Across California, encampments of people who experience homelessness negatively affect fish populations in multiple ways. The long list of concerns includes poaching fish, cutting down trees above rivers, and polluting waterways. The best way to help fish is to assist unhoused populations get housing and remain housed. Communities also need to address the economic and social issues that lead to housing insecurity. This prevents the establishment of new encampments and a return to previously used spots.
Strategies to prevent homelessness and housing insecurity involve many steps and take time. As communities work on economic and social issues, they can explore how different actors like water agencies and law enforcement offices should collaborate to protect fish and fish habitats.
Staff of Valley Water sample along an encampment near Los Gatos Creek. Credit: Valley Water
In Santa Cruz, the effort begins with the city’s Homeless Outreach Team, aka the outreach team.
“The outreach team knows a lot of the people experiencing homelessness by name. They know their stories and what is occurring in certain spots, like whether there is a lot of waste by certain creeks. The outreach team gathers information from housed neighbors, businesses, and paid and volunteer clean-up crews. They also talk to residents and visitors of the encampments. They observe and listen to see what needs to change,” said Chris Berry, watershed compliance manager of the Water Department for the City of Santa Cruz. Berry is also a Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commissioner for the County of Santa Cruz.
Berry said if individuals or groups at encampments do not respond to the outreach team’s contact and engagement efforts, the City typically follows with enforcement and clean-up.
Valley Water, the primary water resource agency for Santa Clara County, responds to issues related to homelessness through its Good Neighbor Program, The program monitors and seeks to decrease homeless encampments along approximately 333 of the over 800 miles of creeks and waterways in Santa Clara County. Jon Jankovitz is the environmental services manager for Valley Water. He too is a Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commissioner for the County of Santa Cruz.
Berry and Jankovitz believe the work to benefit fish and fish habitats must be continuous. This means it must occur as long as encampments exist or it is likely that they might be re-established. Temporary solutions include regular clean-ups, providing mobile facilities to offer showers and laundry services, public education, habitat restoration, managed campgrounds, dedicated overnight parking resources and restrictions like fencing, signage, and county and city regulations to penalize littering and camping along waterways.
It helps to observe and ask people who live in encampments near waterways why they settle there. So far, organizations have learned residents may use the water for bathing, cleaning, and consumption. Some catch fish. Many seek to hide tents, sleeping bags, and belongings under the cover of trees, bushes, and plants with thick foliage.
In certain areas, encampments attract polluters that are not experiencing homelessness. Individuals and businesses may use the presence of encampments as an excuse to dump household garbage, drywall, and more, often close to encampments. Such actors can have multiple motivations. They may want to drive out people experiencing homelessness as well as avoid fees for waste disposal.
Although some problems caused by people in or attracted to encampments may seem minor, combined and over time, they have a cascading effect.
“It’s ‘death by a thousand cuts,’ ” said Jankovitz.
From rural to urban
The City of Santa Cruz covers almost 150 square miles with its work on encampments. This is because it works across its drinking water source watersheds well outside the city limits. The bulk of its focus is within city limits. Valley Water covers 15 cities in Santa Clara County, including San Jose and Santa Clara, two towns, Los Altos and Los Gatos, and numerous unincorporated areas.
Yet the encampments in the City of Santa Cruz function more like those in rural areas. This is because encampments throughout this area are typically more isolated from one another. They are harder to spot and monitor. They are easier to relocate and clean up.
Before and After photos of an encampment in the City of Santa Cruz. Credit: Bruce Ashley (Before), Chris Berry (After), and the City of Santa Cruz
Encampments in Santa Clara County are often in denser urban areas, sometimes near city parks. They may be connected, through residents and activities. They can be easy to find and observe.
A structure made from pallets along Los Gatos Creek. Credit: South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition
It is helpful to compare encampments in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County to find similarities and differences.
The primary waterways and fish in them
The primary waterway in Santa Cruz is the San Lorenzo River, a 29.3-mile-long river that begins in Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This river flows south by southeast through the San Lorenzo Valley (SLV), traveling through Santa Cruz, out to Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean. It is traversed by and home to steelhead trout.
“Coho salmon are extirpated (destroyed completely) in the San Lorenzo River. It is a primary recovery priority to bring them back,” said Berry.
Other waterways of concern in this area include creeks in Bonny Doon, a hilly to mountainous area between SLV and Santa Cruz. The local watershed in the City of Santa Cruz is the San Lorenzo River Watershed.
There are many waterways in Santa Clara County. One of the most important is the Guadalupe River, a 14-mile river that starts in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It flows north, joining Guadalupe Creek in San Jose. It then receives Los Gatos Creek. The Guadalupe River flows out in south San Francisco Bay near Alviso. Guadalupe River, Guadalupe Creek, and Los Gatos Creek are traversed by and home to steelhead trout and Chinook salmon. There are 13 watersheds in Santa Clara County. The creeks and rivers in this county either drain north to San Francisco Bay or south to the Pajaro River, which flows out to Monterey Bay.
In both areas, entities such as nonprofits and local governments can accomplish more than they could five years ago.
“Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Cruz was not allowed to require or assist with relocation for people experiencing homelessness. People in encampments were destroying the riparian vegetation along the San Lorenzo River,” said Berry.
In Santa Cruz, hundreds of people were congregating in different encampments along the river. During the rainy season between fall and mid spring, people, their pets, and their belongings were at risk of getting flooded, injured, and washed out into the current.
“Now that normal rules have been reinstated, we have been engaged in a multidisciplinary, ongoing effort to coordinate between different agencies. Members of our Encampment Assessment Team offer shelter, rental assistance, hot showers, a safe parking program so people can sleep in their vehicles, health care, and food,” said Berry.
Santa Clara County experienced some similar issues and lessening of concerns as restrictions related to the pandemic eased. Responses to encampments varied and continue to vary. This is because Santa Clara County covers a larger area of territory and multiple municipalities.
A snapshot of one nonprofit’s work
In Santa Clara County, one of the major organizations that takes on clean-ups in Valley Water’s territory is the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition (SBCCC). This group of South Bay residents has a mission to study fish as well as clean up encampments throughout the Guadalupe River watershed, which extends across northern Santa Clara County. Some members and volunteers of the SBCCC are also members of local chapters of environmental groups and fishing groups, like Flycasters of San Jose and Trout Unlimited.
Fishing net in the Blossom Hill area of San Jose. Credit: South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition
“At the top end of Los Gatos Creek near the San Tomas Expressway, we’ve seen concerns like a series of encampments. We’ve seen many people living along the waterway. Our goal is to find partners to relocate people and prevent issues like arson at camps,” said Steve Holmes, executive director of SBCCC.
SBCCC has a newsletter list that goes out to approximately 2,400 individuals and organizations like donors. It has a group of 40 clean-up volunteers who come on a regular basis. Numerous individuals and groups assist it with clean-ups.
These include corporate donors that provide supplies and funds for a post clean-up lunch, high school, community college, and college students completing volunteer hour requirements, members of homeowners associations near Los Gatos Creek, California Department of Fish and Wildlife game wardens, and local law enforcement bodies.
“Some of the housed people who live along Los Gatos Creek are fish advocates. They let us know about fish traps like weirs made with shopping carts. Then we can go out and dismantle them,” said Holmes.
What solutions work
Many actions beyond clean-ups and taking measures to improve conditions at encampments can improve the situation. One effective tool is public education about fish species. Organizations can share certain species’ journeys to the San Francisco Bay and encampments’ impacts on these movements.
“Salmonids like Chinook salmon are very sensitive fish. They require cool, clear, clean water. Everything we do to spread information about that helps,” said Jankovitz.
Valley Water creates and reviews posts on social media and its own website before clean-ups occur. SBCCC broadcasts events in which its members participate, along with “before” and “after” pictures of cleaned-up encampments. Santa Cruz also shares news about encampment clean-up efforts, with the public and nonprofit partners.
Every school project and high school, community college, or college student’s effort around a waterway raises awareness about fish.
For non-volunteers, one of the best ways to connect is hold discussions with individuals and groups.
“We like to ask, “What’s your home river? We mean, what river did you grow up with? What does that river mean to you?” It’s interesting to get people to talk about their memories growing up. Then we say, “The San Lorenzo River is your river now. Let’s treat it with respect,” ” said Berry.
These conversations present opportunities to get feedback on current clean-ups and work to assist people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. They also open the door to request donations and volunteers.
Another beneficial tactic is to determine what concrete dams and barriers are good candidates for removal.
“In San Jose, at Coyote Creek along the 101 freeway, there are encampments on a cement patio under the bridge. Fish hop out of the central channel and try to make it under the freeway. On one occasion, SBCCC volunteers cleaning up the area found 16 dead fish,” said Holmes.
When the public, including residents of encampments, sense fish are not a priority, they are less likely to take measures to protect them.
“We see the same issue of dead fish at various spots along San Tomas Aquinas Creek. We’ve tried to do rescues and bring fish over cement barriers. It would be more effective to get rid of those barriers. We’ve been communicating with CalTrans, Valley Water, and different cities about this,” said Holmes.
Staffing government positions that relate to monitoring and assisting fish is important as well. In 2025, the federal administration’s budget cuts resulted in vacancies for 1.5 National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) jobs. The term “1.5” means one full-time position and one half-time position.
The budget cut means that Valley Water is reallocating the money for those positions back to its general fund. No one is at the jobs to do the work. As a result, there is less oversight for fish populations and health in Santa Clara County.
As a final note, it is worthwhile to examine problems in regions close to one another. This helps analysts learn how to unify messaging, including public education and requests for donations and volunteers. Such work is especially critical in areas where people have ties for friends, family, work, and recreation across county lines.
“Poaching, pollution, habitat modification, and activity in water – all of these are basic watershed management issues. Determining what impacts are the same everywhere allows you to find common or similar methods to work on everything, from getting people to take fish seriously to finding solutions,” said Berry.
Special thanks to Jennielynn Holmes, Chief Program Officer for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, for her assistance with this story.