Where is it?

Site 8 is on Lion Creek, just above the confluence with San Antonio Creek. To get there from Ventura, take Highway 33 towards Ojai. Make a right on Creek Rd and drive approximately 3 miles. Pass Rancho Dos Rios and Ojai Country Club riding stables on the right. Immediately after ranch driveway, turn right down a small dirt driveway and park in front of the barbed wire gate. Go through the barbed wire gate and down to San Antonio Creek. Walk upstream about 200 meters, and then up Lion Creek on the right-hand side. Sample about 50 meters up Lion Creek.

What is unique about this site?

This site drains Lion Canyon, which drains into San Antonio Creek, which drains into the Ventura River. The entire Lion Creek Watershed is owned by one property owner and is relatively pristine. The main land uses in this watershed are cattle ranching and dude ranch activities from the Ojai Valley Country Club. This area changes dramatically through the seasons– during the dry season the site can be somewhat “yucky” due to extremely high amounts of algae, mud, and cow paddies, while the wet season brings beautiful conditions with cool, clean water.

Results at this site:

Water quality is generally good at site 8, although there are a few parameters that sometimes fall outside of “healthy” ranges. Because land use in this area is mainly ranching activities, one parameter that is interesting to look at is bacteria. Fortunately, bacteria levels at site 8 are generally within “safe” limits: Total coliform standards were only exceeded in 8% of tests, E. Coli standards were only exceeded in 20% of tests, and Enterococcus standards were exceeded in 27% of tests.
As for other parameters, results are usually good, but not perfect. The best results are for turbidity and DO: turbidity is usually very low, while dissolved oxygen is usually medium to high. PH is pretty good, but is often on the high end (often measuring in the low 8’s). Conductivity is also on the high end, often reading in the 2-3 millisiemens range, but not always. Finally, temperature is often high here, and has reached as high as 25.5ºC. Temperatures higher than 22ºC can be harmful for fish such as steelhead trout.