Funded Projects Fall 2010

Projects Funded: 13
Total Amount Distributed: $70,507.70

Project:Tour Programs at Coal Oil Point Reserve

Total Amount Distributed: $5,980.00
Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR) is continuing their educational and outreach program at the reserve offering guided tours to educate UCSB students, staff and community members about local coastal habitats. COPR is one of 37 reserves in the University of California Natural Reserve System. This project will allow for management support for COPR to continue expanding their tour program. For additional information, please visit: http://coaloilpoint.ucnrs.org/

Hydrology of Bell Canyon Lagoon, Santa Barbara

Amount Funded: $5,225.00
This study uses Distributed Temperature System (DTS) to monitor three tractable and significant hydrologic processes of a potential ecologically important coastal lagoon in Santa Barbara, Ca. This project will help researchers and individuals to understand what controls the hydrology of the beach barrier enclosed lagoons that are common in California. This work will clarify the effect of wave run-up on seepage through the beach-barrier, monitor groundwater seepage, and stratification in the lagoon.

Project: Gray Whales Count

Amount Funded: $7,700.00
The Gray Whales Count is a nonprofit corporation focused on research and education of marine mammals, including, but not limited to, the migration of gray whales and their related environment: collecting and sharing data, analyzing and interpreting data, recruiting and training volunteers, and engaging in outreach to inform publics. This project is an annual, fifteen-week survey of the northbound migration of gray whales through the near shore of the Santa Barbara Channel and is conducted daily by Counters, a team of community volunteers, including students, who document observations from Counter Point in the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve. For additional information, please visit: http://www.graywhalescount.org

From Exxon Valdez to BP’s Gulf Disaster: Changing the Endgame

Amount Funded: $625.00
This grant funded Dr. Riki Ott’s visit to UCSB on October 12, 2010, and allowed for a recording of her lecture to share with the wider community. This was a rare opportunity for the community to hear marine toxicologist Riki Ott compare and contrast her direct experience of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and its aftermath with the current oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Ott is a scientist, author and activist who was present and on the front lines immediately after the Exxon Valdez spill and who continued to fight for a fair settlement for the environment and the people injured by the spill and the ill-conceived “clean up” program. She shared her experience working with Alaskan and Gulf Coast communities and individuals who have suffered human health consequences as well as contamination of their coastal environment.

Project: Arroyo Hondo Preserve Habitat Restoration & Intern Program

Amount Funded: $10,300.00
The Arroyo Hondo Preserve is a 782-acre property on the Gaviota Coast. The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County purchased this property in 2001 and manages it for conservation and public access consistent with natural resource protection. The focus is restoration of the riparian corridor and enhanced habitat for endangered and sensitive species, including steelhead trout. The interns participate in all aspects of habitat restoration, including infill planting on the east side of the creek, invasive plant removal, seed collection, and maintenance of restoration sites. For additional information, please visit: http://www.sblandtrust.org/

San Clemente Restoration and Stormwater Management Interpretative Signs

Amount Funded: $5,000.00
The project allows for 2 educational signs to be installed along the perimeter of the San Clemente Restoration and Stormwater management System project adjacent to the new 954 bed San Clemente Villages graduate housing and near the bus stop on Los Carneros Road. The signs will include information about the stormwater management system , history of the land, and local habitats. For UCSB students and the community, these two signs will bring awareness and education of the surrounding area.

Project:Restoration Intern Training Program

Amount Funded: $3,600.00
The Restoration Intern Training Program allows student interns to participate in CCBER restoration work in multiple sites and habitats from the Campus Lagoon Dune and Bluff restoration to Storke Wetland. Coastal Fund helps to supper CCBER with 6 paid student interns per quarter who can follow-up their training with an opportunity to gain in-depth experience working with a project manager. For additional information, please visit: http://ccber.lifesci.ucsb.edu/

Campus Point Restoration

Amount Funded: $7,500.00
With funding from the Coastal Conservancy and the Coastal Fund, CCBER will install a stairway up to campus point from campus beach. Funding for this project supports student workers and plants for the restoration associated with that stairway to enhance the area, reduce erosion and enhance the aesthetics. The area will be planted with low-growing, coastal species that are adapted to sandy soils on the site, greatly enhancing the site while also helping to keep people on the trails. For additional information, please visit: http://ccber.lifesci.ucsb.edu/

Project: Devereux Native Tree Nursery Project

Amount Funded: $9,700.00
With the assistance of Developmentally Disabled clients and UCSB student interns and volunteers, GVB is growing 2,000 native trees and planting an average of 500 trees annually in public areas of the Goleta Valley including the UCSB campus that will protect and enhance watersheds leading to the ocean. This grant continues their organic operations to accommodate interns interested in learning about arboriculture and greenhouse operations in addition to providing trees for volunteer planting projects. For additional information, please visit: http://www.goletavalleybeautiful.org/home0.aspx

Project: Internships in Conservation and Restoration at Coal Oil Point

Reserve: Winter/Spring 2011
Amount Funded: $9,900.00
This project funds for student interns, which open up UCSB students’ opportunities to acquire field experiences necessary to enhance their professional development. The interns learn technical, managerial, and supervisory skills within the program they participate. For more information, please visit: http://coaloilpoint.ucnrs.org/

Seabirds and Shorebirds

Amount Funded: $1,870.00
Meet-Your-Wild-Neighbor (MYWN) inspires in children an early, life-long passion for nature and wildlife focusing on low-performing/high minority students that have few opportunities to participate in nature activities. Children learn about 8 seabird/shorebird families and their habitats through live bird visits, colorful science curriculum, a bird sound CD, storytelling and field trips that exceed California Science Curriculum Standards for each grade.

Project: Watershed Action Program

Amount Funded: 2,107.70
This Watershed Action Program aims to increase awareness about UCSB’s impact on the Santa Barbara water system and demonstrate achievable actions that can be implemented in the home or office using Ellison Hall as a model. PACES will tie actions, such as adding aerators to sink faucets and using green cleaning chemicals to broader issues of water efficiency and water quality through a series of workshops. This program awards water conservation, water quality, and education efforts among other areas; it is important and valuable.

Project: Sandy Beach Food Web

Amount Funded: $1,000.00
John McLaughlin and his interns are working to assemble a food web for the sandy beach system around UCSB. This project is a study that assembles a comprehensive food web for the sandy beach and dune habitats along the SB stretch of coast; the first web for this habitat on the west coast. As part of their educational outreach, a physical map of the feeding interactions between all the species on the beach will be placed at public entrances to the beaches at COP, Campus Point and Goleta Beach.

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