Karen Thurber
From: Santa Barbara Channelkeeper [info@sbck.org]
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 1:17 PM
To: satya@sbck.org
Subject: Santa Barbara Channelkeeper E-News
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper News & Events
News & Events
Show Your Support for Marine
Life Protection
Paredon Project Update
Agricultural Improvements
Benefit the Ventura River
Stream Team-Jan. 9th & 10th
Carpinteria Seal Watch
Volunteers Needed
California Coastal Commission
Poetry Contest
Shop & Earn Money for SBCK
Become a Channelkeeper
Member!
Did You Know?
Saturday, January 16th is
Underwater Parks Day - a day
dedicated to educating the public
January 2010
Southern California Marine Protected Areas -
Public support for strong protection remains
critical!
Last month, California's Fish and
Game Commission (FGC) was
presented with four proposed
maps for a network of Marine
Protected Areas (MPAs) along the
Southern California coast meant to
satisfy the goals of the Marine Life
Protection Act (MLPA) - to protect
and restore California's marine
life, habitats and ecosystems and to enhance non-consumptive recreational
opportunities. The FGC is the ultimate decision-making body that will determine
which areas of our ocean will be designated as protected underwater wilderness
areas based on the four proposals and the MLPA's mandate. Their decision-
making process will extend well into 2010 and will include economic, feasibility
and environmental evaluations as well as several opportunities for public
comment.
The FGC has already identified as their preferred map the "Integrated Preferred
Alternative" (IPA) proposal, which attempts to strike a compromise between
conservation and extractive interests by integrating ideas from the other three
proposals developed by an appointed ocean stakeholder group. Because the IPA
proposal identifies some form of protection for biologically and culturally
important areas like Naples Reef and La Jolla, the FGC's position is a step in the
right direction. Ultimately, however, this proposal falls short of meeting the
scientific criteria required to ensure Southern California's MPAs function as a
network to provide benefits for the entire coast. The proposal designed by
conservationists, scientists, recreational users, and resource managers
(Proposal #3) is the only proposal that provides the necessary full protection of
productive areas and that meets the scientific guidelines of the MLPA.
While the FGC will deliberate on this decision for much of 2010, it is absolutely
critical that a high level of public participation continue throughout the process
to ensure that the conservation intent of the MLPA is prioritized and to counter
organized opposition by extractive interests. Please submit written comments of
support for the process and for the strongest protection of our marine life by
emailing the FGC. Please also attend and testify at a critical public hearing in
Santa Barbara on August 4-5. Email us or visit the FGC's website for more
information.
Paredon Project Update
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 about Marine Protected Areas
and California's groundbreaking
On December 14th, Carpinteria City Council decided to
effort to establish a network of
put Venoco's Paredon Oil and Gas Development
MPAs along its entire coast.
Initiative on the ballot for a vote of the people on June
8th. The project, which would involve the drilling of up
to 35 wells and the installation of a 175-foot drilling rig
on the Carpinteria coast, would be the first new
offshore oil drilling project in the Santa Barbara
Channel in decades. City staff prepared a report late
last year that analyzed the economic and
environmental impacts of the proposed project, and it
found that the project could cause numerous
significant adverse environmental impacts, including to
water quality, public safety, marine resources, onshore
species and habitats, recreation and aesthetics. These
impacts were found to be even more significant in the
project as put forward in Venoco's ballot initiative than
in the project as presented for City environmental review more than two years
ago. This is because Venoco's Initiative does not offer to implement mitigation
measures as rigorous as those recommended in the Environmental Impact
Report that was being finalized by the City when Venoco decided last year to
pursue a ballot initiative instead.

City Council will meet again on Monday, January 11th at 5:30pm to consider
taking a formal position on the Initiative. Please join Channelkeeper and attend
this meeting to encourage City Council to take a strong position against the
Initiative due to its potential to cause significant adverse impacts to the
environment.

Agricultural Improvements Benefit the Ventura

River
In late 2008, Channelkeeper's Stream Team,
with help from Ventura Surfrider and other
concerned citizens, documented polluted water
being discharged from Taylor Ranch to the
Ventura River and the beach. Channelkeeper
submitted water quality sample results and
other documentation of the ongoing pollution
problem to the City of Ventura and the Los
Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

As a result of our efforts, the Ventura County

Farm Bureau worked with ranch managers to develop solutions to eliminate the
pollution. According to the Farm Bureau, over the past year Taylor Ranch has
installed a number of measures to improve water quality, including micro-
sprinklers, two major grass-lined ditches, and sediment basins to filter out
sediment before it leaves the property.

Subsequent Stream Team monthly water quality monitoring identified no

significant sediment discharges. These results are very encouraging and suggest
that the ranch's measures have so far been successful in minimizing polluted
discharges to the Ventura River. Channelkeeper would like to thank all those
who helped us monitor this situation over the years. We also applaud the
efforts undertaken by ranch managers and the Ventura County Farm Bureau to
develop and implement solutions to this pollution problem. Channelkeeper will
continue to work with community members to monitor the situation. Now that
the issue has the attention of local agricultural interests, we are hopeful that we
can address any future problems in a similarly efficient and effective manner.

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Stream Team - January 9th & 10th
Stream Team is Channelkeeper's volunteer-
based water quality monitoring program.
Every month, volunteers join Channelkeeper
staff to test for common water quality
parameters at numerous sites in the Ventura
River and Goleta Slough watersheds. Come
join us to help protect our local waterways;
we will be testing in Ventura on Saturday,
January 9th and in Goleta on Sunday, January
10th. For more information, visit our website,
email us or call 805.563.3377 ext.0.

Carpinteria Seal Watch Volunteers Needed!

Carpinteria's harbor seal pupping season has
begun. Each year from December to May the
stretch of beach between the Carpinteria Bluffs
Preserve and Venoco's pier hosts almost 300
seals giving birth to and raising this year's
batch of pups. During this time, the beach is
closed 750 feet on either side of the rookery.
January 1st was the first day of this season's
Seal Watch. There was one pup approximately
four days old already on the beach and
another one was born that afternoon.

Carpinteria Seal Watch provides educational information to visitors, counts seals

and births and monitors rookery activity. This all-volunteer organization has
watched the seals since 1991. If you are interested in volunteering as a Seal
Watcher, please contact Lindy Carlson at 805-886-7163.

California Coastal Commission Poetry Contest

The California Coastal Commission invites
California students K-12 to submit artwork
or poetry with a California coastal or
marine theme to the annual Coastal Art &
Poetry Contest. Up to eight winners will
be selected to win $100 gift certificates to
an art supply or book store, and each
winner's sponsoring teacher will receive a
$40 gift certificate for educational
supplies. All winners and honorable
mentions will receive tickets for their families to visit the Aquarium of the
Pacific, courtesy of the Aquarium. Entries must be postmarked by January 30,
2010 to be eligible for the upcoming contest. For rules and entry form visit
www.coastal.ca.gov or call (800) Coast-4U.

Shop and Earn Money for Channelkeeper!

Channelkeeper has teamed up with Ralphs, Vons and eScrip to allow you to
shop for everything from groceries to electronics while earning money for
Channelkeeper's valuable programs! Up to 33% of your purchase price will be
donated to Channelkeeper, so please visit our website and find out how you can
shop and benefit Channelkeeper today at no additional cost to you!

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 Become a Channelkeeper Member!
Your support for Channelkeeper's efforts is needed
now more than ever. Become a member of the
Channelkeeper crew today with your tax-deductible
donation. You'll be investing in clean water and
healthy communities along the Santa Barbara
Channel today and for future generations. With
your membership, you will receive our regular
newsletters, news updates and action alerts, and
invitations to special Channelkeeper events and fun
volunteer opportunities. 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 donations of $250 or more, quarterly issues of Waterkeeper
magazine. Sign up today by calling 805.563.3377 x4 or emailing us.

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