Project helps restore fish habitat along Stevens Creek
Removal of concrete slab should benefit upstream migration of steelhead trout in particular
Steelhead and other fish species should find it easier to pass through the section of Stevens Creek that runs by the Deep Cliff Golf Course in Cupertino after contractors working for the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail completed a project to restore natural fish habitat and remove a concrete slab spanning the creek.
The concrete had been a barrier to the upstream migration of juvenile steelhead trout, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
“The fish passage was designed with salmonids — particularly steelhead — in mind, but it will be important for the movements of all other fish species in the creek such as stickleback, minnows and suckers,” said Steve Powell, an environmental scientist who consulted on the project. “Allowing the fish access to more habitat allows them increased opportunity to locate suitable reproduction and feeding sites and maintain viable populations.”
When fish were temporarily relocated during construction, numerous juvenile rainbow trout were found near the concrete slab, attesting to the importance of improving passage in this reach of the creek.
Richard Mcmurtry of the Santa Clara County Creeks Coalition initiated the project and was a technical consultant throughout the more than three years it took to complete it.
“Since my first conversation with the Friends over seven years ago, I have been impressed by their steadfast effort to bring this habitat improvement project to fruition,” Mcmurtry said in a statement. “It is hoped that this project contributes to ongoing efforts to restore a self-sustaining population of steelhead
trout in the Stevens Creek watershed,” said Friends executive director Rajiv Mathur
The project was collaborative effort among multiple agencies, including the cities of Mountain View, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Los Altos, Valley Water, the Midpeninsula
Regional Open Space District, Santa Clara County, Deep Cliff Golf Course, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Google, Inc., Guadalupe Coyote Resources Conservation District and the Los Altos Community Foundation.
The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail is a local community group whose goal is to raise community awareness and support for the completion of a trail in the Stevens Creek Corridor. For more information, visit https://www.stevenscreektrail.org.