page_title: Little Sur River
section_title: Habitat for endangered species
hierarchical_section_title: Little Sur River / Habitat for endangered species
caption_attribution_description: Coast Range Newt, Taricha torosa torosa
context_page_description: The Little Sur River is a 25.4-mile long river on the Central Coast of California. The river and its main tributary, the South Fork, drain a watershed of about 40 square miles of the Big Sur area, a thinly settled region of the Central California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The South Fork and the North Fork both have their headwaters in the Ventana Wilderness, straddling Mount Pico Blanco. Portions west of the national forest and Old Coast Road lie within the El Sur Ranch. The forks converge about 2 miles before the river empties into the Pacific Ocean.
  The river's steep canyons and high chaparral-covered ridges are host to a number of rare species including the Santa Lucia Fir, Dudley's lousewort, and virgin stands of old-growth redwood.
context_section_description: In 1895, a fishing journal reported that "there are plenty of large fish in the stream, and there are several fine streams running into the North Fork, all full of California trout." A 1903 state report similarly reported that "The Big and Little Sur Rivers... are noted for trout-fishing."
  A 1965 report said the stream contained about 30 miles (48 km) of prime habitat for the threatened steelhead. In 2002, Fish and Game staff surveyed the Little Sur River in the vicinity of the Camp Pico Blanco and found "numerous" steelhead fry and fingerlings. They described the river as "probably the most productive steelhead river south of the San Francisco Bay at this time." The Little Sur River is considered by the California Department of Fish and Game to be the "most important spawning stream for steelhead" on the Central Coast and "one of the best steelhead streams in the county."
  As of 2011, fishing is limited to the fourth Saturday each month from May through October 31 each year. Only artificial lures with barbless hooks may be used.
  Other at risk species found in the river's riparian corridor include the California red-legged frog (Federally threatened, California Species of Concern), western pond turtle (California Species of Concern), foothill yellow-legged frog (California Species of Concern), and the Coastal Range newt (California Species of Concern).
caption: Coastal Range newt
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