Please read this excerpt from a recent study by the Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration regarding Alameda Creek (which Arroyo Del Valle and the back ponds at Shadow Cliffs are a part of)():

Page 37 - 5.4.1.2 Task No. 2. Evaluate predator populations in the backwater pools. More should be learned about how predators (mainly bass) arrive at, and use, the backwater pools. The first step would be a literature review of bass life history requirements. Then estimates of (1) predator numbers and sizes (possibly using mark-recapture) and (2) habitat quality from late-spring through early-fall would serve as a background to contrast future management actions. One desirable management option would be to passively eliminate, or greatly suppress, bass in the backwater pools. With elimination of bass unlikely, the effects of bass predation on steelhead juvenile growth and survival might be needed in the future, once steelhead begin to repopulate the watershed.

If you think that this will stop with the back ponds, you should think again. Any study on, "where do bass come from" in Alameda creek will quickly identify Del Valle Reservoir, Shadow Cliffs main lake, the Quarry Lakes, Calaveras, and San Antonio reservoir. I know from talking to Brian Sak years ago that bass predation on landlocked steelhead in Calaveras reservoir has already been studied.

Connect the dots in your mind here. The groups that are behind steelhead restoration in Alameda creek will fall on a spectrum of beliefs and values. Some will balk at the idea of eradicating bass from the lakes or closing lakes to fishing. Other groups will not and would like nothing better.

The Center for Biological Diversity is very much involved in this Alameda creek issue and is working with the Alameda Creek Alliance () and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (). Recall that this is the same group responsible for ending trout stocking at hundreds of locations around the state, achieved via their lawsuit against the CA Department of Fish and Game.

I've said before and will say again. These groups believe they are doing nothing but good. They carry a flag of righteousness and hold it high. While I agree with much of what they are doing, I do not agree with their methods. Fundamentally these groups are putting pointless bandaids on amputated limbs.

The problem for steelhead in Alameda creek is Del Valle, Calaveras, and San Antonio reservoirs. The reason those reservoirs exist is to provide water for human use. While San Francisco water district may serve up tap water to the same people who are responsible for closing the back ponds at Shadow Cliffs to fishing, they are not about to tell those people to stop drinking it so trout can live.

The result is one less recreational opportunity for the people who live and work in the East Bay. It's not so that steelhead will be saved, it's so that people who got the closure can feel good about themselves.

My position on this issue will be that the back ponds at Shadow Cliffs should stay open to fishing on an artificial lure, catch and release only basis. In the coming weeks I will devise a plan to achieve this goal.