Robert Roy van de Hoek is a scientist and an environmental activist, but he knows that the most successful public undertakings have to reach out to people on many levels. That's why he and designer John Ulloth have tried to envision a pier project that can be many things to many different people.
The pair are preparing to put the proposal before the California Department of Parks and Recreation as soon as possible. Major structural work on the pier is now going on, but some of the concept's requirements, such as floating docks and holding tanks, might more easily be integrated into overall design if done before the structural work is completed.
The concept of a marine education center at the Malibu Pier draws on the successes of other facilities up and down the California coast. It also tries to learn from their problems and would rely on ways to control access and prevent adverse impacts on the already constrained traffic flow in the area.
The marine education center, which would be located at the site of the old bait and tackle shop and storage facility at the end of the pier, would feature an "exploratorium" with hands-on interactive exhibits for all ages. Local schools could have special ties to programs at the center, as well as provide a corps of volunteers and opportunities for part-time employment.
"Touch-feel tanks would spotlight intertidal life," van de Hoek said. High-tech hearing devices would allow one to listen to sea sounds as diverse as snapping shrimp and gray whales. Floatation devices would allow eye-level viewing. Electric lifts could bring the able-bodied and the disabled to one-on-one contact with the marine environment.
The exploratorium would also include an auditorium for presentations on marine ecology that might also serve as a venue for community meetings.
The center's proponent said, "This could involve everyone in Malibu. People who might not find common ground on many other issues could become part of this and watch their efforts help to build something extraordinary."
Other key elements of the package include floating docks to serve as sea otter and sea lion recovery program waystations. Injured, lost, abandoned and adopted marine mammals could be acclimated before they are returned to the wild.
A platform for raising young eaglets and osprey could also be featurerd on the pier. Youth aspiring to be scientists and field professionals could work hand-in-hand on the return of former Malibu Creek resident and national symbol, the American bald eagle. Successful reintroduction of this large fish-eating eagle and the American osprey, the key fish hawk of the area, would be a meaningful indicator of the local environment's health.
Special whale-watching and dolphin-watching boats could leave from the pier. Tours would be directed by naturalists to assure that the tours do not have an adverse effect on these mammals, but still impart their mystery and majesty to the observer.
A saltwater aquarium and a freshwater aquarium might be built to demonstrate steelhead trout and salmon ecology.
Van de Hoek stresses that "due to the limited parking in the area of the Malibu Pier and the tremendous traffic challenges already facing Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway," all access to the center would be by special shuttles or public transportation. Flow might be controlled by a ticketing system in the same way that campsites are reserved at Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu.
The marine center proponent said that local groups from the Malibu Township Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Optimists, Kiwanis, Rotary, and others would be invited to sign on, as would all of the major marine and environmental organizations from the Sierra Club to Heal the Bay.
Van de Hoek said preservation and people are at the heart of the vision of a marine center. Everyone and everything benefits.