Tuesday, September 17, 2013

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