Santa Monica Mountains' last steelhead trout survived the Palisades fire — and even had babies

Scientists feared the Santa Monica Mountains’ past remaining steelhead trout were dead, smothered by debris flows unleashed by the Palisades fire.

But the endangered food amazed them: A squad of biologists precocious spotted 30 of the uncommon trout — and 21 babies — successful Topanga Creek.

“There was a batch of blessed dancing successful the creek,” said Rosi Dagit, main conservation biologist for the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, which works with nationalist and backstage landowners to conserve earthy resources.

That’s due to the fact that the steelhead present are endangered, astatine some the authorities and national levels. Once, they swam successful astir streams of the Santa Monicas, but their numbers plummeted amid overfishing and coastal development. Increasingly predominant wildfire has further stressed their habitat. Topanga Creek, a biodiversity blistery spot, is location to their past known colonisation successful the mountains that agelong from the Hollywood Hills to Point Mugu successful Ventura County.

The trout that were spotted, including this one, are portion of a chiseled Southern California colonisation that’s listed arsenic endangered astatine the authorities and national levels.

(RCDSMM Stream Team)

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife spearheaded a analyzable ngo to rescue trout threatened by the Palisades occurrence that sparked successful January 2025.

Time was of the essence. The occurrence hadn’t yet been afloat contained. But rainfall was connected the way, which would expanse monolithic amounts of sediment from the denuded hillsides into the water. Fish are often killed this way.

Crews stunned the food with electricity, scooped them up successful buckets, trucked them to a hatchery and yet moved them to Arroyo Hondo Creek successful Santa Barbara County.

Within days, Topanga Creek was choked with mud. Some assumed the food near down were goners.

But successful March, the conservation district’s squad recovered four. The pursuing month, erstwhile h2o conditions were clearer, they saw more.

“These food proceed to amaze me,” said Kyle Evans, biology programme manager for the authorities Department of Fish and Wildlife, who had seen the harm to the creek. “I had seen populations get wiped retired successful akin situations. So erstwhile I heard, I was thrilled.”

Evans surmises the food that survived were successful an country of the creek wherever little charred worldly and sediment were swept in.

“These food apt hunkered down, were hiding nether immoderate rocks oregon places to effort to get distant from the main attraction of flow,” helium said. “And luckily they weren’t buried.”

The ones that were spotted were reasonably small, astir 6 to 14 inches. Rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the aforesaid species, but with antithetic lifestyles. If the food stay successful freshwater, they’ll beryllium considered rainbows. However, they tin migrate to the water and go steelhead, wherever they typically turn larger earlier returning to their natal waters to spawn.

Topanga Creek hasn’t afloat recovered from the harm it sustained, but scientists accidental it’s looking better. Surveys past twelvemonth were “so depressing,” Dagit said, with precise fewer animals, and stretches that were fundamentally transformed into level roads from each the sediment buildup. Some of the riparian canopy burned close down to the creek.

Then came 32 inches of rainfall implicit the past 9 months, scouring retired and moving sediment, creating deeper pools. Dagit said they precocious recovered newt ovum masses for the archetypal clip successful years, arsenic good arsenic a fewer big newts and galore frogs. Plants that supply screen are starting to recover.

She provided photos comparing definite pools past twelvemonth and this year, immoderate dramatically transformed. In September 2025, the Shrine Pool could person been an overgrown hiking trail. This April, it was filled with shallow water.

The Shrine Pool successful September 2025, left, and the aforesaid determination successful April 2026, right, with RCDSMM’s Isaac Yelchin donning a wetsuit.

(RCDSMM Stream Team)

Topanga Creek is location to different endangered fish, the tiny but hardy bluish tidewater goby, often described arsenic cute. Not agelong earlier the trout operation, Dagit led a rescue of hundreds of these food too. Many were repatriated to the lagoon astatine the rima of the creek successful a moving ceremonial past June.

There’s inactive the substance of what to bash with the trout that were moved to Santa Barbara County past year. Evans would similar to bring them location to the Santa Monicas astatine immoderate point, but isn’t definite if it volition happen. On 1 hand, they could bolster the small, genetically isolated surviving population. On the other, they mightiness inadvertently bring successful a illness oregon bacteria. There is immoderate clip to decide. Evans estimates the creek inactive needs to retrieve for 2 to 3 much years.

For now, the food are functioning good successful their adopted creek. Experts disquieted the trauma wrought by the determination would disrupt their spawning process, but they had babies that spring. This year, they spawned again.