Mati Waiya, a Chumash ceremonial elder performs a purification, cleansing and blessing ceremony at the sand where the Malibu Lagoon reaches the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, protesters gathered with signs at the entrance to Malibu Lagoon in anticipation of work beginning on an $8-million restoration project.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=62094

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Monique Kehoe with the surfers coalition carries a surfboard signed by surfers and various leaders who are protesting a restoration project at Malibu Lagoon set to beging Monday.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=62106

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Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies listen as artist Cathy Cadieux explains photographs she shot at Malibu Lagoon State Park during a protest Friday morning.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=62107

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Keith Biondi walks through Malibu Lagoon State Park after catching a 20-pound white sea bass while spearfishing Friday, as a protest continued at the entrance to the park in anticipation of the restoration project.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=62108

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California State Park Peace Officers Lt. Lindsey Templeton, right, and Sgt. Darrell Readyhoff, left, talk with Andy Lyon and Cindy Vandor, who were part of a protest Friday at the entrance to Malibu Lagoon State Park.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=62109

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Mati Waiya, left, a Chumash ceremonial elder; Kote Lotah, middle, a Chumash elder; and Chumash David Paul Dominguez, right, walk to the beach where the Maibu Lagoon meets the Pacific Ocean to perform a purification, cleansing and blessing ceremony at Malibu Lagoon State Park.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=62110

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A group of preschoolers walk across a bridge that spans the marshes of Malibu Lagoon in an area of the state park that will be greatly changed under a contentious plan to restore the pollution-choked wetlands adjacent to Surfrider Beach.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61878

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Brown pelicans gather on an islet in Malibu Lagoon.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61879

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A water bird blends into the marshy foliage of Malibu Lagoon in an area of the state park.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61880

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A narrow strip of Surfrider Beach separates Malibu Lagoon from the Pacific Ocean. A hotly contested restoration plan for the lagoon has some critics claiming that the result would be the destruction of the wetlands and flatter waves at the famed surf spot in Malibu.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61881

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Nasturtiums bloom on the banks of Malibu Lagoon, where an $8-million, four-month restoration project is set to begin. Backers of the restoration say it will create a viable ecosystem with water again flowing in and out of the lagoon. They claim restoration would support more plants, birds and fish, and have no effect on surfing. [For the record, 10:46 p.m. June 1: An earlier version of this caption misidentified the flowers as poppies.]

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61882

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A heron preens on an island in a part of Malibu Lagoon slated for restoration. Plans call for draining a portion of the lagoon and scooping out more than 1,000 truckloads of sediment.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61883

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Wildflowers bloom along a path through the marshes of Malibu Lagoon, where activists are planning civil disobedience to stop a restoration project, claiming it is too heavy-handed and would destroy a thriving ecosystem that includes many species of seabirds.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61884

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A bird perches on the support beams of a bridge across the wetlands of Malibu Lagoon, where an $8-million restoration project is slated to begin this week.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61885

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Wooden bridges through Malibu Lagoon will be removed and a portion of the wetlands drained and reshaped under an $8-million restoration project set to begin June 1. The state of California, government scientists, a loose contingent of local supporters and prominent environmentalists say critics of the restoration plan are ignoring years of science showing that the lagoon is sick and in need of radical changes.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=61886

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