MALIBU—The Malibu City Council voted to amend Malibu’s Local Coastal Program on December 9 to prohibit the use of pesticides including anticoagulant rodenticides and herbicides.
Various speakers from different organizations and several residents spoke at the conference. The Mountain Lion Foundation, Malibu Monarch Project, Poison Free Malibu, the Coyote Project, the Center for Biological Diversity and the National Resource Defense Council were all present.
Speaker Hamish Patterson said in the beginning of the meeting, “Much to my surprise this hasn’t been solved. I thought we were kind of an environmental community, it’s all over our mission statement. Everyone rolls around this town claiming they’re environmentalists and yet, I don’t see it in the community.” Patterson continued, “I see dead animals and dead wildlife in our mountains and claim that we are part of this huge environment.”
Efforts were made to ban pesticides after the death of mountain lion P-25 in 2012. A non-profit organization founded by Kian and Joel Schulman worked on banning rat poison in the Malibu community. The National Park Service announced that P-47, a mountain lion that died in March 2019, had six different anticoagulant compounds according to the necropsy report.
At the end of public comment, Malibu Mayor Karen Farrer stated that the community should work to apply pressure at the state level. “Anyone who has contacted us, please extent that to the state level. Send your letters to Assemblymember Richard Bloom, send them to Governor Newsom. That’s how things happen,” said Farrer. Councilmembers Jefferson Wagner, Rick Mullen Mikke Pierson, and Skylark Peak all voted unanimously for the amendment.
