Located within scenic Malibu Canyon Road lies a forgotten giant: a 100-foot-tall dam, now a relic of the past, that has long obstructed the natural flow of Malibu Creek.
Built in 1926 by the powerful and wealthy May Rindge, nicknamed the “Queen of Malibu,” the dam was intended to provide water for her sprawling ranch.
However, over the decades, it has become a major barrier to the ecosystem and a target for environmental restoration efforts.
“About a million people a year drive down that road,” said Russell Marlow, senior project manager for California Trout’s South Coast region. SF DOOR.
“This is in the middle of Los Angeles County, and right there is a major dam that needs to be removed, and we can easily see the impact that has.”
Located within scenic Malibu Canyon Road lies a forgotten giant: a 100-foot-tall dam, now a relic of the past, that has long obstructed the natural flow of Malibu Creek.
Built in 1926 by influential ‘Queen of Malibu’ May Rindge (pictured), the dam was once intended to supply water to her vast ranch.
Marlow compares Malibu’s Rindge Dam to the recently decommissioned Klamath River dams in Northern California, which were removed after decades of advocacy led by indigenous communities. Those dams degraded water quality and blocked salmon migration, contributing to the species’ decline.
Similarly, the Rindge Dam has stunted habitat for the endangered Southern California steelhead and altered Malibu’s natural watershed for decades.
The dam’s impact extends to Malibu beaches, blocking sediment that would otherwise fill the coast. Both the Klamath Dam and Rindge Dam are top priorities on California Trout’s list of California dams most urgently in need of removal.
Built in 1926 by Rindge, the dam was originally intended to supply water to the family ranch. But the reservoir quickly filled with sediment, becoming virtually unusable in the 1940s, and was dismantled in 1967.
It has remained a silent obstruction in Malibu Creek ever since, as momentum gradually builds for its removal.
Rindge, widow of Frederick Hastings Rindge, earned her nickname for her firm control of the region. She owned all of Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit and fought against infrastructure encroachment on her land. Rindge even commissioned a “railroad to nowhere,” a 15-mile private railroad, to prevent the Southern Pacific Railway from building its own line through Malibu.
While he managed to keep the railroad out, a court battle over road access ultimately resulted in the construction of what is now the Pacific Coast Highway in 1929.
The reservoir quickly filled with silt, becoming virtually unusable in the 1940s, was decommissioned in 1967, and has remained a silent obstruction in Malibu Creek ever since.
Financially strapped, Rindge built the dam to collect water from Malibu Creek for his ranch, but it soon became clear that the sediment-rich streams of Southern California are not ideal reservoirs.
By the time of his death in 1941, his enormous investment had silted up and had already begun to deteriorate.
Now closed to the public for safety reasons, the dam has trapped approximately 780,000 cubic yards of sediment that would otherwise feed Malibu beaches; sediment that becomes increasingly valuable as climate change intensifies coastal erosion.
The dam also acts as an insurmountable wall for the endangered southern steelhead, a fish once abundant in Malibu Creek that relies on open water routes to migrate between freshwater and the ocean.
The Rindge Dam removal process, begun in 1992 with the Malibu Creek Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study, has been slow due to scientific and engineering complexities.
But in 2020, a final report marked the start of the project’s design phase, with removal expected to begin in 2028 with an estimated cost of $279 million.
Over time, the dam has become a major barrier to the ecosystem and a target for environmental restoration efforts.
Removing the dam is considered a crucial step in restoring the stream’s ecosystem and revitalizing the steelhead population.
As part of recent progress in the effort, helicopters were used to survey sediment behind the dam, which will be relocated to help restore Malibu beaches and other areas.
According to Marlow, removal will be a gradual process, lowering the dam in sections as sediment and vegetation are removed, repeating after seasonal water flow.
“This is a transformative landscape change in the shadow of a major city,” Marlow said.
“I’m trying to present to the greater Los Angeles area the idea that this is happening in their backyards and that, within a couple of years, they’ll be able to pull off the side of the road and stick their heads out. “Go and see. one of the largest dam removal projects in North America.”