So now there are some four color glossies floating around Malibu portraying the superficial beauty of the Malibu Lagoon and offering free goodies in an appeal to buy public support to stop the Lagoon Restoration project.
Below the surface, the lagoon is inherent with problems caused by man. Due to the millions of gallons of so called treated sewage from the Tapia Treatment plant, unseasonable amounts of water sit in a lagoon blocked by sand much of the year, thus complicating the hydraulics of nearby septics and causing the existing dead end channels to fill up with even more stagnant virus-rich water and sediment.
It is when the lagoon is breached that surfers get to ingest the water that Heal the Bay says is the most polluted in the bay. The 1983 project was ill conceived on many levels and failed in providing wind-driven surface circulation for an ideal wildlife habitat. The Malibu Lagoon has a long way to go to catch up to other So Cal lagoon improvements but it is a start. Expanding and redesigning the water courses will create healthier circulation, and moving the trail out of the middle of the potential nesting sites will provide a sanctuary to water fowl away from rock throwing kids and boom box-toting tourists.
Seems like some of the obstructionists have their selfish reasons for stopping this project; many in the Colony simply don’t want to hear the irritating drone of the landscape equipment, some don’t like that the new trail won’t bisect the middle of the sensitive nesting sites, some surfers may whine that there will be more pressure put on prime curbside parking near the pier, while some nearby residents may worry that possible dye testing will expose failing septics leaching into the lagoon, but most of the fear mongering sentiments I read exaggerate the death aspect.
This is not an Avatar scenario where the evil corporations will destroy everything at any cost to exploit resources in the name of greed. This is a project designed by environmentalists who care about the sanctity of wildlife. As this project proceeds, animals will be displaced to other parts of the lagoon. I challenge anybody to tell me how one deer, raccoon, rabbit, heron, weasel, sea gull, egret or Tide Water Goby will die. I am sorry to inform the bleeding hearts but the death prophecies won’t occur. The Colony residents will survive the annoying drone of improvements and so will the natural inhabitants who will come back in greater numbers to a healthier ecosystem.
Steve Woods