June 2011

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper News & Events

News & Events

Channelkeeper to Launch New Volunteer MPA Watch Program Eat at Silvergreens on June 8th to support SBCK! World Oceans Day Festival at Ty Warner Sea Center Arroyo Burro Beach Makes "Top 10 Beach Bummers" List Ocean Friendly Gardens Class June 11th Pre-Dawn Monitoring Stream Team June 4th & 5th The "Channelkeeper Collection" Featured Painting of the Month Shop at Ralphs and Earn $ for SBCK Become a Member

Channelkeeper to Launch New Volunteer MPA Watch Program on June 8th

Wednesday, June 8th is World Oceans Day - an internationally recognized day to celebrate our oceans and our personal connection to the sea. In honor of World Oceans Day, Channelkeeper is launching a new volunteer-based program, MPA Watch - a monitoring effort that engages citizen volunteers to help us track and record human activities in and around Santa Barbara's newly designated Photo courtesy of Heal the Bay Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Seven months ago, California officially established 36 new MPAs off the coast of Southern California - small sections of ocean that will soon have special regulatory limits on harvesting to allow marine life to recover and flourish. The data collected by MPA Watch volunteers will be critical in detecting trends in human uses in our MPAs and how these uses correspond to biological changes resulting from their protection. The program will also aid compliance and enforcement efforts to ensure that the MPA regulations are followed. MPA Watch will focus on the three new coastal MPAs in Santa Barbara County - Point Conception State Marine Reserve, Naples Reef State Marine Conservation Area, and Campus Point State Marine Conservation Area. While the regulations for these new MPAs will not enter into effect until this fall, launching MPA Watch now will ensure that valuable baseline information is collected to demonstrate how human activities in these areas change after MPA implementation. Please join Channelkeeper at Union Ale (214 State Street near Yanonali Street) on Wednesday, June 8th at 5:30 pm for a presentation about Santa Barbara's new MPAs and Channelkeeper's MPA Watch program. The presentation will be followed by a screening of the Disneynature film Oceans, and light snacks and refreshments will be provided. If you are interested in attending this fun and informative event or would like to learn more about MPA Watch, please RSVP to michael@sbck.org or 805.563.3377 ext 2.

Did You Know?

Eat at Silvergreens on June 8th to Support Channelkeeper!

Celebrate World Ocean's Day on June 8th by eating at Silvergreens to support Channelkeeper. Silvergreens will donate 15% of your purchase to Channelkeeper if you print this coupon and bring it to Silvergreens (or show them this email offer on your iPhone) on Wednesday, June 8th. This offer is valid all day at both Silvergreens locations, downtown (791 Chapala St.) and Isla Vista (900 Embarcadero del Mar). Please forward this on to your friends and colleagues and thank you (and Silvergreens!) for your support!

You can become a fan of Channelkeeper on Facebook!

You can stay informed and help us get the word out by becoming a fan of Channelkeeper on Facebook. Visit our Facebook page to learn more about how you can become involved.

World Oceans Day Festival at the Ty Warner Sea Center

Saturday, June 4th, 11 am - 3 pm Join Channelkeeper in recognizing the importance of our oceans and sea life by celebrating World Oceans Day with us at the Ty Warner Sea Center this Saturday, June 4th, from 11 am - 3 pm. This year's World Oceans Day theme is "Youth: The Next Wave for Change." Learn all about fascinating sea creatures and the unique marine habitats that exist right off our coast. Channelkeeper and other organizations committed to protecting our marine resources will be on hand with easy and effective ways you can help safeguard our oceans for future generations. We hope to see you there!

Arroyo Burro Beach Makes "Top 10 Beach Bummers" List

According to Heal the Bay's, Annual Beach Report Card, released last week, water quality at Santa Barbara County beaches was relatively good during dry weather last year, but poor during wet weather. During summer dry weather, 13 of 16 beaches monitored received A or B grades. During wet weather, only three beaches (Gaviota, El Capitan and Summerland) received A or B grades, while three beaches (East Beach at Mission Creek, East Beach at Sycamore Creek and Arroyo Burro Beach) earned F grades. In fact, water quality at Arroyo Burro was so bad this last year that it made Heal the Bay's "Top Ten Beach Bummers" list. The grades are based on fecal bacteria pollution concentrations in the surf zone. Channelkeeper conducts weekly bacteria monitoring at beaches throughout Santa Barbara County during the winter months when funding for the County's Ocean Monitoring Program is no longer available. Please click here to access the County's beach water quality data for the summer months, and here to view Channelkeeper's data for the winter months.

Is your Garden Ocean Friendly?

Ocean Friendly Gardens Basics Class Saturday, June 11th, 10 am - 1 pm Polluted runoff is the biggest source of pollution to California's waterways. As water runs over lawns, driveways, sidewalks and roads, it picks up all the pollution in its path and carries it straight to storm drains that discharge to our creeks and the ocean. Fortunately, there are many ways that individual households can help to reduce runoff pollution. The City of Santa Barbara's Creeks Division, Parks Division, and Water Resources Division are working with the Surfrider Ocean Friendly Garden in Ventura Foundation to present their Ocean Friendly Gardens Program in Santa Barbara. The program is FREE and open to all community members interested in learning how to apply "CPR" (Conservation, Permeability, Retention) to their landscape. The Ocean Friendly Gardens Basics Class will take place on Saturday, June 11th from 10 am - 1 pm at the Louise Lowry Davis Center (1232 De La Vina Street). Participants in the Basics Class will review the process of creating and maintaining an Ocean Friendly Garden and the steps necessary to complete the work. The class will be led by G3, the Green Gardens Group. Following the Basics Class, there will be a workshop, workday, and walk (dates TBA). Click here to view the flyer, and here to RSVP.

Pre-Dawn Monitoring
This summer, Channelkeeper is expanding our watershed monitoring efforts to include pre-dawn monitoring of Goleta and Carpinteria streams. This Stream Team project, now in its fourth year for the Ventura River, aims to determine the extent of water quality impacts caused by algae blooms. Algae blooms, which can be caused by excessive nutrient pollution, can lead to water quality problems such as deficient oxygen levels or excessively alkaline water. These problems exhibit themselves best at certain times of day due to biochemical processes. In the case of oxygen deficiency, water must be tested before the sun comes up to evaluate the extent of the impact. Pre-dawn monitoring events are fun and popular with many of our volunteers. Volunteers get to enjoy watching the sun come up while sampling their local streams, and monitoring work is finished in time to get coffee and breakfast before work. Predawn monitoring events for Goleta, Ventura, and Carpinteria will occur on a monthly basis through September. If you would like to participate in an upcoming pre-dawn monitoring event, please email us for more information. We will be scheduling upcoming sampling events in the near future.

Stream Team - June 4th & 5th

Note: Special Ventura Stream Team pre-dawn sampling times! 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! Ventura Stream Team - June 4th: This month Ventura Stream Team volunteers will collect samples in two shifts. The first shift will meet before dawn at 4:20 am. The second shift will meet at 12:30 pm. Diurnal (or twice daily) monitoring is being conducted to measure the chemical impacts of algae growth in the Ventura River. Volunteers must RSVP to ben@sbck.org as morning and afternoon slots are limited. Volunteers for morning shifts must have received prior Stream Team training. Goleta Stream Team - June 5th: We will meet as usual at 10 am.

The "Channelkeeper Collection" Featured Painting of the Month: Shoreline Drive

We are proud to present our first featured painting of the month, Shoreline Drive, from the Channelkeeper Collection: "A Shore Thing....Recent Paintings of the Santa Barbara Coast" by Paul Arsenault. Shoreline Drive is a 16" x 20" oil on linen painting available for $1,800. Channelkeeper is fortunate to be the Shoreline Drive beneficiary of this beautiful collection of 22 colorful paintings of Santa Barbara beaches, vistas, parks and community scenes. The artist will donate 20% of proceeds from the sale of any of these paintings to Channelkeeper. Please contact us at 805.563.3377 ext. 4 or lindsey@sbck.org to arrange a viewing of Shoreline Drive or any of the other unique paintings in the Channelkeeper Collection. Stayed tuned for next month's featured painting of the month!

Shop at Ralphs and Earn $ for Channelkeeper!

Support Santa Barbara Channelkeeper by signing up with Ralphs Community Contributions Program and choosing us as your designated beneficiary. Through Ralphs Community Contribution Program, you can earn money for Channelkeeper every time you shop for groceries! Once you register, up to 3% of your purchases will be donated to Channelkeeper at no additional cost to you. It's easy - all you have to do is register your Ralphs Rewards Card on-line. Visit Ralphs.com and complete the following steps: 1. Click on Services 2. Click on Community Contributions 3. Click on Participant - Enroll 4. Click on Sign In/Register to log in or create a new Ralphs account and follow directions provided 5. Enter Channelkeeper's NPO (Non Profit Organization) Number, 84453 and click to confirm Channelkeeper's name The process takes seconds, and is an easy and helpful way to raise money for Channelkeeper's valuable programs. Thanks for taking the time to sign up and make sure to shop at Ralphs!

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, invitations to special Channelkeeper events and fun volunteer opportunities, and a free Channelkeeper sticker. All new donors contributing $50 or more can also 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 ext. 4 or emailing us.

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