Local legislators work cooperatively to aid in environmental cleanups

State. Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and state Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Woodland Hills) recently gathered on the Santa Monica Pier to announce that a series of projects has received funding from the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project (SMBRP) to help clean up and restore the bay. Funding is through California’s Proposition 12, the "Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2000."

Projects to be funded include eradication of Arundo Donax, a non-native invasive giant reed that is choking streams in the Malibu Creek Watershed.

It was intentionally introduced to the Los Angeles area from the Mediterranean in the early 19th Century as an erosion-control agent in drainage canals. With no natural competitors or predators in California, it grows rapidly (3-10 inches per day), reaching heights of 25 ft. and above.

Highly flammable and also a flood control problem, its presence has affected at least two local endangered species, the tidewater goby and the steelhead trout, preventing them from returning to waters where they could potentially flourish.

The SMBRP has allocated $189,000 to the Mountains Restoration Trust to help eradicate the opportunistic and harmful species.

Committed to the restoration and protection of Santa Monica Bay, the SMBRP is a partnership of government, environmentalists, scientists, business and the general public.