Santa Margarita River is a high priority river

[WB Staff]

The Santa Margarita River in northern San Diego County is a high priority river for endangered steelhead recovery and has just met a major milestone in recovering this iconic species on the brink of extinction. CalTrout was recently awarded a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency to replace an aging concrete flood-prone river crossing near Fallbrook with a new steel bridge. Nearly $6 million was secured from this funding program, completing the 18 million dollars needed for Project construction.

The Project will eliminate the last remaining fish passage barrier on the river mainstem, and become the first perennial river in So Cal to be free from coast to headwaters. The Santa Margarita River historically supported steelhead. It has escaped the urban sprawl that has impacted much of coastal Southern California through land ownership protection along the length of the wildlife corridor – by Camp Pendleton, The Wildlands Conservancy and San Diego State University. The river still has natural river channels and flows year-round, has vast wild areas, extensive hiking trails, and a spring-creek character at the headwaters 29 miles inland.

FULL STORY: https://caltrout.org/news/santa-margari ... -steelhead

[Jboutfishn]

This is a good thing.

[Kwin]

too bad they just found quagga mussels in the river.