Last year, environmental groups filed suit over the dam, which impounds a San Francisquito tributary called Corte Madera Creek, saying it impairs habitat for endangered steelhead trout. Conservation groups, including American Rivers, have banded together in a coalition called Beyond Searsville Dam to push for removal of the 65-foot-high, 1890s-era structure and restoration of steelhead spawning habitat. They argue that because the reservoir behind the dam is nearly completely silted in, the facility has outlived its usefulness.

Stanford, which uses the reservoir for nonpotable uses like landscape watering and fire protection, has argued the facility still plays a key ecological role in the university's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and that more study is needed before any decision on the dam's future.

Reporting on California land policy, planning and conservation is supported by a grant from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation.

San Francisquito CreekSan Francisquito Creek

San Joaquin Named Nation's Most Endangered River