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MALIBU WETLAND HISTORY AT A GLANCE The heart of Malibu is where the aboriginal Chumash tribe lived some 30,000 years ago. They called it "Humaliwu," meaning: "Where the surf sounds loudly." The Chumash became known as some of the greatest mariner's of their time. This beach, at the end of Malibu Creek, is a mariner's paradise in a Mediterranean-type climate. The creek forms a point, depositing soft-sand on the beach and cobble stones on the bottom of the ocean near the shore. About 700 yards downstream, in the cove, is a natural harbor where the Chumash launched planked canoes, paddled out, and easily got beyond the waves. Just beyond the surf, they dove for abalone and lobster and fished for halibut and bass. The area, thriving with wildlife, was ideal for hunting and growing vegetables. It's also a floodplain and had hundreds of acres of wetland that provided a nesting area along the Pacific Coast migratory flyway. Over 107 species of birds have been identified visiting the area. Majestic Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets and Bald Eagles were some of the raptor's that foraged for food here. Over 13 species of fish have been identified in just the creek and lagoon area, let alone the ocean. In 1542, famed seaman Captain Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, leading a Spanish expedition, docked here to get fresh water on his journey north. Many well-crafted canoes came to greet his ships. In his log, Cabrillo called the area "Pueblo de las Canoes" (Town of the Canoes). 200 years passed before the Spanish returned. Then, within a 50 year period, 1772 to 1822, the Spanish had tragic interaction, making rule over the land, renaming the area Las Malibu, casting the Chumash into Mission servitude and eventually decimating the entire Malibu tribe. Ownership of Malibu land transferred precariously over the next 100 years. After the Spanish-Mexican Revolution in 1822, Jose Tapia was the first to claim Rancho de las Malibu when the Mexican government confirmed many Spanish Concessions with Mexican Land Grants. In 1848, Leon Victor Prudhomme married Tapia's daughter, Maria and gained ownership of Malibu for 200 pesos in cash and 200 pesos in merchandise. In 1857, Mathew Keller accepted a quit claim deed paying the Prudhommes $1400 for three square leagues of land (13,330 acres). In 1892 Keller sold his beautiful coastline property for $10 per acre to Frederick Hastings Rindge. The Rindge family owned all of Malibu from Topanga to the Ventura County line. In the first battle to protect Malibu's ecosystem, Rindge's widow, May, fought off an effort to route the Southern Pacific Railroad through Malibu by establishing her own private railroad. The State of California later succeeded in obtaining a right of way to build the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) through her property. Dirt removed from around the highway was dumped along Malibu creek and claimed by the Rindge-Adamson family as their property. Construction of PCH was immediately followed by building a row of houses on the sandy dume along the beach side of the wetland, which became known as the famous "Malibu Movie Colony." Colony houses were built for weekend getaways. Cookie-cutter septic systems were installed for sewage treatment. They were meant to accommodate a family. Yet, film stars had massive parties with hundreds of guests, frequently overloading these insufficient waist systems, seeping raw sewage into the neighboring wetland. Today, many of these weekend getaways have become permanent residents that continue to have old, failing systems. In 1969, the Tapia sewage plant was installed at the bottle neck of the Malibu Creek Watershed to accommodate massive development in the upper watershed. Now, the upper watershed includes the cities of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills and Calabasas. In 1969, there was a population of approximately 3000 in the upper watershed. Today it has grown to over 100,000. Now the Tapia Treatment Plant treats 16 million gallons of waste water per day and discharges approximately 4-acre feet per year, of their tertiary treated water, directly into Malibu Creek. In 2000, an scientific UCLA Study (CLICK HERE TO SEE STUDY) concluded that Tapia's discharge is harmful to the downstream ecosystem and exacerbates many other problems. In the late 60's, the Cross Creek shopping centers and parking lots were constructed, also with cookie cutter septic systems. Each summer their septic systems caused a horrible stench. In 1987, a 9-hole golf course was illegally constructed next to the Lagoon and treated with highly toxic pesticides, fertilizers and other damaging chemicals that seeped into the lagoon. In 2004, Marcia Hanscom, Director of the Wetlands Action Network sued the land owner, stopped the toxic process and got the land dedicated to wetland restoration when the family matriach passes on. In 1997, Purvey initiated discussions, with Malibu Mayor Carolyn Van Horn, Marcia Hanscom and Malibu's Nature Trust Director Peter Ireland, to form a land trust for the purpose of acquiring privately owned property in the historical wetland area. In 1998, the Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy (MCLC) was formed and a plan to acquire 20 acres of wetland property known as the "Chili Cookoff" was introduced by MCLC board member and Treasurer Ozzie Silna. After many contentious political battles with the Malibu CIty Council, a radical fringe group of realtors and spec-developers - MCLC, with the extraordinary support from Silna, won in 2006 with the $25 million ($1.25 million per acre) city-supported purchase of the 20-acre "Chili Cookoff" property for wetlands restoration. Now, kudos must go to the many city residents who contributed to the acquisition and the successful start to restoring the historical wetland. However, the City Council, in its attempt to protect tax dollars generated by the existing shopping centers, is now attempting to accommodate more commercial development and its incumbant traffic by utilizing the Malibu-owned Chili Cookoff property for a sewage treated water detention pond. However, the City Council just discovered that 20 acres is just not enough (read the Malibu Surfside News article on page 3). For many years, the City Council, spec-developers and the radical fringe realtors manipulated propety rights issues persuading many good Malibu residents that acquisition of the land in the center was cost prohibitive and that the property owners would never negotiate. However, with the perserverence of MCLC and the great support from Ozzie Silna, members of the Watershed Council and local environmentalists from 2000 to 2006 - the Malibu Bay Company, owners of the Chili Cookoff, finally gave in and sold the property to the people. Now, we need to complete the process of wetland restoration with more projects described on the Wetland Restoration Page. Intro - History - Wetland Restoration - The Tapia Effect - Your Carbon Footprint - Video |
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