Matilija Dam Removal Projects Slows Down - LA Times

"Amid much fanfare, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt climbed behind the controls of a construction crane in 2000 and personally removed a 16,000-pound chunk of concrete from the face of Matilija Dam. It was the symbolic first step in razing the dam that has been blamed for the decline of the endangered southern steelhead trout and the depletion of sand at Ventura County beaches.

Babbitt vowed to make the dam's removal a top priority. "I'm absolutely confident that in a number of years I'll be back here as former secretary and a private citizen to celebrate this dam being gone," he said at a news conference attended by numerous dignitaries at the time. Four years later, Babbitt is no longer secretary and the 20-story-tall dam still stands in the Ventura County backcountry, filled nearly to the top with mud and silt — with no clear date set for its removal.

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Critics say the 145-foot dam, built in 1947 for flood control, has outlived its usefulness. It was designed to hold 5,000 acre-feet of water, but the buildup of silt and mud behind the dam has reduced its storage capacity to 400 acre-feet. The silt also blocks migration of endangered southern steelhead trout and prevents sand from washing downstream to replenish Ventura County beaches. As the reservoir created by the dam has filled with silt, the number of steelhead in the Ventura River has dwindled to several hundred, Pratt said. "There's supposed to be 5,000 to 7,000."

Even so, lawmakers aren't worried about the pace of the project. "There's a lot of things you have to get worked out," said Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett, whose district includes Matilija. "We have tons of design work that needs to be done and permits that have to be coordinated…. If they approve this, this would be the largest dam in the country" to be demolished."

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