steelhead

The watershed’s Southern California steelhead trout, many of which were rescued in a separate operation in January, are still unable to return home.

The Palisades fire that sparked Jan. 7 tore through the area, scorching all of the critical habitat for the gobies and an endangered population of steelhead trout that occupied the same watershed.

By establishing the salmon sanctuary in Blue Creek, the deal safeguards a vital cold-water habitat for fish including Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead.

Wildlife officials feared critically endangered steelhead trout rescued from the Palisades fire burn scar might not be up for spawning after all they’d been through over the last few months.

Steelhead trout are the same species as rainbow trout, but they have different lifestyles.