From Backyard to Lagoon Project, State Parks Official Lends a Hand

For months, Craig Sap has been the public face of the Malibu Lagoon Project, answering questions at Malibu City Council meetings and interacting with the public.

As the superintendent of the California State Parks Angeles District, Sap took his involvement in the restoration project a step further when he rescued scores of young, native coreopsis around his home near Malibu.

"I live up at Leo Carrillo and all these little seedlings are on the ground. They were likely going to die so I pulled them up and replanted them in these little buckets," Sap said. 

The Malibu Lagoon is historically the southernmost point where the coreopsis is known to grow, he said. (The plant, which has daisy-like flowers in the spring, is currently blooming at Legacy Park in Malibu.)

Sap propagated the plants with the help of his 10-year-old son. Some of them will be planted on the bird islands and others will be around the viewing deck at the Malibu Lagoon.

"I was going to try to find a place to plant them around Leo Carrillo, but I thought, Heck, do you want them? And Mark [Abramson] and Suzanne [Goode] said, 'Sure,'" Sap said. 

Sap donated the native seedlings to the Malibu Lagoon project for free. At a nursery the plants cost $3 to $4 each, he said. 

In all, he donated 300 seedlings. While 300 sounds like a lot, it's actually a small amount compared to the 80,000 native plants that have been reintroduced to the Malibu Lagoon during the project.

For the next 12 to 18 months, an above-ground, temporary sprinkler system will remain in place to water the reintroduced plants, he said.

Some in Malibu have criticized the project, claiming that the plants already reintroduced do not appear to be growing.

Sap said he believes the plants are doing well and will only continue to grow.

"I see plants that are flourishing," Sap said.

The project is set to wrap up Friday, March 15, when a permit from the Coastal Commission expires. Some work on a water feature and a shade structure is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. Those areas will be fenced off, but the remainder of the Malibu Lagoon will be open to the public.

Earlier this week, Sap signed documents stating that a substantial portion of the project is complete. Now that most of the contractors' work is done, management of the Malibu Lagoon will be turned over to the care of State Parks.

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