This year, Channel Islands Restoration (CIR) has increased our capacity for conservation along the Central Coast! Our field operations team has nearly doubled to accommodate habitat restoration work in Santa Barbara, Santa Paula, Malibu, Thousand Oaks, the Gaviota Coast, and the Channel Islands, to name a few of our project sites.

We are incredibly grateful for your philanthropic support that has made it possible for us to provide educational opportunities for children and adults. Your support, large or small, is also critical to the continued ecological improvements being made for our local wetlands, grasslands, and woodlands throughout the Coast.

On one side of a path in the idyllic hills of Santa Barbara, a dense clump of dried out mustard rises more than six feet. Meanwhile, just across the way, the invasive plant is thinned to wisps.

Carolyn Chaney, 77, pointed out the difference in vegetation and also provided the reason: sheep.

“This is where they’ve been,” she said, pointing to the cleared patch of land.

Chaney would know. She’s a regular sheep docent at the 300-acre San Marcos Foothills Preserve, owned by Santa Barbara County and located between Santa Barbara and Goleta.

Being part of the World Oceans Day 2023 festival was an absolute honor. The Sea Center welcome Channel Islands Restoration and other community partners to make the event a success. From the moment we set up our booth, there was a sea of smiling faces eager to engage with our activities.

On February 28th, Channel Islands Restoration (CIR) staff gathered at Fillmore City Hall for professional development and knowledge sharing. The workshop aimed to provide field techs with some bilingual skills and riparian knowledge, supporting effective communication between crews in the field and enhancing their understanding of restoration work and related topics such as ecology and natural resource protection.

We’re all rightfully concerned about climate change and global warming, and most of us are taking actions on a daily basis to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in our lives; actions like driving less and moving towards electrification of our lives with the electricity generated by renewable sources like wind and solar.

During Matching May, Channel Islands Restoration is giving back to the environment and making an impact to help restore local habitats damaged during the recent rainy season. As you may remember, 2022 started with gentle rains in October and November. Then unexpected events, including storms, rivers shifting, and landslides, severely affected the landscape of the Central Coast.

A few hours away from Santa Barbara and Ventura, the Carrizo Plain is a hidden gem that will allow our community to view the full bloom of California poppies, lupines, goldfields, fiddlenecks, phacelias, owl's clover, and blue dicks that are seen during late March or early April, coinciding with our trip date.

For many years CIR has contemplated forming a docent program at the San Marcos Foothills to help share these stories. Nearly a decade in the making, the San Marcos Foothills Educational Docent Program will now provide opportunities for those who love nature to pass on mind-blowing environmental principles to their friends and neighbors who visit the Preserve. It will also provide the opportunity to learn from Chumash people about their traditions and connections to the land.

The goal of the docent program is to provide information and to engage in conversation with visitors of the Foothills. We need your help with explaining this restoration project to people visiting the West Mesa.

Channel Islands Restoration is coordinating a trail maintenance program that will provide easier trail accessibility, stable footing, and designated walking paths for visitors, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts at the San Marcos Foothills West Mesa Preserve located in Santa Barbara. This series of Santa Barbara based volunteer opportunities is a great opportunity to learn about trail maintenance and join a new program on how to maintain trails in the local community.

Painted Cave is a sea cave on the north shore of Santa Cruz Island, thought to be the fourth largest sea cave in length in the world and second largest in volume in the US. With weather and tides permitting, Island Packers Captains can make the decision to immerse the boat completely within the cave. The entrance is over 130 feet high, over 100 feet wide and over 1200 feet in length. Naturally occurring algae and lichens give Painted Cave its artist’s palate appearance.

What’s CIR doing that I can actually see? (Or, thanks Doug, this is a great place for a date!) A lot! CIR has gotten a reputation of working in places most people don’t regularly get to, we’re sort of like ‘Restoration Hotshots’. We are usually working so far off the beaten path that it takes some logistical effort to see us in action. Well, that is no longer the case in Santa Barbara at Elings Park!

KEYT Santa Barbara news covered Channel Islands Restoration’s 20th anniversary gathering at Manning Park in Montecito on October 22nd, 2022. The event was held in celebration of CIR’s 20 year history as an environmental organization and habitat restoration contractor, providing a variety of services to the Central Coast, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and of course the Channel Islands. Watch KEY’s full coverage of the 20th Anniversary event below.

Thank you to the Santa Barbara Noozhawk team for covering our 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit in your latest news story. Written by Ray Ford, the Noozhawk article covers the history of Channel Islands Restoration and our growth as a nonprofit organization over the last 20 years.