoration project, it is a bonehead restoratiion project.

Dan Kirk

I've seen steelhead in Mission Creek : 7/9/2010

Thank you City and EDC and partners. Mission Creek is identified as one of the most important streams in our region for steelhead recovery. This project is worthwhile and exciting... finally putting federal and state wildlife dollars to local use --- cresating local jobs and bringing back the steelhead. It is a win-win.
I've seen steelhead several times in recent years in local creeks including Mission Creek. We'll see a lot more steelhead after these grant-funded projects are implemented. Once enough come back, steelhead won't be endangered anymore, after the City and EDC are successful. Great Work!

Garden Street

"Garden Street..." : 7/9/2010

Isn't that where the City Headquarters for this project is???? LOL! This project is a perfect example of what is wrong with our poltical system and the self serving bureaucracy they develop. It's like having little to no money in your savings account to pay your mortgage, but your going to spend your money on a new car. The city is crying broke and cutting vital services like water, sewer, and public safety, but we'll hire a bunch of environmentalists to create a new division called The Creeks Division (located on Garden St). The taxpayers are no longer willing to sign on to this agenda...at least while the rest of the City is being butchered. There were steelhead in the Creeks every non-drought year when I was growing up here in the last 40 years. Spend the money on VITAL services and get the City back on track and governed for what it is supposed to provide: streets, sewer, water and public safety... The rest is PORK!

: 7/9/2010

Re: Dan Kirk
This is true and tragic. Just a few years ago a large trout was seen in lower Mission creek, near Cota street I believe. But some A-hole killed it and it turned out to be a female full of eggs. Anyone else remember this?

Dan Seibert

Teabaggers should try again. : 7/9/2010

Some readers have a reading comprehension problem and do not recognize the report that this funding is from outside Santa Barbara and already is from a highly restricted City source via the Creeks Division Enterprise Fund.
Edhat has published many prior articles about steelhead trout and Mission Creek.

Oncorhynchus

: 7/11/2010

The effects of the Jesusita Fire are very different from fires that burned naturally a long time ago. When fires don't come through an area on a regular basis, the weeds and underbrush build up, so that when a fire does come through, it is so hot and intense that trees don't survive and everything is burned to ashes. And, wildlife get burned up, too. But we have homes everywhere, so we do fire suppression, hence the cycle of brush buildup will begin again.

Female Steelhead Killed : 7/11/2010

Yes Dan, I do remember this. The world is turning into an increasingly messed-up place. I am going to take a break from the news media for a while. Please keep up the good work, it is appreciated.

naturelover

Mission creek steelhead : 7/11/2010

I have been a resident of SB. since 1968. I have never seen a steelhead in mission creek and I live near oak park.I am over there every day walking my dog.Ok. There could possibly be a couple of fish in there on occaision but why, when the city is going broke, would any responsible city official opt tp spend money that could be going into projects that would benifit the citizens of our town.Clearly someone in city hall needs to GO! I won't hold my breath......

stepnfetch1

: 7/11/2010

Concrete removal is always a good thing, even if you don't give a damn about wildlife.

Upearth the impending concrete jungle

re Mission Creek steelhead : 7/13/2010

What should have been done for that steelhead was what some of us did for the plovers on the Sandspit --- have daily watches, advising people against harming the bird. Harder to do for the fish, but it wasn't easy for the plovers. End result, of the three eggs-chicks, one did survive to adulthood. Had enough people cared, that trout and her offspring might have survived - for themselves, not to be an EDC meal.
We can't just expect people to do right, and then complain when they don't; we have to do more than write and take pictures about it. Good for the city to being proactive and removing the concrete.

crb

: 7/21/2010

The flogging of civilization : 7/31/2010

We do not control nature; we have gone backward in technology in regard to horticulture, irrigation and science. This is a waste of money, another save the planet and screws the people project. I know, let's stop plate tectonics and volcanic activity too. Get the homeless and their garbage; fecal matter out of our creeks. $800,000 could hire 6 full time police officers to do that.

get real

: 8/1/2010

Whether building ponds is wise, I can't say. But enhancing fisheries and habitat is a BIG local economic boon eventually. Sport fishermen spend far more dollars than a average tourist, not to mention the increased income to the local boats from the steelhead season, when they're allowed to fish them again in numbers. And a tourist dollar trades into far more hands locally than any other industries dollars do. As example, some salmon fisheries in AK are the largest in the world, but amazingly even with the thousands of commercial fishermen and millions of foreign currencies to buy those fish, the sport fishing industry pulls far more weight politically because it brings MORE income into the state economy from the sport fisherman than the sale of commercially sold fish ever can. This could certainly be true for SB County. If weekend festivals are an indicator of it's economic benefit, like local avocado, strawberry, and lemon festivals, a steelhead festival would be reasonable to expect if the fish were to thrive along the south coast again. Ask any fisherman what it's like to bring a 3 foot fish out of the water. It's electric for the fisherman, and his or her dollars become electric for the local economy. And they spend, spend, spend. Whether it's a motel room or a day boat or a meal or an ice cream, those dollars have been shown to swap hands 4 or 5 times before they leave the area. This writer is very conservative, but if many mistakes are made to achieve success reviving this species, they are well worth it, financially.

J. Rouse