Parks Board OKs Pulling Invasive Junk Out Of Trancas Ravine, But 2 Say It’s A Waste Of Money Without A Plan

The City of Malibu spent $11 million to buy Trancas Field, a large vacant lot west of Trancas Canyon Road. But since closing the deal in 2016, it has sat vacant, with the city unable to even come up with a plan for the plot.

And now, the ravine in the center of Trancas Field is full of invasive … non-native weeds and bushes.  And two city park commissioners are not very happy that the city needs to spend money to control the overgrowth, without even having any master plan to see if the ravine should be saved.

Tree tobacco … wild mustard … and castor beans are growing in the Trancas Field … owned by the city.  They are a fire hazard … and choking out native plants.

Last night … the city Parks Commission heard that it has $10,000 budgeted to get those thick weeds out by hand.  City community services director Jesse Bobbett said it would cost at least 2-3 times that amount … to begin the job. 

And once those weeds are pulled out … he predicts they will come right back … because weedkiller cannot be used.

 NEWSCART 73786WEEDS BOBBETT

“The problem is if we go in and clear these … are we just going to have nonnatives coming back … other nonnatives coming back in those squashy areas where we have removed plants? It’s those that’s where we are struggling… the costs are significant even for these two species.”

Bobbett says Malibu’s ban on herbicides and pesticides makes control of weeds on city land very expensive.

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“But not being able to use herbicides or an herbicidal treatment … it’s definately what we run into with earth-friendly management in general.  But that’s our charge, that’s what Malibu wants.  And this is definitely in with that.”

Some parks commission members sad it was fruitless to spend a lot of money clearing weeds from parkland … when no decisions have been made by the city about

Alicia Peak:

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“It is really hard for me to talk about spending money to clear something when we don’t know what we are going to use it for.  And we don’t have money to do that survey, and then we are going to talk about … that’s what I really can’t get my head around.”

But other commissioners said its worth spending money to dig up invasive plants from the envir0nemntally sensitive ravine … because even if a park is built … the ESHA will have to be preserved.  

Kind of.  While the laws favor preserving ESHA … it does allow ESHA to be disturbed if it is properly mitigated. And some people point out that the invasive plants cover a ravine that used to be farmland … it used to be plowed regularly … and the ESHA can be relocated if necessary for a parks project. 

The problem for commissioners, they said, is that the city has been out of money for parks planning for five years.  And city council members have taken discussion about the future use of vacant park land in Malibu off the table … for the Parks Commission. 

In the end … the Parks Commission voted to ask volunteers to help clear the invasive plants from the ravine at Trancas Field.

But two commissioners voted no … they said it was a waste of money to clear weeds from the ESHA without knowing what the eventual use of that vacant land will be.