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INTRODUCTION Restoring a clean, safe ocean for recreation at world famous Surfrider Beach in Malibu, California, is a complex subject and challenging objective. To make it easier to understand, the EcoMalibu Web site is festooned with interactive sections and user-friendly links that enable you to navigate to information provided by numerous scientists and authorities who have undertaken the research of the Malibu Creek Watershed, one of the most studied areas on Earth. The Malibu Creek Watershed is fed by a network of seasonal streams from mountain ridge tops – such as Simi Peak – high above Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Agoura, Hidden Hills and Calabasas, which form the upper watershed. They congregate at the Tapia waste water treatment Plant in Calabasas and are mixed with treated waste water from the Triunfo treatment plant in Westlake, which empties into Malibu Creek. Malibu Creek provides sustenance to Malibu's heart; the wetlands, nourishing its native wildlife, floodplain, lagoon, Surfrider Beach and the waters off Malibu’s public fishing pier. This is the beginning of a multi-media informational site. It is a work-in-progress, growing all the time. Our intent is to edit the videos and create quick-directories to acquire information fast and make it easy to understand. So, plan on coming back to visit the Web site often. On every page you will see photos with captions that describe the situation. There are links in yellow, which direct you to more detailed information. Some will have photos and videos to help illustrate problems and solutions. If you have questions or suggestions, please forward them to bob@ecomalibu.org Three video documentaries and a docudrama, “Malibu Creek,” “The Wetland Digest,” “Lagoon Task Force“ and “Flipside of Malibu” speak directly to the issues and are here for you to view. The heart of Malibu is imperiled and must become a marine sanctuary to obtain the necessary protections if we are to see clean, safe water restored at Surfrider – for now and forever. Although many improvements have been made, and the two major contributors of pollution – the Tapia treatment plant and Malibu Civic Center – at Surfrider are on the mend, Surfrider still has the dubious distinction of being one of the most polluted beaches in Santa Monica Bay and there continues to be resistance toward positive change. In the past, there have been band-aid solutions proposed by government agencies, developers, city officials, environmental groups, but all have been waylaid and weighed down by political rhetoric. Our goal is to turn the heart of Malibu into a true, meaningful sanctuary for the bio diversity of life that naturally exists in it. It is an ecosystem that represents a microcosm of the world's environmental problems caused by the encroachment on sensitive habitat by human behavior and irresponsible waist discharges. On the other hand, you may be one to think: "Hey, what the hey, why not let them build a nuclear plant and boat harbor, it's their property and they ought to be able to do whatever they want." Well, I'm a surfer and want the water to be clean when it enters where I surf at Surfrider Beach. Do you have something against that? Well then, why does their pollution have to affect my rights to use a common area safely? Because it does and it's wrong! You may have your own vision once you set your eyes on Dawn Navarro Ericson's "Malibu Wetland" poster and enjoy the composite of native wildlife in the heart of Malibu. The poster has been distributed to over 700 Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In reality, a remnant of the native species struggle in a fight with humans for free access to their native domain. They survive amidst ill-placed commercial development, parking lots, bumper to bumper traffic and sickening residual pollution. Once you've seen Ms. Ericson's poster, there will be no doubt in your mind that this area requires State of California Marine Sanctuary designated status, with all the protections and lawful enforcement. Major scientific reports on this area of Malibu that are online presently are the UCLA 2000 Study of The Lower Malibu Creek Watershed (click here), which includes a significant amount of historical information about the Malibu Creek floodplain, wetland and lagoon system, as well as investigative reports of current conditions, including sources of pollution; and The Malibu Creek Watershed Action Plan (click here) which details a watershed-wide community effort to solve the pollution problems. There are three actions to undertake to effectively restore safe water quality at Surfrider: 1) begin to Restore the historical wetland in earnest, 2) stop Tapia 's discharge into Malibu Creek and 3) reduce the weight of everyone's carbon footprint. Restoring, protecting and preserving the value of common areas such as wetlands, rain-forests, parks, greenbelts, streams and oceans will effectively reduce global warming. We aspire to demonstrate that by taking action locally to protect the heart of Malibu's ecosystem, with a global perspective in mind, serve to educate and help solve local environmental problems. The heart of Malibu's eco-system environment can be saved! We invite you to comment on this site and help improve it. We are constantly working on it, so any suggestion about anything may help Home - Intro - History - Wetland Restoration - Videos - Organization |
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