Malibu Lagoon Bulldozers Halted by San Francisco Superior Court: Small Environmental Group Beats California Coastal Commission

Get Planted

Malibu Creek supports a highly-stressed population of native steelhead trout. Their migration access to and from the ocean is blocked by a dysfunctional lagoon that kills them every time they try to swim through it. This lagoon needs help. WDF is funded by people who don't want to see that happen because it will attract more people to the public lands that adjoins their property.

Get Planted

The phony frauds that call themselves Wetlands Defense Fund won this round by misinforming a judge using money donated by rich fucks who care nothing about nature. They don't want to see the lagoon enhanced because that will draw more people to their little Malibu Beach fiefdom.

This project is crucial for the health of the Malibu Creek ecosystem and will proceed after the judge learns the basics of what is at stake.

Naturally Speaking

Wow, CalabasasSurfer, I invite you to check your attitude with some recent findings. About 5 weeks ago, USGS scientist John Izbicki presented eye-opening facts about the fecal bacteria in the Malibu Lagoon. 500 water samples collected from the lagoon & surrounding areas during the dry & wet seasons in 2009 determined the fecal bacteria is NOT from humans--it's from birds!! MAYBE that's because it's a bird sanctuary... ?? Note: the Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society spotted 87 bird species in the first 3 months of 2011. In total, the thousands of birds present indicates a healthy ecosystem. Here's the link: http://smbasblog.wordpress.com... As far as all the "restoration" talk goes... a true restoration would RESTORE the lagoon to how it used to be--not make it into a larger body of water that never existed there in the first place. Everyone needs to do some more homework! Find & compare all the historic overhead shots of the lagoon & see for yourselves what it looked like when the water was clean & the wave was perfect! Btw, my family has been in Malibu for over 50 years & we are not petulant. Check your own attitude, CalabasaSurfer. No need to waste Prop 50's public bond money on the Malibu Lagoon. The currently proposed project could possibly cost up to $30 million--and that money can be redirected legally to other areas that really need it! Great job, Save Malibu Lagoon, Wetlands Defense Fund, Access for All, and CLEAN!! Woo Hoooo!!

Wernerdesign

You need to be educated to argue with and that is a waste ofTime at this point. Read the USGS study and educate yourself a bit.

Wernerdesign

Stay in calabasas. You clearly do not know the historical relevance of this area.

Wernerdesign

Yes. We (the locals who are paying for the amazing law team) will be having another celebration benefit for the lagoon. Will keep you all posted in a week or so. Hooray for the power of people helping the habitat!!!!

Seenitbefor

Hang Ten, you are mis-reading the situation. Malibu is obligated to be aware and care for what exists in their wetlands, not to cater to some pie-in-the-sky galoots with daddy issues, dreaming about enviro-purity, all the while ignoring the wildlife that dies under your scheme. I wouldn't trust you with my plumbing, let alone an ESHA.

Athenanova

Thank you Daniel you! Made my day:)Go Malibu Lagoon!!!

David Barish

Great going Marcia!!!!

Daniel

Ellen, yes State Coastal Conservancy funds from acquisition to 'restoration' grants.All was to be enhancing wetlands. The result, loss of wetland, loss of aquiferfunction and corresponding loss of forest and stability. Massive erosion on paleo-dunes.Fad environmentalism so focused on hatred for a plant that a wetland fails, this done with SCC (HW) wetland habitat monies! Myopic doesn't begin to describe these efforts.

Daniel

We in coastal Humboldt County are poster-worthy of failed faux enviro 'restoration.'Our 'restorationists' so far have killed an ancient dune forest, destabilized a fore-dune making vulnerable a protected pocket-marsh and destroyed established coastal defenses. Bull-dozers and Garlon do not make a restoration, no instead a wasting process has begun.This is not enviromentalism but a hyper eradication with dishonest players ignoring incredible adverse impacts. When one includes relative sea-level rise and increase in storm severity, itspells disaster.

Ellen H.

Daniel,

I'm sure that the folks at Wetlands Defense Fund would like to hear more about these projects in your northern county. Their number? 310-821-9045. Were these projects funded by the State Coastal Conservancy?

VigVee

lol, so the Superior Kangaroo Court speaks? lol, too funny.

www.privacy-online.us.tc

Tea Party Patriot

That polluted sewer needs to be dredged and cleaned out !!!!

John Davis

Here is the Score so Far,

Bulldozers 0, The People Everything

Next Front - Bulldozers v. Ballona Wetlands and the People

John Davis

4oceans

The problem with this project is people don't appreciate the severity of the degradation and pollution of Malibu Lagoon. For the past 7 decades ML has been shrunk and decreased and bisected and divided on all sides. To call it a functioning anything is misleading.

The MAIN problem with this project isn't that a few worms and such will be damaged. The MAIN problem with this project is that it is WAY TO SMALL. If this project fails, it is because there isn't MORE dredging and expansion of the lagoon.

Elementary science tells us that coastal wetlands function based upon size relative to watershed and tidal flushing. ML needs to be much bigger on both accounts to support historic flash rain events. When it comes to wetlands, bigger really is better, for the fish and the birds, and our future.....

Wernerdesign

4 oceansyou clearly DO NOT know the history of this area. Historically it is a wash that goes straight out to the ocean. Those channels are not part of the natural "lagoon". The pollution that you mention is bird poo, considering that this is one of two pacific flyways. Thousands of birds, not a few worms and such, live there. It was never a huge area as you claim. it has always changed in size, sometimes even just a pond.I am not referring to those channels, just the historical main lagoon. Go to the pictures that date back to the early 1900's you will get a great education of this area.Elementary science is this. Learn the area before you make such silly posts.

nofanofdozers

If your concern really is "for oceans," as your handle implies, then might I suggest you focus attention on the larger watershed, where studies show problems originate, rather than on the lagoon. Because to do otherwise is to focus on symptoms rather than on the disease.

But don't take my word for it. Have a look at the study "Sediments as a Non-point Source of Nutrients to Malibu Lagoon." The study shows that the vast bulk of nutrients -- more than 80 percent of the nitrogen and a whopping 95 percent of the phosphorus -- in the lagoon comes from sources outside the lagoon.

The impact of rain events on the lagoon only proves the point. One of the source documents for the project environmental impact report, EPA's TMDLs for nutrients, shows that the amount of nutrients in the lagoon increases during the wet season.

As for tidal flushing, the project does almost nothing to change current conditions. The big enviros and agencies behind the project claim they have no intention to alter the way the lagoon opens and closes to the ocean. Neither does the project address the accumulation of nutrients in the main channel, where evidence shows it is greatest.

At best this project is misguided. At worst, it's destructive, expensive make-work.

ndlyon

Hey enviro in malibu....it's spelled $CIENCE !

Deefromm

Bulldozing a wetland habitat and then planting native plants makes as much sense as clearcutting a forest and then planting trees.

Logging companies do that, but it's not viewed as "restoration." Glad to see a publication - and a court of law - finally recognizing the folly in such ideas.

Too much money has been spent on these unsustainable plans.

Check out Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach - the Fisheries Service now says they have to find millions of dollars each year to dredge the unnatural opening!

Wernerdesign

I would also like to add that the western channels in the "lagoon" were man made. They are trying to fill in again because in 83 they were added as channels. So, environmentalist in Malibu, if you understood the history of that area you would know that so-called"Sick" area was not ever suppose to be there in the first place. LEAVE THE HABITAT ALONE. Mother nature will heal herself.

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nofanofdozers

This is tremendous news.

Big enviros and government agencies have been running roughshod over the local community and every value of importance -- habitat, wildlife, public access -- in their race for that paycheck with all those zeros ahead of the decimal point. The courts have put the breaks on that.

A great victory for the lagoon and the Malibu community.

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environmentalist in malibu

This is a TRUE disappointment! I can't believe the Wetlands Defense Fund (a group comprised of people who sue others for a living) won a judgement against people who have Doctorate degrees in Science. You think you can trust in the legal system, you think you can trust in the judge...I suppose the justice system is...JUST. How sad.

Wernerdesign

This project was based on such false science it could not even be presented to the judge. Where have you been?

Athena

Contrary to you, environmentalist in Malibu, I feel quite pleased with the justice system in this case. The so-called 'science' was biased....yes parts of the lagoon suffer from low oxygen. The majority of the lagoon is healthy, thriving habitat for the many beautiful creatures that call Malibu home. Today is a great day for all those creatures and a few compassionate humans who believe in a do no harm approach.