Endangered Habitats League filed suit against the Army Corp of Engineers for not evaluating impacts from Seven Oaks Dam operations to endangered species. Seven Oaks dam is on the upper Santa Ana River in San Bernardino County. 

The river ecosystem depends upon periodic flood events to rejuvenate habitat and transport sediment. The technical term for vegetation changes over time is “succession.” Endangered animals like the San Bernardino kangaroo rat and Santa Ana sucker fish, and rare plants like the Santa Ana River woolly star and slender-horned spineflower, all need this dynamic system –– which the dam has removed. While the Army Corps and the other dam operators were supposed to plan for water releases, they have not done so.

Back in July, EHL and our partner, the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a detailed “60-day notice” which provided the many reasons why re-evaluation – technically called “reconsultation” - under the Endangered Species Act is required due changed dam operations and new circumstances. If our suit, filed in December 2016, is successful, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be able to impose new conditions that ensure life-giving water releases. Such releases should not interfere with flood control or water recharge goals.

EHL work on the upper Santa Ana River and its tributaries also continues along Lytle and Cajon Creeks, the only undammed portion of the system. We continue to review documents and file comments for on Army Corps permits for both the Lytle Creek Ranch mega-development and the CEMEX mining levee reconstruction, both within critical floodplain habitat for the San Bernardino kangaroo rat.