To mark the completion of the controversial Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project, California State Parks will host a ribbon cutting on Friday, May 3 at 11 a.m.
The Malibu Lagoon reopened to the public in March after an eight-month project by State Parks to reroute the lagoon’s waterflow and improve water circulation. The project was originally estimated to take four months, but ended up stretching over twice that.
Speakers at the ribbon cutting will include State Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and Suzanne Goode, senior environmental scientist for California State Parks. No City of Malibu officials are listed as speakers at Friday’s event (see flyer attached at left).Â
“This will be a day to celebrate a long and successful journey toward restoration and we are excited and pleased to share the beautiful results with everyone,” an invitation from State Parks said.
The lagoon restoration was highly controversial. Those in favor of the restoration relied on scientific studies indicating that the design used in the 1983 redo was poor, resulting in a lack of water circulation, oxygen depletion and sediment build-up that would not continue to sustain life.
The project was strongly opposed by the Wetlands Defense Fund and others, who contended the proposed dredging operations would destroy a functioning ecosystem.
Jimy Tallal contributed to this story.
