Part of Popular Malibu Lagoon Bridges Reappear on Surfrider Beach

California State Parks is using recycled items -- including wood from torn down foot bridges -- from the Malibu Lagoon in the construction of a box being used to lessen the erosion at Surfrider Beach in Malibu.

"They used found objects to make this cage," said Suzanne Goode, a Senior Environmental Scientist for State Parks.

The wood from the former foot bridges, which were previously used by pedestrians to walk through the Malibu Lagoon from the parking lot to , is now being used to keep in river rocks and lessen the impact of the steady stream of water pouring out of a discharge pipe, according to Goode.

A chain-link fence found while digging out the lagoon is also being utilitized, Goode said. The pipe is releasing water at a rate of 600 gallons per minute at its peak.

The wood and the fence are meant to reduce the amount of erosion at the edge of the beach near the Malibu Colony, according to Goode. During low tide the discharged water has been carving out a canyon under a fence that separates the Malibu Colony from the public beach. Some of the water has been inching closer to a home.

"During high tide the sand comes up and fills it up back again," Goode said. "We don’t want it to migrate over to that person’s house. We want to keep it confined to our side of the fence."

State Parks has been fiddling with the cage to make sure the river rocks, which are not native to Malibu, stay put.

"We absolutely do not want those rocks going out," Goode said.

Marica Hanscom of the Wetlands Defense Fund has called for State Parks to stop the discharge until a revocation permit is heard next week by the California Coastal Commission.

The hearing is set for Wednesday, Aug. 8 in Santa Cruz.

Opponents of the project objected to the removal of the bridges and pleaded with State Parks to keep them. The bridges were torn out in June along with seven 30-year-old sycamore trees.