Archive for May, 2009

Volunteers Restore Malibu Lagoon

Monday, May 4th, 2009

20 volunteers came out on Saturday, May 2nd to remove invasive vegetation from the bio-swales of the newly installed parking lot at Malibu Lagoon State Park. Bio-swales capture rainwater to remove silt and pollution before it enters the lagoon. The parking lot is designed to capture, treat and infiltrate more than three inches of rain in a 24-hour period. More than three-thousand native plants have been placed in the bio-swales to create habitat and aid in the uptake of stormwater pollution. Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers these native plants will continue to thrive without invasive vegetation crowding their space.

 

 

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UCLA Lab School Visits Malibu Creek

Monday, May 4th, 2009
The students of UCLA Lab School in Westwood are very lucky to have Stone Canyon Creek running through their campus, but in it’s current state the banks are overgrown with invasive and/or exotic vegetation. Santa Monica Baykeeper is very excited to be partnering with UCLA Lab School to return their portion of Stone Canyon Creek back to its former native habitat. Students have recently started to collect water quality data from the creek to help them determine its health where the creek runs through their school.

Over three days last week approximately 120 intermediate students from the school took field trips to Malibu Creek State Park to observe stream conditions, identify benthic macroinvertebrates (the bugs that live on the bottom of the stream), and conduct water chemistry tests for nitrates, chlorine, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity on Malibu and Las Virgenes Creeks. They will use the data collected from this visit to compare with thier results from Stone Canyon Creek to see how they differ. Ultimately, the intermediate students from UCLA Lab School will use what they have learned to help design a restoration project for their school.

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