Site 15: Upper Matilija
An excerpt from our October 2003 Newsletter

Where is it?
Site 15 is our uppermost site in the Ventura River Watershed, meaning it is further from the ocean than any other site. It is located about 1.5 miles upstream of the infamous Matilija Dam. To get there, take Highway 33 all the way past Ojai and into the mountains. Turn left onto Matilija Canyon Road, and continue approximately 1.7 miles until you see a large ripraped embankment. Park and climb
down to the base of the embankment to our sampling site.

What is unique about this site?

Site 15 is a favorite among many volunteers it is nestled among beautiful mountains, and it seems to always be sunny and warm! Because this is our uppermost sampling site in the watershed, it should, in theory, be the most “pure.” At this point, the creek has not yet passed through any major towns, agricultural areas, the dam, or any other locations with major human impacts. As we travel downstream from site 15, we see changes in the watershed as we pass through different land use zones. For these reasons, Upper Matilija Creek serves as a “control site”; a good comparison point for the rest of our survey.

Results at this site:

Because of the above reasons, site 15 tends to have some of the best water quality results of all our sites. For example, it typically has normally expected temperatures and pH, low turbidity, low conductivity, low bacteria levels, and low nutrient concentrations. These are all good signs for site 15! Dissolved oxygen here is often lower than many other sites, but no need to worry ¾ it is still well within a safe range. These lower levels are most likely due to the fact that there is usually less algae at this site than there is at many of the downstream sites. Less algae means less photo-synthesis, and less photosynthesis means less oxygen!