Fish and Game Official: Work Was Done in Arroyo Seco With Expired Permit

Recent stream bed above JPL by Pasadena Water and Power was done without a current permit from the state Fish and Game Department, according to state officials.

State Fish and Game Department spokesman Andrew Hughan said that the work, which involved a bulldozer moving and leveling sediment in the bed about three-quarters of a mile past JPL, was done with an expired permit that the officials failed to renew.

Nevertheless, the work was not detrimental to wildlife or plant life in the bed and would have been permitted, said Hughan, who described it as a "paperwork" issue.

"It is a big deal in that they should have notified us that they were going to do the work," Hughan said.

But, he said, officials are now doing the official permit work to cover the work and any future maintainence and the permit will be granted.

"They did the work, it appears to be fine, and the retroactive agreement should be
in place shortly," Hughan said.

The work was done last week on a spreading basin the city constructed in a stream bed about three-quarters of a mile above JPL.  The basin basically acts as a pond that collects rainwater from the stream bed and returns it to the water table rather than letting it flow out to sea through the stream bed.

The that were distributed by local trail advocate Paul Ayers.  In the photos, a bulldozer is shown spreading and moving sediment in the river bed.  Local wildlife advocates have raised concerns about the work could mean for riparian wildlife in the area.

PWP officials have said they had permits to do the work, in interviews with Altadena Patch, and in a city document distributed by the office of the City Manager.  They could likely have been referring to the expired agreement to do ongoing maintainence that will now be renewed.

Officials have also told Patch that since the Station Fire, the area has required frequent maintenance as winter storms have washed high levels of sediment into the stream bed which then accumulate and clog up the basin.