Southern Steelhead: Recovering a California Landscape with Mark Capelli

Southern Steelhead: Recovering a California Landscape with Mark Capelli

Thursday, June 21st, 6:30PM
Faulkner Gallery – Santa Barbara Public Library
40 East Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA

Learn about the steps being taken to support the recovery of Southern California’s steelhead population. Federally listed as an endangered species in 1997, the Southern California steelhead faces challenges ranging from loss of habitat, pollution, and insufficient stream and river flow.

The Southern California Steelhead Recovery Plan developed by the National Marine Fisheries Service identifies recovery criteria which include both run size and the number and distribution of recovered populations. The distribution and number of recovered populations is intended to preserve the natural diversity of the species against natural catastrophic landscape changes, including wildfire, floods, and debris flows characteristic of Mediterranean landscapes dominated by fire-dependent chaparral vegetation. Recovery of Southern California steelhead will require re-integrating steelhead populations into habitats currently used by over 22 million people.

Mark Capelli has served with the National Marine Fisheries Service, since 2000 as the Steelhead Recovery Coordinator for South-Central and Southern California, and is lead author for both the Southern California and South-Central California Steelhead Recovery Plans.

The talk is FREE and part of the ongoing Wilderness Hiking Speaker Series hosted by the Santa Barbara Public Library. The talks are the third Thursday of the month and feature topics related to hiking, backpacking, and our local natural history.

The next talk in the series is Thursday, July 19th, Hiking Spain’s Camino Santiago with Maile Ellington.