Malibu's Ballona Preview Continues to Thrive

It’s been just three years since the June 2012 groundbreaking on the 31-acre Malibu Lagoon reconstruction. Construction took about six months, revegetation followed, and the renewed habitat has been growing in over the past 30 months. The just-released Year 2 monitoring report (1) documents how quickly nature recovers, even when bulldozers and backhoes must scrape the land bare to repair the insults from centuries of historical development. If you build it, they will come.

Malibu Lagoon was just the latest coastal wetland restoration project in our state, which has funded over 1800 projects since 1976 at a cost of $1.5 billion. State law and policy mandate the restoration of publicly held coastal and tidelands whenever possible, and for good reason. Besides the public open space, recreation and natural habitat benefits, coastal restoration projects are economic engines for their regions (2).

The Oxford basin restoration is underway, though tiny compared to Malibu. Imagine Malibu-times-20, and you have a comprehensive Ballona restoration project. The Environmental Impact Report for Ballona, which will explain and analyze various proposed and preferred alternative plans for the 600-acre Ballona reserve, is supposed to be published in late 2015. It will present alternative approaches to dealing with the 200 acres north of Ballona Creek, both east and west of Lincoln Blvd., that are buried under 15 feet of fill dirt. All of that fill dirt needs to be excavated to restore the tidal wetland that pre-dated Marina construction.

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!

1. Malibu Lagoon Restoration and Enhancement Project. Comprehensive Monitoring Report (Year 2). http://www.santamonicabay.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Malibu-Lagoon_Comprehensive-Monitoring-Report_Yr2_FINAL_web.pdf

2. Conathan, M., Buchanan, J., and S. Polefka 2014. The Economic Case for Restoring Coastal Ecosystems. Center for American Progress and OXFAM America