December 2008 Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Newsletter

8/8/2019 December 2008 Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Newsletter

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December 2008

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper News & Events

News & Events

Day Without a Bag Beach Status Reports - Sign-up! Marine Protected Areas Update

Become a ChannelkeeperMember!

Did You Know?

Where do yourpesticides

and fertilizers go whenit rains?

When it rains, pesticidesand fertilizers wash

directly into storm drainsand local creeks, harmingplants, wildlife, and water

quality.

Please help by reducingyour use of these productson your lawn and garden

or use nontoxicalternatives.

Day Without A Bag - December 18th

Channelkeeper is partnering with the Ocean FuturesSociety and other groups to promote a "Day Without aBag" on Thursday, December 18th. Channelkeeper willbe manning tables at City Hall and on State Street togive away free reusable bags and information aboutthe negative environmental impacts of single-usedisposable bags, both plastic and paper. Stop by ourtables to get a free reusable bag, or just participate bysaying NO to paper AND plastic and using onlyreusable bags all day (and every day!).

This effort is part of a larger Channelkeeper campaignto drastically reduce the consumption of single-useplastic (and paper) carryout bags in the City of Santa Barbara. We are lobbyingCity Council to pass an ordinance to ban plastic and place a fee on paper bags,and are cooperating with the City on a public outreach campaign to educate thecommunity and local retailers about the environmental impacts of disposable bagsand to help facilitate a shift to reusable bags. Contact us at [email protected] or at563-3377 ext.1 to learn more and get involved.

Beach Status Reports - Sign-up Today!

As reported in our last enewsletter, Channelkeeperhas preserved a critical public health service bytaking over Santa Barbara County's beach safetymonitoring program when its funding was cut this

summer. Beginning on November 3rd,Channelkeeper began conducting weekly bacteriasampling at 12 beaches across the County andnotifying the public when State health standardsare exceeded so people know if it's safe to swim orsurf in our coastal waters. Our results are available

on our website every Tuesday afternoon, and are published in the Wednesdayeditions of the Santa Barbara News Press and Daily Sound. Or you can sign up toreceive our weekly beach status reports in your email inbox by emailing us today.Funding for this effort has been generously provided by the Coastal Fund, SantaBarbara County's Second Supervisorial District, the Wood Claeyssens Foundation,and several individual donors (with in-kind contributions from the News Press andDaily Sound).



New Mooring System PreventsEelgrass Destruction

In November, the National Park Service took amajor step toward protecting the eelgrass bed atScorpion anchorage, Santa Cruz Island, bymodifying their mooring can setup. Scorpion hassuffered chronic damage from vessel anchoring asthe cove is adjacent to the Park's islandheadquarters and a popular campground and day-use area. This eelgrass bed is one of only fouraround Santa Cruz Island. Surveys have found that

the eelgrass here is more fragmented and patchythan within other beds, presumably from the heavyuse. As eelgrass beds become more patchy, theyare increasingly vulnerable to scour from currents,wave action and disturbance from foraging animals.

Channelkeeper expanded our survey efforts fiveyears ago when this area became part of theScorpion State Marine Reserve, and we have documented ongoing damage fromanchors and the large chains comprising the Park's mooring can system.Traditional moorings use a heavy block or anchor and a large amount of chainthat is held up at one end by a large float at the surface. The problem with thissystem is that as vessels, wind and currents move the surface float, the chainscours the seafloor, effectively ripping out any plants within its radius. Thus, overthe years, the moorings likely contributed to the large barren areas found withinthe eelgrass bed at Scorpion.

In September 2007, Channelkeeper brought this problem to the attention of theChannel Islands National Park Service and National Marine Sanctuary, who thenset about devising a solution. We are pleased to report that the two moorings atScorpion have recently been fitted with a sub-surface float which holds the chainoff of the seafloor. Similar set-ups are in the works for the Park's mooring cans atPrisoners Harbor and Smugglers Cove.

Marine P rotected Areas Update

While 2008 is winding down, California's initiative toestablish underwater wilderness areas, or MarineProtected Areas (MPAs), along the coast and offshoreislands of Southern California is ramping up. The

Regional Stakeholder Group (RSG), the

group of appointed stakeholders who will makerecommendations on the size, spacing, location andlevel of protection of the MPAs in Southern California,met in November and was briefed on the scientificguidelines and important marine habitats to considerwhen designing MPAs. The next meeting of the RSGon January 13th-14th will be a very important one asthey will begin the critical task of creating the firstround of maps and proposals for MPAs in SouthernCalifornia.

Public attendance and participation at these meetings have a major influence onthe process and are strongly encouraged. Channelkeeper will maintain an activepresence at these meetings and continue to represent our constituency's interest

in the process. Please join us at any and all MLPA Initiative meetings or contactus and share your interests and/or concerns in the process.

Channelkeeper's Marine Conservation Coordinator, Michael Sheehy, will beoffering another informative presentation about the MLPA Initiative and MPAs atthe Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on December 11th from 5:30-7:00pm. Please RSVP to Leeza Charleboix at 805-962-2526 ext. 104 if you wouldlike to attend this event to learn more about this important process and how youcan get involved. To learn more about the MLPA Initiative and view meetingagendas, please visit www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa or contact Michael Sheehy atChannelkeeper at (805) 637-8730.



Stream Team - December 6th & 7th

Stream Team is Channelkeeper's volunteer-basedwater quality monitoring program. Every month,volunteers join Channelkeeper staff to test forcommon water quality parameters at numerousdifferent sites in the Ventura River and Goleta Sloughwatersheds. Come join us to help protect our localwaterways; we will be testing in Ventura on Saturday,December 6th and in Goleta on Sunday, December

7th. For more information, visit our website, or contact Penny Owens [email protected] or 805.563.3377 ext.0.

Become a Channelkeeper Member!

Your support for Channelkeeper's efforts is needednow more than ever. Become a member of theChannelkeeper crew today with your tax-deductibledonation. You'll be investing in clean water andhealthy communities along the Santa BarbaraChannel today and for future generations. With yourmembership, you will receive our regular newsletters,news updates and action alerts, and invitations tospecial Channelkeeper events and fun volunteeropportunities. All new members also receive a free

Channelkeeper sticker, identifying you as a steward of the Santa Barbara Channel. And now, all new donors

contributing $50 or more can receive a Channelkeeper t-shirt, and for donationsof $250 or more, quarterly issues of the Waterkeeper magazine.

Please join Santa Barbara Channelkeeper's Sustaining Stewards Circle, ourmonthly membership program. You can join any time during the year and bydoing so, you authorize monthly donations from your credit card every 30 days.

$10, $20, or $50 a month is all it takes to make sure that Channelkeeperhas the resources needed to preserve, protect and restore the SantaBarbara Channel and its watersheds. For less than the cost of a weekly latte,you can help champion clean water along the South Coast.

Sign up today by calling Member Services at 805-563-3377 x4 or emailing us at

[email protected]

Documents

December 2008 Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Newsletter