Funded Projects Winter 2013

Projects Funded: 15
Total Amount Distributed: $49,553.00

Reusable Bags & Water Canteen

Total Amount Distributed: $679.00

The AS Food Bank distributes non-perishable food and toiletries to UCSB students in need of food and toiletries. They currently reuse used plastic and paper shopping bags for students who shop in their pantry. Donation of plastic or paper shopping bags can be scare at times. Thus, they are hoping to distribute reusable bags to students who come in regularly to reduce the use of plastic. By making reusable bags and reusable water canteen available to their users, AS Food Bank is helping to change students’ habits and educate them on how to make changes in their lives to help reduce plastic and waste in the community.

Audubon Habitat Restoration Internship Program for COPR 2013

Total Amount Distributed: $3,000.00

Santa Barbara Audubon has initiated a new project “Devereux Slough Margin Enhancement” in Fall 2012, funded by the Wetland Recovery Project. The Coastal Fund grant will be used for additional UCSB student restoration interns, assistant, and supplies to aid in completion of this project by June 2014. The project will remove the final infestations of Iceplant from the slough margin, and revegetate the two largest patches with native plants propagated by interns. The entire project site is about 8 acres, and they will also remove New Zealand Spinach and annual weeds from native wetland and transitional habitats along the east margin of the slough.

Kids In Nature: Peer-to-Peer Environmental Education Program

Total Amount Distributed: $3,000.00

Ten undergraduate students will be selected to serve as Kids in Nature (KIN) interns during spring quarter 2013. The interns will have successfully completed the Education Practicum course (EEMB 189/ES 191), which CCBER has offered each quarter since 2008. The KIN interns will serve as mentors for the newly enrolled UCSB students and also for the over 100 5th grade students who are part of the KIN program. The interns will each lead one of the KIN groups of 4-5 students in classroom activities and on field trips. During spring quarter, the interns will also be responsible for serving as leaders for the development of the final Power Point presentations, which each KIN group presents on the final Celebration Day at UCSB in May 2013.

Restoration Intern Training Program Spring & Summer 2013

Total Amount Distributed: $3,000.00

CCBER seeks funding for student interns to participate in CCBER restoration work in multiple sites and habitats from the Campus Lagoon Dune and Bluff restoration to Storke Wetland. Eligible students have generally participated in CCBER’s Restoration Ecology Field Skills Class (ES95) in which CCBER Staff provide three or four options for three-hour training sessions per week for a quarter-long internship focused on a range of relevant restoration skills. The Coastal Fund grant will support 5 paid student interns for Spring and Summer quarters who can follow-up their training with an opportunity to gain in-depth experience working with a project manager and helping with important ecological restoration projects.

Arroyo Hondo Preserve Habitat Restoration & Intern Program 2013

Total Amount Distributed: $2,592.00

The Arroyo Hondo Preserve encompasses 782 acres on the Gaviota Coast. The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County has managed it since 2001 for conservation and public access consistent with natural resource protection. Land Trust for Santa Barbara County has had a Habitat Restoration Program with volunteers and interns since 2002. A new project began in summer 2012, to restore three project sites near the Hollister Meadow. The interns will participate in all aspects of habitat restoration, including eradication of invasive plants, revegetation with native plant species, seed collection, maintenance of riparian restoration sites along the creek, and Coastal Sage Scrub vegetation near the Hide-out Trail.

Devereux Native Tree Nursery Intern Education Project

Total Amount Distributed: $3,000.00

With the assistance of developmentally disabled clients and UCSB student interns and volunteers, Goleta Valley Beautiful is growing 2,000 native trees and planting an average of 500 trees annually in public areas of the Goleta Valley and on the UCSB campus. As these trees mature they will help to prevent loose soil, trash, and contaminated water from draining through our coastal watersheds and ultimately harming our treasured beaches and marine ecosystems. The Coastal Fund grant will allow Goleta Valley Beautiful continue their organic nursery operations that provide trees for volunteer planting projects and train student interns about arboriculture, sustainable greenhouse operations, and urban forestry.

Gray Whales Count Interns

Total Amount Distributed: $1,500.00

The primary objectives and purposes of Gray Whales Count are research and education about marine mammals, including, but not limited to, the migration of Gray whales and their related environment: collecting and sharing data, recruiting and training volunteers, and engaging in outreach to inform publics. Gray Whales Count (GWC) has completed eight annual surveys, an effort that consists of constant observation eight hours a day, seven days a week for approximately 100 consecutive days. They conduct their research utilizing a team of community volunteers, including students, who gather at Counter Point on the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve.

Data Entry and Analysis Intern for Gray Whales Count

Total Amount Distributed: $600.00

The primary objectives and purposes of Gray Whales Count are research and education about marine mammals, including, but not limited to, the migration of Gray whales and their related environment: collecting and sharing data, recruiting and training volunteers, and engaging in outreach to inform publics. Gray Whales Count (GWC) has completed eight annual surveys, an effort that consists of constant observation eight hours a day, seven days a week for approximately 100 consecutive days. They are about to commence their ninth consecutive survey and are applying to fund an intern position that would encompass the data entry and analysis component of this upcoming Count.

UCSB Watershed Protection & Education Project

Total Amount Distributed: $7,000.00

The Goleta and Devereux Slough Watersheds support rare fish and wildlife, and serve as important recreational resources for UCSB students, faculty and the general public. Litter, contaminants, human waste and pathogens are carried through the watersheds to UCSB’s beaches and Goleta Beach. Illegal developments damage and pollute wetlands and streams, and interfere with human use and enjoyment of our watersheds. This project aims to educate the UCSB community, public, and decision-makers about the environmental implications of damaged waterways and wetlands, empower UCSB students to safeguard their watercourses, improve conditions for clean water and wildlife habitats, and assure long-term protection of UCSB’s watersheds.

The Effects of Invasive African Clawed Frogs on Native Aquatic Species

Total Amount Distributed: $2,182.00

An invasive amphibian, the African clawed frog, introduced to the central and southern California coastal areas has received little study despite its potential to significantly damage the native ecosystem. This species has feral population in the coastal streams including Goleta and Devereux Sloughs. This research will explore how clawed frogs may change native species composition through predation, displacement, and facilitating the spread of a pathogen. With Coastal Fund support, this research will help us understand how the native ecosystem may change due to the clawed frog and whether effort is necessary to remove the species from UCSB coastal areas.

Growth, Bacterial Resilience, and Mucosal Microbial Assemblages of Wild and Cultured Intertidal Finfish Along the California Coast

Total Amount Distributed: $2,500.00

This present survey is an attempt to investigate overall growth, bacterial-killing capacity, and the microbial fauna of wild and cultured intertidal finfish populations north and south of the oceanographic barrier of Point Conception. This project seeks to address questions concerning microbial ecology, the health of nearshore fish stocks, and aquaculture development. The study will provide valuable field and laboratory research experience for multiple undergraduate students and may result in novel and significant information pertinent to coastal conservation.

Upper Devereux Slough Outreach and Design Project

Total Amount Distributed: $4,500.00

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) will soon acquire the Upper Devereux Slough/Ocean Meadows property north of Coal Oil Point Reserve so that it may be restored to its historic wetland status. TPL is working with the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration to design the property’s restoration, including a public access component. The objective of the Outreach and Design Project is to implement a collaborative outreach and community- based design process. This Project will bring together a broad cross-section of the community, including UCSB students, to design the public access amenities, including perimeter trails, boardwalks, native landscaping, parking and interpretive areas.

BEACON Proposed Single Use Carryout Bag Ordinance Environmental Impact Report

Total Amount Distributed: $3,000.00

Single-use carryout bags require immense resource inputs to produce, and they often cause significant environmental harm at the end of their lifecycles. Their omnipresence as trash along our coastline and creeks, bear witness to how only 5% of plastic bags are recycled statewide.Under supervision of EDC attorneys, participants of this project will: (1) research impacts associated with single-use bags; (2) research legal issues associated with restrictions on single- use bags; (3) participate in environmental review of model ordinance(s); (4) educate and engage the UCSB community on the issue and remedies, and (5) encourage local jurisdictions to adopt controls on single-use bags.

Assessing the Influence of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystem Function in Coastal Santa Barbara Watersheds

Total Amount Distributed: $3,000.00

Streams act as a direct connection between terrestrial and near-shore coastal ecosystems. This project examines how landscape alterations in Santa Barbara urban coastal watersheds change important abiotic factors (e.g. light, temperature, flow) by altering the channel and riparian vegetation. The changes are expected to have important consequences for stream ecosystem function, which will be assessed by estimating ecosystem metabolism using diel oxygen techniques. Undergraduate interns will help the researcher make hydrological and ecological measurements in designated stream reaches across the Santa Barbara urban watersheds, collecting valuable data that is relevant to the preservation and restoration of local urban stream ecosystems.

Oceans-to-Classrooms (O2C) An Ocean View of the World

Total Amount Distributed: $10,000.00

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Careers and the environment are current, national hot topics. And, for good reason—we are in the midst of national, and global, economic and environmental crises that are linked to our nation’s literacy and future success. According to the Environmental Literacy Council, “health, living conditions, technological development, the economic future, and our relationship with nature are all shaped by environmental actions.” Furthermore, a recent White House press release from the Office of Science and Technology stated, “Improving America’s STEM education is one of President Obama’s top priorities.” Oceans-to-Classrooms “An Ocean View of the World” endeavors to increase science literacy by educating citizens about our Ocean Planet through facilitated experiences that utilizes current research, conducted at UCSB from local watersheds, wetlands and the Channel to the tropical ecosystems of Mo’orea and the icy waters of Antarctica.

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