When Sean Jansen is passionate about a cause, he raises awareness for it the best way he knows how: hiking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, after learning about the critically endangered Southern California steelhead trout native to San Juan and San Mateo Creeks, the San Clemente native grabbed his hiking poles and took off from T-Street, starting a nearly 1,200 mile, 86-day hike up the Southern California coast, including through Laguna Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy entire childhood, I did not know that these fish existed,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cOnce I discovered that they lived in this creek, I started researching them, and found out that they live all throughout Southern California. Not only that, they\u2019re critically endangered. I figured out the system where I could walk the entire coastline in Southern California, connecting all these rivers where they meet the sea, then I could walk the mountains back down where these rivers start their life and create like a giant loop around these rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jansen started his hike in San Clemente, traveling north along the coast through Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu and Santa Barbara before heading inland towards the mountains. It was a hike around the historic range of the Southern California steelhead trout, a species listed as endangered due to habitat loss from dams, water diversions and urban development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLong story short, what drove me to do it was just simple guilt,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that these fish existed for my entire childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Southern California steelhead trout is one of eight varieties of steelhead trout in California, living in coastal waters and rivers. The species was declared endangered in 1997 by the federal government. According to a news release from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in February, biologists estimate the remaining population to be as few as 400 to 500 trout. Jansen believes the number to be as low as 170.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese fish are incredible,\u201d CDFW Environmental Program Manager Kyle Evans said in the news release. \u201cThey are adapted to drier summers and warmer water temperatures; they have a really complex life where they can either stay in the creek their whole life or go to the ocean and come back. They\u2019re a very adaptable, important, iconic species whose success represents a healthy watershed, and healthy watersheds mean better water quality for us all. Protecting this population and their home habitats isn\u2019t just good for the trout, it benefits the Californians of this community and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Jansen learned about the dangers that Southern California steelhead trout face, he was moved to motion. The fish are native to San Juan Capistrano\u2019s San Juan Creek and San Clemente\u2019s San Mateo Creek. Bringing with him a stuffed animal of the fish that served as his pillow, Jansen hiked 1,196.39 miles, taking 2,610,706 steps, burning 165,745 calories, spending 237 hours and 42 minutes walking and crossing 478 crosswalks \u2014 all for the Southern California steelhead trout. They are also in the Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Ventura and Santa Clara rivers, according to California Trout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s 30 million people in Southern California, and if I had to guess, maybe 10,000 of them know that these fish exist, and that\u2019s a big problem,\u201d Jansen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jansen finished his hike on Nov. 10, and is resting before his next trek outdoors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t spend more than like a weekend in a big city without losing my mind,\u201d Jansen said. \u201cI definitely need to be outside. I\u2019m a big surfer, big fisherman and a big trail runner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Sean Jansen is passionate about a cause, he raises awareness for it the best way he knows…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,15313,9,8,42795,42794,42793,42796],"class_list":{"0":"post-73067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-department-of-fish-and-wildlife","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-kyle-evans","13":"tag-san-mateo-creeks","14":"tag-sean-jansen","15":"tag-steelhead-trout"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}