Year Completed: 2026

Cost: ~$2,000,000

Goals: Improve fish passage by modifying the underside of the Patterson Avenue bridge

Funders: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Santa Barbara County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, Santa Barbara County Public Works

Partners: Santa Barbara County Public Works, Santa Barbara County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Waterways Consulting, Earth Systems, Streeter Group, LoneStar Wireless Construction, Santa Barbara Natives, California Conservation Corps.

Project Overview

The goal of the project was to implement the physical construction of instream work to provide fish passage to Southern Steelhead Trout at the Patterson Avenue bridge along Maria Ygnacio Creek, tributary to Atascadero Creek, tributary to the Goleta Slough Complex. Atascadero and Maria Ygnacio Creeks have had regular consistent records of resident trout throughout the watershed and a few adult steelhead documented in the lower watersheds (primarily upstream along Maria Ygnacio Creek).

This project restored passage past a known barrier for endangered Southern Steelhead Trout along Maria Ygnacio Creek, by modifying the underside of the Patterson Avenue bridge and installing a fish passage project that removed the jump barrier that was prviously formed by the hydraulic jump which scoured the confluence pool.

Construction began August 2025 and was completed in early December 2025. Riparian revegetation took place as part of the project in collaboration with the California Conservation Corps from the Camarillo Center.