San Francisquito Creek Steelhead need your help......

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=wc1gUJGZQh8

[frequent flyer]

Bill,

I think a closer examination of the costs of saving a very few steelhead might well convince you and others that conservation money would be much better spent on other rivers.

I am an avid steeheader, an ardent conservationist and have lived within 2 miles of San Francisquito Cr. for decades. The cost of removing the dam and the millions of cubic yards of sediment from the dam that has been there for almost 100 years would be many tens of millions of dollars if not more. The number of steelhead in that stream now or in the past 50 years has been trivial, as I know from having fished it many times as a kid and living near it for decades.

As long as nobody except Stanford has to foot the bill for this huge and highly expensive undertaking to save a tiny run of steelhead, I guess it will receive some public support. It has been heavily promoted by advertising and public relations pushed and organized by one well-connected individual advocate to an uncritical public that hasn't examined the costs of the proposal because it would be paid for by somebody else - Stanford.

No question that removing the dam would restore a small amount of steelhead habitat. But the real issue is - at what cost?
If this were a California Fish & Game decision at taxpayer cost, there is no way the project would go forward - there are far higher priorities. But if somebody else is footing the bill and the public gets the benefit for free (a questionable assumption) then I guess some would consider it a very worthwhile project. The time, effort and money that would be wasted on this extravagantly expensive proposal could be far better used on any number of California or other coastal watersheds. I have no financial or other interest in this issue, just hate to see scarce resources wasted on an ill-conceived proposal.

There are a lot of very well-intentioned people who favor this proposal without knowing much about it or the surrounding environment. An annual run that might eventually reach a few dozen fish (and fishing hasn't been allowed for decades) isn't worth the many tens of millions of dollars that could be far better spent on other steelhead streams.