New monument designation permanently protects the source waters of the Fall River and other famous trout streams in northern California
Coldwater conservation work sometimes takes one to places far from actual trout water. For example, it recently took me to Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley east of Palm Springs––Indio is one of the hottest and driest places in America. Then it took me to Washington, DC––not exactly Trout Country.
In both locations, I was there to celebrate a new designation for 224,000 acres of public lands and waters east of Mt. Shasta in northern California.
A good reason for travel
On January 7, President Biden was to host a signing ceremony proclaiming the designation of two new national monuments, Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands, in a desert wash some 30 miles east of Indio. However, ferocious winds came up, juicing the fires that have decimated areas of Los Angeles since and forcing a postponement of the signing ceremony.
A week later, I and other invitees made our way to Washington, where the signing ceremony did, in fact, take place. Amid the pageantry of our nation’s capital, my thoughts returned to the hauntingly lush and lovely water, and the large thick trout, that were the reason for my being there.
The Fall River and its unique native rainbow trout and our efforts to protect them and their habitat are what caused all my recent travel. It was all worth it.
A place worth protecting
The Fall River is California’s largest spring creek. A distinctive population of native rainbow trout has evolved there which, thanks to the incredible productivity of this stream system, spawns in two different seasons and churns out steelhead-sized fish.
The sole source of the Fall River is the aquifer under the Sáttítla Highlands, a rugged volcanic landscape some 60 miles to the north. This aquifer absorbs and filters a lot of rain and snowmelt––some studies suggest as much as California’s 200 largest reservoirs combined. A big dollop of this water works its way underground down to the head of the Fall River Valley, where it emerges in one of the largest complexes of freshwater springs in the West.
The Fall River begins at these springs, which even in periods of prolonged drought continue to deliver an impressive volume of water to the Fall River and to the Pit and Sacramento Rivers downstream. There are few trout streams like it, anywhere.
Years worth of work come to fruition
That is the primary reason that TU has worked closely with the Pit River Tribe and other conservation partners over the past 18 months to permanently protect the Sáttítla Highlands, the remnants of a geologic formation called a shield volcano––the largest in North America––which ironically has little surface water.
This work was classic TU advocacy: we identified a key area of high quality coldwater habitat without durable protection from development and combined the efforts of local volunteers with staff to build influential coalitions and make a winning case for special designations that better protect the best water sources, coldwater habitats and trout fisheries we have left.
Our work in support of the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument campaign spanned the continent, from the halls of Congress and the Biden administration to the state legislature to local fly shops to outdoor media.
Hats off to the Pit River Tribe
Throughout the process, the Pit River Tribe provided impressive leadership and inspiration. TU will continue to work with the Tribe on other Sáttítla-related actions, including funding for the new national monument, groundwater monitoring and a petition to designate the Sáttítla Highlands aquifer as an Outstanding National Resource Water.
It was, of course, a tremendous honor to be asked to join the Tribe and other principals in the campaign to establish the Sáttítla Highlands as a national monument for the signing ceremony. I could only imagine how sweet a moment it must have been for the Tribe, which has fought for three decades to defend their homeland––and by extension the famous rivers and fisheries that depend on the waters harbored under that homeland––from proposed development.
In my experience, consistently successful anglers share a few fundamental traits:
- Respect for the fish and for the waters in which they live.
- An informed awareness of habitat, and a commitment to keeping that habitat healthy and productive.
- An appreciation for those who came before and helped improve and sustain fishing opportunities.
All of these traits, the Pit River Tribe have in spades. My favorite, much-weathered TU fishing cap is off to them.
Read TU’s press release on the White House announcement about designation of Sáttítla Highlands National Monument here.