CIR Teams with Local Companies to Restore Mainland and Island Sites

Employees from outdoor corporations volunteer for
CIR at the San Marcos Foothills Preserve

More than 150 people from six local companies volunteered for Channel Islands Restoration on a single day in April at the San Marcos Foothills Preserve.  Taking part in an annual corporate volunteer day, employees from Deckers, Patagonia, REI, Horny Toad, Vapur and Channel Islands Outfitters planted natives and pulled weeds at the Preserve located between Santa Barbara and Goleta. 

CIR is promoting partnerships with local companies, particularly those with an outdoor focus, to raise money for restoration projects and to recruit volunteers.  Employees from many of these same companies, plus Amgen and Citrix Online, have also volunteered for CIR on many island trips.  All of these companies encourage their employees to volunteer, and some even pay their employee’s wages while volunteering.

In addition to volunteer help, Patagonia, REI (Santa Barbara store and the new Oxnard store) and Citrix Online have all contributed grant funding to CIR.  This funding will support a new project in the San Marcos Foothills, help pay for school field trips to the Channel Islands and more.  With public sector budgets continuing to tighten, CIR seeks to diversify our funding base, and we are very grateful for the support of our corporate partners. 

CIR Teams with Local Companies to Restore Mainland and Island Sites

Restoration plantings installed by CIR volunteers
at the San Marcos Foothills Preserve

CIR will start a third restoration project in December at the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, an open space located between Santa Barbara and Goleta.  Funding for the project will be provided by the REI Santa Barbara store, the Ventura Patagonia store and the San Marcos Foothills Coalition.  We will focus on removing invasive plants along in the most sensitive habitats, and we will plant several species of natives at the main entrance to the Preserve.  This project will rely heavily on the support of volunteers!

The San Marcos Foothills is one of the most ecologically valuable sites on the South Coast, with hundreds of acres of grasslands, oak woodlands, and permanently flowing creeks.  There are nearly 50 mammals found and the Preserve and 126 bird species.  The Preserve has miles of hiking trails that provide spectacular 360 degree views of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and the Santa Barbara Channel.

For the last three years CIR has been working with project partners and volunteers to restore habitat along Atascadero and Cieneguitas on the Preserve.  We will be doing some additional planting at those sites as well, so there is ample opportunity for the public to get involved in these highly successful restoration projects.

Santa Rosa Island Volunteer Project

Channel Islands Restoration and Channel Islands National Park worked together to organize and lead three volunteer trips to Santa Rosa Island in July and October to remove fencing that had been erected to protect sensitive plants from non-native grazing animals.  Removing the fencing was difficult, but the hardy volunteers put in long hours and were able to visit some remote parts of the island that few visitors have a chance to see.  Volunteers camped at Johnson’s Lee (with special permission) on the south side of the island on two of the trips.

CIR volunteers receive instruction on Santa Rosa Island
from NPS restoration biologist Sarah Chaney

The fencing was originally installed by mostly volunteer labor (including CIR volunteers) under the direction of the National Park Service.  Non-native deer and elk were present on the island as part of a commercial hunting operation run by the island’s previous owners in an agreement with the NPS.   The fencing protected rare plants from grazing by the animals and protected sensitive environments threatened by erosion.  With the expiration of the hunting agreement at the end of 2011, all non-native animals are now gone from the island and the protective fencing is no longer needed.

No funding was available for the trips, so CIR and the NPS needed to come up with creative ways to finance the project.  Volunteers paid for the cost of the boat transportation and the wages of one CIR staff person.  CIR donated the wages of a second staff person and the cost of coordinating volunteers.  The NPS provided vehicles, logistical and staff support and campsite use.

Prominent Ecologist Wayne R. Ferren Jr. Joins CIR Staff

Wayne R. Ferren Jr. has joined the Channel Islands Restoration team as Principal Ecologist and head of the newly formed Research Program, which will expand the scope of CIR to include a broad array of ecological and environmental functions.

Wayne brings over 40 years of experience with institutional, non-profit and for-profit botanical, ecological, and environmental programs including employment with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP), the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Maser Consulting and the Rancocas Conservancy in New Jersey.

Wayne has extensive experience in environmental and programmatic management and oversight.  He was Botanical Collections Manager at ANSP, Curator and Executive Director of the UCSB Museum of Systematics and Ecology, Assistance Director of the UCSB Natural Reserve System, Director of Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, Project Manager at Maser Consulting and Trustee at the Rancocas Conservancy.

Wayne also has served as President of the California Botanical Society and Editor of Madrono. He has authored over 90 technical papers, reports, and chapters, provided numerous classes, workshops, and presentations; and is the recipient of eleven environmental awards for his work and projects.

At CIR Wayne will oversee research elements of restoration projects, environmental monitoring, and field experiments. He will oversee project design; manage the production of technical reports; manage project permitting; and assist with marketing and business development.  Wayne also will assist with the development and execution of the Education Program including lectures and field trips.  Wayne’s technical focus will include restoration ecology, wetland ecology, plant sciences, and environmental review and planning.

Who Pays for CIR Programs?

Although CIR staff and volunteer board members spend countless hours writing grants to many different funding agencies, much of the work that we do is completely unfunded by any agency.  In these cases, CIR relies on individual contributions to help carry out these important projects.  As an example, CIR board members and other individual donors raised a big portion of the funding needed to purchase and construct a shade house on Anacapa Island as part of the nursery project there.  Although we are glad to work with our partners in the Park Service and Patagonia to help fund the nursery, individual donors helped make that project possible.  Also, CIR regularly contributes staff time (and the associated wages) so that adults can volunteer on the Channel islands.  Contributions from CIR supporters help fund these types of projects. 

Funding is often available for targeted schools to work with us on the Channel Islands, but many other schools must raise the money for the boat and other costs.  In those cases, CIR often donates the pay for our staff person to join the group and lead them in a restoration project.

Although CIR is a non-profit organization, we still need to pay the costs of doing "business" like for-profit companies.  The difference is, we operate on a near break-even basis, and we work on many projects because of their ecological or educational value and not their monetary value. 

CIR is required to pay considerable overhead expenses in order to work on our restoration projects.  These include workers compensation and liability insurance, accounting fees, rent for equipment storage and an administrative office, equipment purchases and maintenance, and staff time to administer a wide-ranging and busy organization.  As a percentage of our budget, these expenses are relatively low, but there is no funding available to pay for these costs other than contributions from our supporters.

We are always proud to announce that we have received grants from foundations or other agencies, but it is important to remember that CIR must raise a great deal of our funding from individuals to keep operating.    That is why we ask for contributions, and we hope that people who support our work will also support us financially.  Please join CIR today! 

CIR Builds Nursery on San Nicolas Island, grows 1,100 Plants

Channel Islands Restoration staff and volunteers teamed up with the United States Navy in April on San Nicholas Island to completely rebuild and expand an old native plant nursery.  More than 1,100 plants have been grown so far, and CIR staff and volunteers recently planted most of these at a restoration site on the island.

The nursery, which consisted of a shed and small planting benches, had fallen into disrepair over nearly two decades.  CIR built new benches, erected a shade structure and installed an irrigation system.  The three benches (each forty feet long and six feet wide) include custom designed “biosecurity” measures that prevent introduced pests like Argentine ants from infesting the plant pots.  The nursery shed required major cleaning, and it will soon receive repairs to its roof and doors.  Funding to build the new nursery and to grow the plants has been provided by the Navy.  The nursery has an automated irrigation system, so CIR staff only needs to visit the island approximately once per week. 

The plants were installed at a restoration site on the eastern side of the island to help prevent erosion along roadside dune habitat.  More plants will be grown in the nursery to revegetate sites impacted by upcoming construction projects on the island.   CIR Board Member Gordon Hart designed the nursery and led the construction project along with volunteers Dave Edwards (also a Board Member) Don Mills and John Reyes.  The plants were grown by Norma Hogan, who recently joined the CIR team.

CIR has been working on the island for several years eradicating Sahara mustard from habitat of the threatened Cryptantha traskiae (a threatened plant in the Borage family).  Sahara mustard is a highly invasive plant that has caused great ecological damage in the deserts.  It has spread quickly on San Nicolas Island, and the Navy staff is committed to eradicating it from the island.  CIR has donated the staff time on this project for several years, but the Navy has recently contracted with CIR to perform this service.  Our staff and volunteers are trusted to work around these sensitive plants and around protected archeological sites.  CIR greatly values our relationship with Naval Base Ventura County and the U.S. Navy as a whole. 

CIR Leads Twenty Seven School Fieldtrips to the Islands in 2011

Over 930 students and adult chaperones joined CIR on 27 school fieldtrips to the Channel Islands so far this year, with funding raised primarily by our staff and board members.   Most of these students are from low-income districts that cannot afford the costs for this type of fieldtrip, and our program gives cash-strapped schools a chance to visit the Channel Islands and students a chance to participate in important restoration projects.

Our program this year targeted primarily 5^th grade classes from Ventura County districts, but schools from Los Angeles and Santa Barbara also participated.  The trips were to Anacapa Island and Santa Cruz Island where the students helped CIR with invasive plant removal and helped propagate native plants.  Some of the schools paid the cost of the boat and transportation, but the vast majority benefited from grant funding that CIR staff and board members raised from Federal, State and private sources.

Students from Ventura pose by their handiwork on Anacapa

CIR staff visited most of the schools before the trips to provide comprehensive PowerPoint presentations highlighting the special nature of the Channel Islands and the Marine Sanctuary and background on the restoration projects.  Special effort was made to highlight the connection between mainland watersheds and the health of the marine ecosystem.  This included examples of what happens to storm water runoff and how pollution in city streets can end up in the ocean.  For the 5^th grade classes, this instruction was specifically designed to address elements in the school curriculum.  As a requirement of some of the grant funding, the students were tested before and after the trip to gauge how much they had learned about the islands, marine sanctuary and conservation issues. 

Holy Cross School students receive instruction on Santa Cruz Island

All of the grant funding targeted low-income school districts, and few of the students had ever visited the Channel Islands or even ever been on a boat before.  The boat and bus transportation, plus modest staff costs for an average size class, cost around $2,400, so a great deal of grant funding is needed to fund so many trips.  Funding for this type of program is highly competitive and the grants are difficult to administer, but the results are more than worth it.  The kids are always eager to help with the restoration project, and they make a valuable contribution to our work. 

This is the fifth year of the CIR school program, and our busiest yet!  CIR staff worked hard to arrange dates with the schools, book the transportation, and organize the complicated paperwork required for a trip of this kind.  These trips would not have been possible without a great deal of logistical support from the Park Service and a discounted rate from Island Packers.  CIR plans to raise additional funding from private sources for the 2012 school year.

 

Schools/youth groups participating in CIR island trips:
Caesar Chavez Elementary, Oxnard (6 trips)
EP Foster Elementary, Ventura (2 trips)
Holly Cross School, Ventura (2 trips)
Meiners Oaks  Elementary, Meiners Oaks (3 trips)
Mira Monte Elementary, Ojai (1 trip)
Oak Grove School, Ojai (1 trip)
San Antonio School, Ojai (1 trip)
Santa Barbara Charter School, Santa Barbara (1 trip)
Sheridan Way Elementary, Ventura (1 trip)
Sun Valley High School, Los Angeles (1 trip)
Sunset Elementary, Oak View (3 trips)
Topa Topa Elementary, Ojai (2 trips)
Unitarian Society Teen Group, Santa Barbara (1 trip)
Ventura Charter School, Ventura (2 trips)