Photo: Chuck Schmid/Surf-Shot.com
By the time San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith ruled that the California State Parks could proceed with their $7 million project to bulldoze the berm and dredge the wetland at Malibu, fresh water was already draining from the Malibu Lagoon into the ocean at the top of Third Point thanks to an illegal channel dug by the clandestine midnight shovel brigade.Those who knew the point at Malibu best had long believed that an outflow would distribute sand along the natural features and restore the ruler edge shape to the waves. Surfer Andy Lyon had already received a $1500 dollar citation from State Park rangers for attempting to single-handedly shovel a channel. “The creek was going to take out part of the Adamson House,” he said. “I hand dug it out to save it, and I get a ticket for 1500 bucks.”
Jordan Tappis, off the ruler's edge. Photo: Chuck Schmid/Surf-Shot.com
California State Parks plans on draining and dredging the lagoon in June 2012. Opposing groups Wetlands Defense Fund, Access for All and the Coastal Law Enforcement Action Network plan on again putting a stop to the project.
Snowy Plover. Photo: photo: MLS/surf-shot.com
Long before surfers were riding the waves at Surfrider Beach, before homes were built at Malibu Colony, and before PCH cut its path along the coast, Malibu creek cut its path through the Santa Monica Mountains to the sea. Appropriately, the name Malibu was derived from the Chumash expression for “it makes a loud noise there.” It is an inherently beautiful place and home to some of the animals on the federal list of endangered species. The plucky Snowy Plover shuns the sand that the State fences off for it and stakes claim to the most crowded beach and thrives there. Already, the tide is influencing the level of the water in the lagoon and the bacteria count is down. Soon the surf will show the results of newly formed sand bars.
Photo: Chuck Schmid/Surf-Shot.com
