The Seven Oaks Dam on the upper Santa Ana River blocks the river’s natural flow, with devastating ecological consequences. EHL is acting to change that. 

Part of a massive, federally subsidized flood control system – called the Santa Ana River Mainstem Project – that includes Prado Dam downstream, Seven Oaks Dam has fundamentally altered the ecosystem of the Santa Ana River. Competed in 2000, it has deprived the floodplain of its cycle of high flows and flooding, sediment transport, and rejuvenation of vegetation. Plants and animals along the river depend upon this cycle, and cannot survive with out it. The San Bernardino kangaroo rat and the Santa Ana sucker, a native fish, are prime examples. These species are listed as endangered and threatened, respectively, under the Endangered Species Act but are nevertheless on paths to extinction. Rare plants such as the Santa Ana River woolly star and slender-horned spineflower also suffer.

The original permitting for the project by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service anticipated periodic release of flood flows. Not only has this never happened but it is not even being planned for by the project sponsors and operators – the Army Corps of Engineers, Orange County Flood Control District, San Bernardino County Flood Control District, and Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. These agencies have also ignored the legal requirement to reopen the permitting process – called “reinitiating consultation” – with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service due to new circumstances, altered dam operations, and prior failure to consider effects on what the Service has designated as “Critical Habitat” for listed species along the river.

After an unsuccessful meeting with the dam sponsors and operators, EHL concluded that life-giving flows will never be released absent legal impetus. We asked the law firm of Johnson & Sedlack to review voluminous documents and draft a petition asking the Corps of Engineers to reconsult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on how Seven Oaks Dam and the Santa Ana River Mainstem Project are affecting the Santa Ana sucker and the San Bernardino kangaroo rat. Joining forces with the Center for Biological Diversity, we filed a detailed letter on July 25, 2016, which also serves as a 60-day notice of intent to sue if consultations are not initiated. 

The flood flows we seek only need be released periodically. As such controlled releases will occur only during wet years, there is ample water in the river for human uses, including groundwater recharge for drinking water. Flood control objectives would not be compromised by the magnitude of water needed to sustain the ecosystem and its highly threatened community of life.

We hope that the Army Corps and project sponsors will respond constructively.