{"id":1414,"date":"2015-04-05T15:23:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T22:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/?p=1414"},"modified":"2022-08-01T12:51:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T19:51:33","slug":"volunteers-remove-invasive-crayfish-from-malibu-creek-watershed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/2015\/04\/05\/volunteers-remove-invasive-crayfish-from-malibu-creek-watershed\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers remove invasive crayfish from Malibu Creek watershed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A small army aims to eliminate crayfish from the Santa Monica Mountains’ streams and rivers in 3 years<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Source of this article: The Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n

As the morning sun peeked over a mountain ridge on Saturday, Kyle Troy waded into a murky San Fernando Valley creek and hoisted a wire-mesh trap filled with angry crayfish aggressively waving their pincer-like claws.<\/p>\n

\u201cNative species don\u2019t stand a chance against these guys,\u201d she said, peering into the foot-long trap. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to get rid of every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to the nonnative 3-inch-long crayfish that has colonized and multiplied in the 109-square-mile Malibu Creek watershed over the last century, the 29-year-old biologist with the nonprofit Mountains Restoration Trust is merciless.<\/p>\n

\"Targeting<\/a>

Targeting crayfish. Whitney Hagstrom, 22, pulls a crayfish trap from Medea Creek in the Santa Monica Mountains. Crayfish were introduced by fishermen who used them as bait. Now they thrive wherever there is year-round running water shaded by oak trees, willows and brambles.<\/p><\/div>\n

With a $600,000-grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Troy and a small army of volunteer students from local schools aim to eliminate crayfish from the Santa Monica Mountains\u2019 streams and rivers — within three years.<\/p>\n

This is an almost Sisyphean task. But it is an important part of an ongoing effort to transform the watershed\u2019s ecological system into a more natural state, one that may eventually allow endangered steelhead to make their way back to historic spawning grounds.<\/p>\n

The estimated 500 Southern California steelhead left on Earth are scattered across coastal waters between San Luis Obispo and the U.S.\/Mexico border.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrayfish are incredibly aggressive, and omnivorous,\u201d Troy said. \u201cThey devour fish and insects, along with the eggs and tadpoles of frogs and toads. So they\u2019ve got to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past year, the effort led by Troy and trust biologist Anders Reimer has trapped and removed roughly 44,000 crayfish, all of which were sent\u00a0to the California Wildlife Center in Malibu, where they were used to feed possums and raccoons.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Troy and two dozen students from Pepperdine University focused on a 600-yard-long stretch of Medea Creek on the north end of the Santa Monicas.<\/p>\n

\"Targeting<\/a>

Targeting crayfish. A crayfish caught by Kyle Troy and volunteer students from Pepperdine University is measured. Over the last year, the effort led by Troy and Mountains Restoration Trust biologist Anders Reimer has trapped and removed roughly 44,000 of the creatures.<\/p><\/div>\n

The process involved checking the contents of 400 wire traps set a few yards apart in various locations of the creek bottom. They pulled up the traps, counted the number of crayfish in each one and emptied the catch into plastic buckets. Then they rebaited the traps with chicken-flavored dog food and returned them to the river bottom.<\/p>\n