Partner Organizations

Sign on to add your group to the Matilija Coalition!

We invite you to add your organization to the Matilija Coaltion. Simply download, print, and fill out the sign-on form and return to our office for your official endorsement of the Matilija Coalition’s role in this precedent-setting project.

Background: Seven local, state, and national environmental groups formed the Matilija Coalition in July of 2000 to coordinate non-government organizational (NGO) efforts to remove Matilija Dam. A start-up grant from Patagonia, Inc. created the program as a part of the Ventura County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. The Coalition was an integral part of the planning and execution of Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt’s historic visit to the dam on October 12, 2000.

The Matilija Coalition serves as the community’s primary advocate for the Ventura River by focusing on a public outreach campaign to gain local, state, and national support for the multi-agency removal effort. Our strategy is to build the Coalition by linking government, science, and the community through a diversity of programs and activities, including our participation in ongoing studies.

Current Status: Three dam removal concepts have been developed that resolve the issues that stalled the project in 2008.  Each of these alternatives greatly reduce the cost of the project and enhance the long term benefits of dam removal.  These are described here.

Building Support: When the time comes for implementation funding requests, we need to demonstrate the unanimous and broad support for the removal of Matilija Dam. Over the past two decades, a grassroots effort that began with local fishermen and public-minded organizations has “trickled up” and garnered significant government support.

Local Government endorsement of this project began in 1998 with a resolution signed by BEACON (Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Ocean and Nourishment) that highlighted the potential to restore coastal sediment supply and stem regional beach erosion problems in Ventura County. The Ventura County Board of Supervisors, the owners of the dam, soon followed with a similar resolution, along with the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and Ojai.

State Government provided significant funding for the Appraisal Report, the Demonstration Project, and almost the entire local match for the Feasibility Study ($1.8M) through the California Resources Agency and California Coastal Conservancy. The County of Ventura introduced a resolution to the State Legislature to formalize the support of our state government.

We invite you to endorse the removal of Matilija Dam and join the Coalition as a sign-on partner. Enclosed is a sign-on endorsement for your organization. Simply fill out the form and return it to the Matilija Coalition, PO Box 1028, Ventura, CA 93002.

We hope to add your organization to our growing list of supporters.

Sincerely,

Paul Jenkin
Program Coordinator, Matilija Coalition
paul@matilija-coalition.org

Sign-on Organizations