Some weeks ago, I e-mailed the following questions to the Malibu Creek Watershed Committee:
What evidence is there that there has ever been steelhead trout upstream from the site of Rindge dam prior to its construction? What is the basis for the claim by Mr. Jim Edmondson of CalTrout that “millions” have been spent on beach sand replenishment due to the existence of the Rindge dam? What evidence is there for the claim of Edmondson that the survival of steelhead trout everywhere is somehow dependent on the genetic character of steelhead that spawn in Malibu Creek below the Rindge dam?
What is the basis for the recent statement of Mr. Marc Abramson of Heal the Bay, quoted in The Malibu Times, that the Rindge dam is “dangerous?” What is the evidence for the statement by various proponents of the restoration and enhancement of Malibu Lagoon that it was once 10 times as large as it is now?
So far, there has been no response, possibly because the Malibu Creek watershed is so important, not to mention such a sacred cow, that no criticism of the Committee’s oh-so environmentally correct work is to be tolerated. On the other hand, I’ve only lived and worked in Malibu going on 50 years and probably still have much to learn about civic affairs. But with the MCW Committee’s continued failure to answer the questions above, one can’t help wondering whether its members either don’t know, technically at least, what they are doing, or worse, are intentionally misleading the public.
Don Michael