Here's where California's remarkably wet year is bringing welcome recovery

Breathing in the rain-scrubbed air and absorbing the splendor of Topanga Creek, as it danced and pooled before her eyes, Rosi Dagit had to smile.

“This is like heaven for a steelhead,” said Dagit, a senior biologist with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains. “If I was a steelhead, this is where I would lay my eggs.”

This winter’s strong and persistent rains have revived a creek that, in recent years amid a punishing drought, had been reduced to a series of ponds and puddles. The much-needed water greatly enhances the prospects of reproduction for the endangered southern steelhead. And it has revived habitat for myriad other species in the Topanga Creek watershed, from a tiny minnow to frogs and newts to the coyotes and mountain lions that roam the canyon.

Humans share in the watery bounty, because the rocks and sediment washing down Topanga Creek replenish an eroding beach and bolster a beloved surfing spot. Topanga regulars say the newly configured ocean bed has reshaped waves, even slightly increasing the chance they might catch a tasty little “barrel.”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-01/heres-where-californias-remarkably-wet-year-is-bringing-welcome-recovery