A federal district court in California failed to consider impacts to other endangered species before ordering San Luis Obispo County to develop a flow and release plan for local steelhead trout, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The injunction blocking the Lopez Dam expansion “may benefit one protected species at the expense of other protected species,” and the US District Court for the Central District of California didn’t consider this factor or the public interest, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

Other dam and reservoir news:

• Cal Coast News (San Luis Opispo, Calif.): Order to release more water from Lopez Lake vacated, SLO County wins appeal
• KRCR (Redding, Calif.): Shasta Dam spillway undergoes once-in-a-decade routine inspection conducted by ropes team