Channelkeeper Hosts Blue Water Ball 

On March 29, more than 200 supporters of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper gathered at the Cabrillo Pavilion to celebrate and raise funds for this vital nonprofit that protects and restores the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds. Emmy Award–winning underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall gave an illuminating presentation.

At the event and in an interview, Executive Director Ted Morton explained the importance of Channelkeeper’s work — advocacy, education, and monitoring — especially with the challenges posed by the Trump administration’s rollback of safeguards protecting clean water and healthy habitats, along with the dismantling of agencies, firings, and proposed budget cuts.

Here at home, Morton related, Sable is aggressively moving to restart oil development along the Gaviota Coast, putting the Santa Barbara Channel, its habitats, and dependent businesses at risk of another massive oil spill. Channelkeeper is working alongside the Environmental Defense Center and others, providing input and encouraging its supporters to do the same. Among Channelkeeper’s concerns is whether Sable has the financial capacity to address a spill, especially at the start of production. Channelkeeper has also been opposing Sable’s recent work undertaken without obtaining permits from the CA Coastal Commission. This matter is the subject of ongoing litigation.

Another focus has been Santa Barbara’s cruise ship program. When Channelkeeper saw a post-COVID rise in the number of visits, it suggested that the City of Santa Barbara evaluate how the program fits within the city’s overall environmental protection goals. In the process that ensued, Channelkeeper made recommendations to the city, several of which the council adopted. Among the new provisions are an annual cap on visits and requirements that ships have effective water and air pollution prevention technology. Channelkeeper is presently working with the Waterfront Department on implementation, providing input on technical issues.

Also on Channelkeeper’s radar is the Goleta West Sanitary District following the spill last winter of more than one million gallons of raw sewage and the delayed notification to the county. Channelkeeper continues to monitor the repairing and upgrading of the pipe that burst.

Educational programs, Morton related, are more important than ever these days. Channelkeeper provides opportunities for youth in grades 3 through 8 to learn about the S.B. Channel, our watersheds, and their connection to them. Programming combines in-classroom lessons with on-the-water experiences, focusing on schools with under-resourced families. 

Kayaking excursions for the older kids have been really popular, with three-quarters of those participating having never been in a kayak before. The younger kids go out in Channelkeeper’s 31-foot, retrofitted lobster boat on water-quality-testing trips, where they learn about wildlife and the environment. Both types of excursions, according to Morton, give the kids a different perspective on their community and how they fit into it. Kids are our future leaders, Morton related, so Channelkeeper wants them to see how important the local environment is to them and to their families.

Channelkeeper does monitoring work as well. Since 2002, it has contracted with the City of Goleta to monitor 11 creeks on a monthly basis. Also, it responds to citizens’ concerns about water quality.

Another big service Channelkeeper provides is organizing cleanups along our coast and on the Channel Islands. Its annual lobster trap cleanup, which it does in partnership with the Commercial Fishermen of S.B., will be on April 19. The public is invited to help retrieve and transfer lobster traps buried along the Mesa coast. These derelict traps not only clutter the beaches but also pose risks to wildlife and beachgoers.

Morton took the helm at Channelkeeper in July 2021 after serving in leadership positions with the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Environmental Defense Fund, and other notable organizations. After walking the halls of the nation’s capital, Morton shared, he accepted the Channelkeeper post to work with community groups and be more connected with what he has been protecting during his 25-plus-year career.  It has been a terrific privilege, he related, to lead the “scrappy” Channelkeeper organization, with a lean staff of eight and just more than a $1 million annual budget. Other than the Goleta water monitoring and a small cleanup project, Channelkeeper receives no government funding and is reliant on the community to support its valuable work.

For more information, go to http://sbck.org.