An Open Letter to the Community from Mark Abramson of SMBRF

Residents of Malibu:

I have never met three people so mad that they can’t move on with their lives and can so twist the actual truth and facts to bolster their blatantly untrue arguments. I try not to get involved in this drama but when you so vehemently attack a person who has spent her whole life defending and protecting the environment in and around Malibu I can no longer stay silent. Just to set the record straight no proponent of this project ever claimed that the project in and of itself would fix the algae issues at the lagoon. The amount of nutrients coming from upstream and adjacent properties makes it impossible to reduce algal blooms in the lagoon which receives all the pollution from upstream and adjacent properties. The new configuration does improve the circulation and tidal inundation and flushing. The enhanced circulation during the open and closed conditions serves two main purposes:

1.       Tidal flushing will scour out the decaying algae that sits on the bottom during larger tidal events. This decaying algae is what created the horrible oxygen robbing muck that made the old lagoon smell so badly and  was removed from the lagoon during the restoration. If you visit the lagoon today you will notice that the smell has vanished.  The improved tidal flushing will also scour fine grain sediments (silts and clays) and leave behind more course grain sediments like sand. Nutrients tend to attach to fine grain sediments and can re-suspend themselves in the water column during certain times of the year which can contribute to algal blooms. The fact of the matter is that if the large nutrient inputs are not dramatically reduced there will always be large algal blooms in the creek and the lagoon. If you walk upstream the same algae is in the creek and unless the stream flow can reverse gravity it is not coming from the lagoon.

2.       The improved wind driven circulation during the closed condition. The new channel is wider and takes advantage of the prevailing winds at the lagoon. The islands and bridges that used to interrupt the wind have been removed and the new island configuration actually helps to funnel winds along the new channel uninterrupted all the way to the Adamson house. This longer unobstructed channel allows the wind to create waves which mix the water during the closed condition. The former lagoon had almost no circulation during the closed condition. If you visit the EcoMalibu website and look at the videos http://ecomalibu.org/video-page1.htmlthey clearly show circulation happening below the surface, even on days with minor wind and most of the water surface covered with algae. This circulation is helping to oxygenate the water despite the algal blooms and those same videos show schools of thriving fish (top smelt and jack smelt) which are notoriously sensitive to environmental conditions.

Please feel free to review any public testimony (there is plenty) or any of the environmental studies which can be reviewed at http://ecomalibu.org/studies.html that discuss the project.  

Suzanne Goode has dedicated her life to protecting wildlife and wild places for the people of California and millions of visitors who come to this great State to see its natural beauty. She has personally been involved with the acquisition and protection of thousands of acres of property in the Santa Monica Mountains that will always be free of development and wild. Places where ours and future generations can visit and appreciate the incredible natural landscapes that will continue to exist. It is these same places that allow for wildlife to continue  to exist despite the incredible amounts of development that surround them. Suzanne could have easily worked in the private sector and made substantially more money but chose to work for the State in order to protect these wonderful places. She fights daily against people and profiteers trying to illegally take some of this property for their own personal gain.

In terms of removing the illegal garden planted on State Parks property at Malibu Lagoon by a private Malibu Colony Resident I personally believe Suzanne should be applauded. Her job is to protect these resources that are in her care for the people and wildlife of California and that is precisely what she did.  It is incredulous that someone believes that they are so entitled that they can just plant and irrigate a garden on somebody else’s property. Not to mention that the “harmless garden” was planted with vines and plants that outcompete native vegetation and that the State and other resource agencies spend significant resources to maintain native vegetation diversity and eliminate non native and invasive vegetation.

I had hoped that after the lagoon was complete that even the few yet vocal opponents would at least hope that the project would succeed. Anyone can see that these loud bullies would rather the lagoon die so they could be right just once. It is obvious that they do not care about the lagoon now or in its former degraded condition. It is insane to think that with the approximately 70,000 acres that Suzanne looks after, she would engage in a project that didn’t need to happen. I know that the bully brigade hates facts and science but all the science and all the experts agree that this project needed to happen and so far the lagoon and the wildlife that calls this place home is better for it.

You are welcome to criticize and attack me but rest assured I will not be reading your comments and I am only engaging to correct the intentionally erroneous statements and to defend one of my personal environmental heroes. Every person who pays taxes in the State of California should be eternally grateful to have a person like Suzanne Goode working for them and looking after their investments.

Sincerely,

Mark Abramson

Senior Watershed Advisor

Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation

Rodenticides end up KILLING these great rodent predators!

Rodentcides end up killing these great  rodent controllers.   Dear Neighbors, We were very happy a couple of weeks ago that the City of Malibu passed our Resolution against Rodenticide use. Rodent poisons in the Santa Monica Mountains are decimating our coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, owls, hawks and others at an alarming rate, with exposure rates of about 90%. This is due to passed along poisoning when the predators eat the weakened rodents. Attached is some information describing the problem. Also a great website about the effects in the Santa Mountains by a UCLA PhD student who works with the Nation Park Service is http://www.urbancarnivores.com/ Please do not use rodent poisons. See the attached pamphlet for suggestions instead. If you use a pest control service, please consider using an eco-friendly one. Here are links to providers who are certified to be eco-friendly by three certification outfits - Ecowise, Greenshield, Green Pro. From Ecowise: http://www.ecowisecertified.org/ecowise_find.html From Green Shield: http://www.greenshieldcertified.org/providers/#CA From Green Pro: http://www.certifiedgreenpro.org/QProApproved.cfm From the introduction to the City of Malibu Resolution: From the introduction to the City of Malibu Resolution: "Over the past year, several members of the community have addressed the City Council with concerns regarding secondary poisoning and killng of wildlife and domestic animals resulting from the use of anticoagulant rodenticides by home and business owners to combat the infestation of rodents on their property. The products contain active ingredients that cause lethal internal hemorrhaging in the animals that ingest the poison. Unfortunately, pets or wildlife may also be kiled by ingesting rodenticides or may become sick or die due to secondary exposure from consuming the dead or dying rodents. Some animals in California that have been identified as victims of secondary rodenticide poisoning include numerous varieties of hawks, owls and other scavenging birds, as well as foxes, coyotes and more. As there are numerous, less dangerous alternatives available to address the problem of rodent infestation, including non-anticoagulant products or traps, Councilmembers La Monte and Sibert are requesting the Council adopt Resolution No. 13-28 to urge businesses in Malibu to no longer use or sell anticoagulant rodenticides, urge all property owners to cease purchasing or using the poisons on their properties in Malibu and to commit the City of Malibu to not use anticoagulant rodenticides as part of its maintenance program for City-owned parks and facilities." Thank you, your neighbor, Kian Schulman Poison Free Malibu

EPA implements new water quality regulations for Malibu Watershed

Posted: Monday, July 22, 2013 6:45 am

http://www.malibutimes.com/news/local/article_bba47766-f290-11e2-924e-0019bb2963f4.html?_dc=48616681480.78024&_dc=260082

By Colin Newton / Special to The Malibu Times | 1 comment

The Environmental Protection Agency established new regulations for the Malibu Watershed earlier this month.

The EPA listed Malibu Creek and Lagoon as impaired, and identified some sediments, nutrients, including phosphorous and nitrogen, as pollutants.

According to the EPA, the extra sediments and nutrients can have an adverse affect on microscopic organisms, which can negatively impact animals that feed on them, such as clams and shellfish, in the watershed.

“It’s part of the food web,” said Dennis Washburn, chairman of the Malibu Creek Watershed Council. “The system can collapse from the bottom up.”

The goal of the regulations is to control nutrients and sediments at Malibu Creek and Malibu Lagoon by establishing the “Total Maximum Daily Loads” (TMDLs) of pollutants the water body can receive.

“It’s a calculation of how much trash a particular water body can stand,” Washburn said.

It is currently unknown how this will change the way Malibu approaches water management projects, City Manager Jim Thorsen said.

City hall was still reviewing the new regulations, he said.

The EPA also finalized a plan for the Ventura River Estuary and Tributaries, which addresses TMDLs in Ventura and their impact on algae.

The regulations conclude a 14-year effort with the State of California to establish TMDLs for water bodies in the Los Angeles region.

To read the EPA's full report, visit here. 

Damn the Dam!

A watershed of information concerning the details over the Rindge Dam Removal are soon to take shape.

Below is an article published in April by Westlake Malibu Lifestyle Magazine providing a brief history of the Malibu Creek Watershed.

 

The Very First Creek Obstructionist

Mr Rindge spoke with poetic fondness of fishing for his beloved trout in the upper reaches of the Malibu Creek before his wife persuaded him to construct a dam to hold water for their cattle in anticipation of prolonged droughts. Of the 109 miles of the Malibu creek watershed, the Steelhead had 70 miles of suitable habitat for spawning. Since 1926 the Steelhead habitat has been reduced to just 2 miles. Although much of the upper watershed has been degraded with development, removing the dam opens up miles and miles of prime spawning ecosystems through to Malibu Creek State Park with its deep cool pools that once held the largest steelhead.

As the plan for the dams removal draws near, criticism has grown over the cost of restoring the creeks fish habitat. A local newspaper reported that some city council members do not trust the State to improve its own  state controlled waterway. But if the state does not jump in, no other entity can manage or take responsibility  for repairing the obstructed waterway, ( certainly not the city of Malibu ). Due to a vocal minority, local mob that shouted down council members over the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project, the Malibu City council changed their support of the Restoration to opposing it even though the City council had zero jurisdiction over State Land. Again it appears that the council may bow to a few local interest groups who do not understand the importance of allowing the sediment locked up behind the dam to flow down the creek to replenish our beaches that are suffering from sediment deficiencies. Broad Beach and its $20 million sand replenishment project is just one example of beach front houses being threatened from a lack beach replenishment. If money is not spent  removing useless concrete barriers in our watersheds it will be used for damages resulting in coastal erosion. 

  

If the city council is figuring it can count on surfers to oppose the dams removal like the Lagoon project they are mistaken. Surfers up and down the coast realize the importance of sediment flows out to the surf zones and will feverishly support the dams removal.

            

Prevailing Wind Circulation Creates Upwelling

State Showers Surfers with a Stainless Steal Gift!

Here is a picture of the first Surfer getting a rinse from the newly installed shower at the Malibu  Lagoon parking lot. The old shower was donated by the Malibu Surfing Association and Santa Monica Bay Keeper which was vandalized many times and out of use for the last year. State Parks put this shower in for Surfers to use but does not have the budget to maintain it should it continue to be vandalized. Visitors  have also been stealing sprinkler heads along the path to third point. A warning to those in the area that are suspected of vandalizing state property that fines and punishment can be tough if convicted.