It is shocking that Heal the Bay approves of habitat destruction where bird life is abundant, endangered fish are thriving and pollinators work their magic with the native plant life at Malibu Lagoon. We have worked by their side on attempts to preserve ESHA (Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area) in the Santa Monica Mountains, and their inconsistency in supporting ESHA destruction at the lagoon is puzzling. ESHA on public land is no less sacred than ESHA on private land.
After watching this process unfold over the past 10-plus years, it is utterly amazing to me that anyone who knows the treasured space that is Malibu Lagoon would think it is in need of bulldozers coming in and re-contouring this wetland habitat on both sides of the creek channel.
Animals and plants will die in this experiment concocted by a misguided science team that met in secret for several years. The real driver of the project is bond money that several government agencies will share in and a big engineering firm will receive funds for.
A real restoration plan: removing nonnative plants – slowly and carefully while being sure to not disturb lizards, rabbits and other inhabitants of the upland shrubbery; planting natives in a manner that provides the cover for those animals; and installing signage – these things are welcome. But one has to look beneath the sunny “project description” to the details to discover the engineering-driven plans that will wipe out an equilibrium which has been building for some 30-plus years. We pray that the Coastal Commission, or a judge, will put a stop to this folly.
Marcia Hanscom, Director Wetlands Defense Fund