MALIBU LAGOON INTERPRETIVE LANDSCAPE
A project currently in the works with the Resource Conservation District, CA State Parks, the Coastal Conservancy, Santa Monica Baykeepers, and Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation, the Malibu Lagoon Interpretive Landscape is a talking, walking, learning landscape that will explain and provide access to a completely restored Malibu Lagoon. The pathways and interpretive nodes will cater to school children, bird watchers, surfers, the coastal community and a grateful indigenous population of plants and animals.
Imagine a pathway that transports you physically through the dynamic seasonal life-cycle of this unique lagoon that is freshwater in the summer and tidal in the winter. With outdoor classrooms that use site specific architecture to explain the history, biodiversity, and environmental importance of this fantastic place.
KELP AWNING
A shade structure is the first encounter at the lagoon. The awning covers an outdoor classroom where students are introduced to the site, which includes "The Fish Cart", a skeletal demonstration of how Halibut spawned in the Lagoon go from a being a symmetrical vertical fish to a flat fish with two eyes on the one side. Fun!
The shade structure is a steel cnc milled kelp pattern, with skinny columns.
WATER STAIR 
The most wonderful story of the Lagoon is that in the Summer when inland rainfall is minimal and the watershed is at a trickle, the ocean surf creates a natural berm that dams the outflow of water. In the summer the Lagoon is a freshwater basin that fills until it reaches 9'-0" above sea level. At this level it tops out and with the next surge of winter rain, the natural levee breaks and the lagoon once again becomes salt water estuary, the water rising and falling with the tides.
The 200' long water stair demonstrates this unique phenomenon as the water slowly creeps up the 1:40 sloped ramp.
BIRD BLIND
Bird watchers are one of the Lagoons greatest advocates. A bird blind was developed from an existing plant material on site called mulefat. 
The steel rope trellis is intended to blend in with the landscape and like holes in a hedge will be pulled back in spots to reveal prime bird watching zones.
SURF WALL
On June 1, California State Parks and its project partners began the six-month construction process. Excess sediment will be removed, and the western channels will be re-contoured to improve water flows. For more information check out the Malibu Restoration webpage. " CLICK HERE!
