The Santa Ynez River in Santa Barbara County once supported a run of 25,000 steelhead per year. In 1954, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Bradbury Dam was built without fish passage for migratory access to the headwaters above the dam, cutting off two thirds of the steelhead spawning habitat and drying up the river. Southern steelhead are now critically endangered and according to California Trout could “go extinct within the next 25-50 years.”

Steelhead require access to spawning grounds and greater flows which would also enhance recreation and replenish groundwater. Time is running out to save the Santa Ynez River steelhead and the habitat they need to survive for future generations. The Bureau of Reclamation must act to provide steelhead access above the Dam and enough water so that steelhead can recover to the point at which they are no longer endangered.

Please help the steelhead survive by signing this petition requesting migratory passage for Southern California Steelhead over Bradbury Dam and sufficient river flows.