Southern California Edison performed road maintenance in mid-December that went “beyond what was planned,” resulting in soil and rock debris dumped into Mission Creek near Tunnel Road and the Inspiration Point hiking trail.
“Due to an oversight, road maintenance grading was conducted beyond what was planned,” Southern California Edison spokesman Robert Laffoon-Villegas told Noozhawk this week. “This grading was not in accordance with our established processes and resulted in soil moving down the slope and into Mission Creek.”
Hikers spotted the debris in the creek. Edison is working with regulator agencies to obtain the required permits to repair damage and restore the creek, the spokesman said.
Laffoon-Villegas said that storm activity during the past year damaged access roads to electrical infrastructure for maintenance and repairs. Edison attempted to fix the access roads by clearing brush and making other “minor” repairs.
Laffoon-Villegas said Edison sought to “minimize the potential environmental impacts of its infrastructure development and maintenance projects.”
Brian Trautwein, an environmental analyst and watershed program coordinator for the Environmental Defense Center, touted the benefits of Mission Creek and said the debris dump damaged it.
“The recent earthwork and dumping of tons of rock, dirt and debris into the creek near Tunnel Trail fills in Mission Creek’s tranquil pools and fouls its clean flowing water with mud, threatening the many wild animals that call Mission Creek home,” Trautwein said. “The grading and dumping degrades the scenic nature of Mission Canyon, and harms recreational experience of people hiking and biking on Tunnel Trail.”
Mission Creek is Santa Barbara’s largest creek. It flows from the hills of Mission Canyon through the heart of downtown and to the Westside. Trautwein said it also serves an important environmental need in the community.
“It provides clean water to the city through groundwater recharge, and provides habitat for a multitude of species, including rare fish, turtles, birds and newts,” Trautwein said.
He said Mission Creek supports endangered Southern California steelhead trout.
“Our community’s beautiful and wonderful Mission Creek should be fully restored, including removal of the rocks, dirt and debris dumped into the creek, and better protected so that these types of environmentally destructive actions are never taken again,” Trautwein said.
“EDC has worked for years with the city to protect and revitalize this creek as an important community resource, and to increase its flood capacity while restoring the creek’s fish and wildlife habitat.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
