page_title: Dam removal
section_title: Rindge Dam and Matilija Dam, Southern California
hierarchical_section_title: Dam removal / Proposed removals / Rindge Dam and Matilija Dam, Southern California
caption_attribution_description: English: The ghostly Rindge Dam in Malibu Canyon — in the Santa Monica Mountains, Southern California. The 1926 concrete dam on Malibu Creek, seen from Las Virgenes Road, is located in Malibu Creek State Park.
context_page_description: Dam removal is the process of demolishing a dam, leaving a river to flow freely. It is undertaken for a variety of reasons that include environmental rehabilitation, structural weakness and maintenance expense.
  All dams negatively affect the aquatic environments of rivers that they are located on, but those effects are often negated by the stated purpose of the dam, whether it is hydroelectric power, flood control, or other functions. When the negative environmental effects outweigh the benefits, a dam may be considered for removal. This happened on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park in Washington when extraordinarily rich salmon habitat was being disrupted by an out-dated hydroelectric plant. Before dams were built on the Elwha River, 400,000 salmon returned each year to spawn, but that number dropped to fewer than 3,000 after dams were put up. Once the hydroelectric power generating capacities of the dams had outlived their useful lives, the importance of this salmon habitat necessitated the removal of the dams on the Elwha River.
  Dam failure is another threat that can lead to the removal of dams.
context_section_description: The 100 ft (30 m) privately owned Rindge Dam on Malibu Creek in the Santa Monica Mountains of California was built in 1924 and has been allowed to completely fill with sediment, making it functionally obsolete but still a potential hazard.  Malibu Creek once supported the southernmost steelhead population in the world. But today, steelhead no longer occupy the creek.
  The similar 1947 Matilija Dam near Ojai, California was built against the advice of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others, and also blocked steelhead trout spawning grounds.  After being notched twice and largely silted up, 90% of its design capacity has been lost.  As of 2013 stakeholders agree that the dam and its sediment be removed, but no funding source has been identified.
caption: Rindge Dam near Malibu, California, built in 1924, completely silted and abandoned by the 1950s
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