I love the sea and her flora and fauna. So, I cringe and grumble when I hear someone say, “It’s a shame we let all that runoff flow into the ocean. We should capture it.”
Yes, we need the rain and the runoff, but so do the lifeforms of the tidelands and the sea.
Cachuma Lake has been rising rapidly this winter and the lakes above it have spilled, so we are accumulating large quantities of water for our uses. I won’t argue with anyone saying that we need more water stored. But I will argue that nature needs it, too.
Before we began making dams and diversions and wells, the water flowed into the sea or soaked into the ground to replenish the underground resources. Areas like tidelands, where sea life is born, hatched or grown from seedlings, benefit tremendously from freshwater inflow.
Various fish species, bird species, aquatic and amphibious critters, scads of plant species all get a boost from freshwater inflow after storms. Some fish species, like steelhead and salmon make their runs up waterways during periods of heavy runoff, to spawn and make babies.
We did a lot of great work in the lower stretches of San Jose Creek in Goleta to re-engineer it so steelhead have a fair chance of making it up stream to where they can spawn.
Rainwater flowing into the ocean is natural, and it is nature at work building and maintaining life. For our coastal ecosystems to function and flourish, we need rain runoff flowing into the sea. Lots and lots of rainfall running into the sea.
When runoff is strong enough, boulders rumble down the streams and are washed into the nearshore environment where they become holdfasts for kelp forests which thousands of critters depend upon for life.
As we wire hillsides together to keep boulders from coming down, we take something natural and needed from the inshore habitat.
I get it that we live here, and we need water. But water, like fish and game, needs to be managed for sustainability. Some for us and some for nature.
When you see runoff going toward the sea, smile and think of all the flora and fauna that will survive and thrive. Let’s keep a balance.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
