Malibu Lagoon RESTORED???
#WRONGAGAIN
Photo: Andy L. Photo : Bob P. Photo :Bob P.
Here is a sequence of three images taken from the same location in the new Malibu Lagoon. The last two were taken yesterday. The first is Andy Lyon's photo, which was published in the Malibu Times, this past Thursday, 6/28/13, with his grossly misinformed Op Ed story. His photo shows what he wants everyone to believe that it’s a permanent condition: "Algae..from bank to bank." Interesting how the algae all but disappeared within twelve hours, yesterday. The improved circulation of the new lagoon flushed out the algae as anticipated. This clearly documents the enhanced circulation of the restored lagoon. Even during a closed condition, as it is today, the wind driven circulation has enough energy to redistribute the algae as seen in the photos above. Thankfully, State Parks and the other project proponents listened to the expert Hydrologists, Scientists and Engineers and not the constant drone of Lyon and few others. How can one person and his equals be so consistently wrong? Contrary to your many statements, Lyon, the surf is not screwed up, the fish, birds and wildlife are thriving and the water quality has improved. Here's hoping you can move on to something more productive. Bob Purvey --
Posted by Andy Lyon with a 411 rebuttal
One year later and look what we have now... They never did a hydrology study as they were supposed to do and now this is what it is doing. THAT IS A GIANT THICK ALGAE PADDY GOING FROM BANK TO BANK SOLID...The claim of better circulation was BUNK! They are trying to hand in an after the fact hydrology study NOW??? Little late for that! And our City Manager accepts that? Right...HEAL THE BAY
BAYKEEPER
SURFRIDER FOUNDATION
CA. STATE PARKS
SANTA MONICA BAY RESTORATION COMMISSIONand all the others that wasted
PROP 50 CLEAN DRINKING WATER BOND MONEY ON THIS PROJECT.
Know that these same people are about to do a project on the other side of the PCH bridge at Serra Rd across from the old Guido's under the guise of 'cleaning' up the arundo and the creek that is really just making room for a parking lot and trail access... no traffic study on how a parking lot just after serra rd and before the bridge will affect the highway?? Great !
The same people want to tear out the dam ($150m easily) without doing any hydrology studies, putting cross creek residents property in serious jeopardy.
Our City Council is all too ready to violate BROWN ACT laws in order to get the bluffs park swap going and spreading fear of big bad Joe Edminston in order to achieve that, while doing absolutely ZERO to stop projects by these groups that are doing REAL damage to Malibu.
These groups are no friend to Malibu.
Peel those Heal the Bay and Surfrider foundation stickers off your car and stop giving them money !
Look what they did to the lagoon... #FAIL
411 Rebuttal to Andy's post and Commenters
One mans icky algae issues can be a Goby's treasure for hiding from predators . Every coastal water course in So Cal. is experiencing algae blooms which is common during hot weather and low seasonal rainfall .
Just like many of Andy Lyons distortions of the truth , his claim that the State's permit to eradicate Arundo along the Malibu Creek is somehow a conspiracy to sneak in a parking lot and a trail head are off the charts false . There is a State permit for eradicating the non native Arundo which chokes water ways when allowed to grow out of control . These projects are taking place all over California and thank god the state is taking responsibility for doing so in our watershed. Unrelated to to the Arundo eradication project are the future plans that the state has in the planning stages to give better access to an already existing State Parks trail that starts in Serra Retreat and climbs up the canyon . The State simply wants to give California taxpayers better access with less than 10 parking spaces on STATE LAND that the state owns . No Native trees will be affected and very little habitat will be disturbed but Andy cannot stand the fact that the State wants to utilize state land that is land for ALL Californians . As much as Andy wants to keep things from Changing and to dictate what others do on some elses land , he does not have that power and neither does the City council . After the Arundo eradication is completed ,the State has many hoops to go through and permits to get with Cal Trans before the Trail Head Parking is commenced .
Comments to Post
michael lynch June 25, 2013 at 08:10 am
when nature makes changes to itself (evolution) things usually get better. when humans make changes to nature (progress) the impact to nature is usually negative.
Correct Michael , human changes screwed up the complicated hydraulic network of wetlands that were destroyed when the Colony and Cross Creek transformed cheap " swamp land " into summer homes and retail outlets .Man has always made ignorant mistakes and has been short sighted but to Mans credit , Man is able to work out solutions for the problems caused by there predecessors. Doing Nothing Solves nothing about the problems that the old Channels were suffering from. Large new Fish populations and the Waterfowl feeding on them are proof that habitat improvements are working better than expected already . Some Audubon members are astounded by the the bird counts and the number of species that are already moving in. .
V.P.A. June 25, 2013 at 08:49 am
Just another instance in why we need to change the personnel within our Council. This really should be the last straw. It's a disgrace. We shouldn't let them tamper with anything further. They proved incompetent to do so. There has to be a way to bring in a better calibre of Council.
V.P.A, The city council has no jurisdiction Over any State owned parks property or any federally controlled waterways and had no power to overturn an EPA study that found the Malibu lagoon dysfunctional and impaired.If there were 5 Andy's on the city council and all 5 Andy's voted against the Restoration nothing would change and the disfunctional lagoon would be still harboring deadly bacterias in the narrow stagnant lifeless dead zones on the back end .
John Mazza June 25, 2013 at 09:34 am
There is a better way. Don't drink the cool aid that the Malibu machine candidates put out and do what Andy does ---RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. There is an election next April and the machine candidates LaMonte and Rosenthal are running. All you have to do is vote. Only a third of Malibu voters vote.
John , The last city council voted AGAINST supporting the Restoration project due to local pressure but it was meaningless and the council knew it .Even Govenor Brown supported cleaning up the Lagoon The city council also has to submit to the Regional Water Board because the City of Malibu has been negligent in septic discharge violations in areas that impact public health and safety . Malibu must maintain state and federal guidelines whenmandated regardless who is on the city council
alden marin June 25, 2013 at 09:37 am
The poor, dug up Lagoon may grow back, but to what--now that they've made a totally unnatural lake out of it. This was never how it was historically, though they tried to convince us of this non fact. Very sad indeed. AND--when it doesn't grow back to any kind of reasonable configuration (as it was doing pre-excavation, building back its natural mud flats and narrow old channels)--they can just go right back in and dig it up again and again, in a make-work cycle, for the money they soak from bonds. This is a pernicious, unfair and highly damaging syndrome for our estuaries and our town (and the whole world!) and must be stopped. Shame on State Parks, Heal the Bay and The Bay Commission. Terrible work and very poorly realized. A waste of wildlife, time, money and everything else.
Aldin , The poor lagoon was not deemed impaired before human developers ruined the wetlands and hindered the natural hydraulics on the flood plain . The state will not evict the Private Colony homes or businesses that initially screwed up the once natural dynamics . A true restoration would have to take out PCH , Cross Creek and many of the Colony homes that were literally built on the wetlands thanks to the area being filled with HWY fill. The State only had what little property it had to restore as much as possible in light that over 90% of wetlands in So Cal have been destroyed by Real Estate developers. The western channels was used as a dump for building materials such as concrete , asphalt tractor tires , fuel tanks , Rusty iron, ceramic and concrete pipes , truck parts , creosoted poles , bricks and in some places 8-10 feet of unnatural greasy lard like Clay was dumped on the natural creeks aggregate and fauna
Ted Vaill June 25, 2013 at 12:09 pm
They are from the government and they are here to hurt you, especially if you were a non-human animal or plant formerly living in the Malibu Lagoon.
Ted , Really ? What part of the restoration gives that impression ? Why did the State have such an elaborate plan to avoid any loss of animal or bird life when they waited for the last of the Bird nest babies to fledge and fly away before any work started in that area ? Why were elaborate steps taken with dozens of biologist and wildlife loving volunteers to relocate any creatures in the work area ? Why were crews walking in front of the machinery checking under every leaf or non native bush ? Why was there an extensive effort to net every square inch of the Western channels in search of any fish that were relocated to the Main channel ? Why was Growing Solutions brought in the salvage the Native plants that were to be propagated and replanted in the restored channels ? Of course your gardener would never cut or prune a plant , I mean HURT a plant .
John Mazza June 25, 2013 at 09:35 am
I forgot to mention. THAT IS ONE SHOCKING PICTURE. WHAT GIVES?
John , Andy's Picture "Shocks " You ? If it does, you better not look at any other waterways in Southern California . You will also be shocked at the Topanga , Trancas and Zuma Creek Lagoons. And oh boy do not look anywhere up into the Malibu Creek . I think that would be just too too icky for you !
V.P.A. June 27, 2013 at 01:34 am
Thank heavens for Andy Lyon. He's not intimidated by the various agencies & is prepared to speak out for what he believes. His research is phenomenal. We must all now seriously back his campaign. We have allowed ourselves to be victims of incompetence & unethical interests; hipocracy too. Andy's only interests lie in the preservation of Malibu's environment for us & future generations. This is a huge Wake up call so Let's wake up, take a leaf out of his book by action. Thank you Andy.
V.P.A, You say "We must all now seriously back his campaign " What campaign is that ? At one of the City council debates he was recorded saying why the Lagoon was HIS issue and went on to say that the reason this was his issue is because he is going to take a HIT because of the lagoon Project. Then he elaborated that because he is a Realtor of listings of homes adjacent to the Lagoon that he would have to inform his clients who lease those homes for $ 100,000 a month that there would be Tractors back there . He admitted that he would take a financial hit . His claims that the surf would be destroyed was BS along with the Goby genocide and the murderous animal Massacres.
Stoked June 27, 2013 at 07:17 am
So what causes algae growth? Look up eutrophication and ask yourself what we are dumping into the watersheds. Tapia's nitrogen levels are higher than acceptable and your gardener has probably overshot the chemical fertilizers and then leached the product that hit target by overwatering.
Don't blame those that cleared out the non-natives so you now have a better look at what YOU have been doing to our natural habitats
Don't blame those that cleared out the non-natives so you now have a better look at what YOU have been doing to our natural habitats
Algae blooms are common all over southern California especially during hot weather and periods of low rain fall . Many species need algae for food and protection against predators. Algae blooms can be a result of humans introducing too many nitrates and phosphates from house hold cleansers and fertilizers into the body of water
Joan Almond June 26, 2013 at 07:08 am
Lets all pray for an El Nino next year and hopefully Mother Nature will kick in in her magnanimous way and put everything back where it should like to
Yes Joan , All Malibu Surfers need to pray for a massive El Nino in order for the Main channel to deliver more cobblestones out into the Surf zone . Since 1983 there have been some strong El Nino events that had almost zero affect on the western Channels . When the Main channel is in full flood , Bank to bank and the berm blasted out to sea , the western channels sits peacefully on the sidelines oblivious to the raging flood waters sweeping out to sea .
alden marin June 27, 2013 at 06:34 pm
As usual, from the bulldozing and clear cutting proponents, who dig and destroy first--then make false accusations later...there were NEVER any septic pipes or outlets from The Malibu Colony into the Lagoon! Never! This is simply and utterly false information being promulgated by someone, above-- who has NO IDEA of the Truth. The pipes that were excavated in the recent Lagoon bulldozing destruction dig were exclusively gravity drains from the EAST end of the Colony, put there by the Keiwits and the Deutsch Families to ease the historic flooding that has plagued the east end of the Colony over the decades--a known fact.... This is true and widely known to Colony residents---AND to the State of California who is/was aware of the gravity drains, which are repeatedly misidentified by above persons as sewage or cesspool run off pipes. It's simply NOT ACCURATE or TRUE and dishonest to claim this! Additionally, the Kirsten residence has a sump pump on the back side of their property (I am informed by S Littlejohn, 50 year long Colony resident in excellent standing and reputation) also-- for the purpose of cyclic flooding on their property. It should go noted that the culvert under the former access road which ran along the back of the old lagoon had a similar gravity drain. Malibu needs to know that there was never, at any time, septic or sewage pumps from the Colony into the Lagoon! To say so is entirely wrong & false, if not actionable. If these critics persist with this type of untruth, it shows they lack even the most basic information, and rely upon bulldozers instead of brain
steve dunn June 27, 2013 at 08:06 pm
As a 51 year resident surfer and one who knows the topography well in this area, Alden is 100% accurate.! When that area used to flood, Hervey Babanou would use a small bulldozer to breech the berm when the water would overflow in the Colony. The clay runoff pipes that were there were capped off in the 83 restoration by State Parks and then removed in this restoration
Steve and Aldin,, According to the topography gravity pipes would drain towards the beach not the lagoon. This is highlighted by the fact that they need to use a sump pump to drain the one storm drain. These pipes were being used as chases that any type of waste discharge could simply be pumped through and directly into the lagoon. The Contractor did not find any direct connections to the pipes but did find at least 2 small new PVC pipes inside of the ceramic and concrete pipes .These pipes were not all abandoned and the houses all have separate gravity drains much smaller in size that legally drain stormwater to the newly created swale from low areas in the back yards. The majority of the properties drain in the other direction. Any other discharge is not legal. The good news is these pipes are no longer available to discharge anything into the lagoon. SteveD. you are right , the Colony residents breeched the lagoon by there own means or lobbied the county to bulldoze the berm but not because of flooding . The Main reason was to lower the water table that had gotten so high that adjacent septic tanks and leech fields became submerged to the point that Toilets could not be flushed and at times human waste backed up into the residence. A witness watched one resident with this problem use a sump pump to empty his septic tank into one of the illegal pipes that drained into the lagoon. That is one of the reasons some surfers saw actual turds in the surf zone when the county breeched the lagoon .
