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SIMA Environmental Fund

2016 Year End Reports

SIMA Environmental Fund 27831 La Paz Road Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 Phone: 949.366.1164 Fax: 949.454.1406 www.sima.com

2016 YEAR END REPORTS

5 Gyres Institute Assateague Coastal Trust Clean Ocean Action Heal the Bay North Shore Community Land Trust Ocean Institute Orange County Coastkeeper Paso Pacifico Reef Check Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Save the Waves Seymour Marine Discovery Center Surfers Against Sewage Surfing Education Association Surfrider Foundation Wildcoast Wishtoyo Foundation

2016 YEAR END REPORT

5 Gyres Institute

2016 SIMA ENVIRONMENTAL FUND YEAR END REPORT

Organization: 5 Gyres Institute Contact Person: Haley Haggerstone Title: Development and Partnerships Director Purpose of Grant: SIMA Environmental Fund Grant in 2016 supported the expansion of the Ambassador program. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The Ambassador program is designed to educate and empower 5 Gyres’ global network of supporters to take action against plastic pollution in their communities. Ambassadors are volunteers who are provided with a solid background on plastic pollution science, policy, and solutions. This knowledge is coupled with training and tools to help Ambassadors reduce their plastic footprint and inspire their communities to do the same. The Ambassador program allows 5 Gyres small, but mighty team to have a greater impact on our mission to empower action against the global health crisis of plastic pollution. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? 5 Gyres Ambassador program launched in 2015 and has grown exponentially ever since, which shows awareness about the plastic pollution issue is increasing and people want to be a part of the solution. In its pilot year, the program accepted 50 Ambassadors who were primarily located in the US. Today, the program maintains over 375 Ambassadors in 38 US States and 48 countries. As the program expands, we continue to develop educational materials and tools to support the Ambassadors’ outreach efforts including a Powerpoint presentation, campaign-specific resources, guides, and education kits. The education kits include samples of plastic pollution collected from beaches and oceans around the world, pieces of plastic with bite marks from coastal and marine wildlife, photographs with talking points printed on the back, educational brochures and business cards. These kits were distributed to the first cohort of Ambassadors in 2015 and this fall additional

kits were created for Southern California Ambassadors, as this is what our partners designated their funding towards. We hope to provide kits to more Ambassadors in the future. 5 Gyres staff communicate with the Ambassadors through a monthly newsletter, which keeps them updated on events, campaigns and programs, as well as the most recent science, policy and solutions to plastic pollution. These newsletters also allow Ambassadors to sign up for volunteer opportunities, webinars, and expeditions before the general public. Webinars allow Ambassadors to dive deeper into understanding new information about plastic pollution and ways to spark a #plasticfree movement in their communities. So far this year, we have organized five webinars discussing the Plastics Better Alternatives Now (BAN) List, 5 Gyres #foamfree Action Campaign, Zero Waste Living, Plastic Pollution Solutions in Southeast Asia, and Storytelling. We have one more webinar planned for later this year – to dispel common solutions myths such as recycling and incineration. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? We currently have over 375 Ambassadors in 38 US states and 48 countries—ages eight to 80. These Ambassadors allow 5 Gyres to reach more communities with our science and inspire them toward upstream solutions, including individual behavior, corporate design and policy change. Next year, our goal is to better engage this group through our citizen science and advocacy work. We are also exploring an Ambassador app, tiered reward program, and adding more content to the interactive map on our website such as stories, images and videos. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Here are a couple Ambassador spotlights showcasing some of the amazing plastic pollution activists in our network: Abhishek "Abhi" Shastri is eight years old and 5 Gyres youngest Ambassador. He is on a mission to educate and empower youth to live #plasticfree. His hero is another 5 Gyres Ambassador, Brett Edwards, better known as “Mr. Eco”, an environmental activist who empowers children to become #ecoheroes through hip-hop. Abhi participated in 5 Gyres’ #beadfree action campaign by educating his peers about the impacts of microbeads. He created a video, gathered pledge signatures, and collected microbead products. Abhi believes we’re all responsible for the planet and we must work together to protect it for generations to come. He was recently featured on

UPWORTHY and received an award from the Board of Education in Long Island, NY where he lives. Hannah Testa has been an environmentalist and animal rights activist most of her life – all 14 years of it. Since the age of four, Hannah has made it her mission to fight for the planet and its inhabitants. At 10, Hannah realized that one of our biggest problems is one that we can control – plastic pollution. Since then, Hannah has given presentations to thousands of people across the nation on how to reduce their plastic footprint. In 2016, Hannah approached a local senator with the idea of a day to help raise awareness about the issue. Together, they wrote a resolution that named February 15th Plastic Pollution Awareness Day in Georgia, which was celebrated for the first time this year. Next year, Hannah will work with 5 Gyres to expand Plastic Pollution Awareness Day through the Ambassador network. Win Cowger is a PhD student at the University of California, Riverside in Environmental Science. He’s studying plastic pollution from a geophysical perspective. Win is currently working with 5 Gyres Research Director, Marcus Eriksen on several projects to determine the amount of plastic on the surface of the world’s oceans, the most common types of plastic pollution in the US, and how to use data to achieve action in the real world. He uses plastic pollution to drive conversations about the other environmental issues. For example, plastics are made from oil, so decreasing the amount of plastics we produce decreases the amount of oil we consume, which impacts our climate.


Assateague Coastal Trust


Organization: Assateague Coastal Trust Contact Person: Kathy Phillips Title: Executive Director/Assateague COASTKEEPER Purpose of Grant: SIMA grant funds were used to support the general operations of the Assateague Coastkeeper and Coast Kids programs. Coastkeeper activities included watershed patrolling, water quality monitoring, beach cleanups and advocacy on priority water quality protection issues with particular attention to the campaigns to oppose offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Atlantic. Coast Kids activities featured monthly educational excursions, school/community group programs and summer camp, including support for scholarships that were used to engage low-income and minority youth in the program. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. Coastkeeper Purpose: To support the general operations of the Coastkeeper program. Goals: To maintain an active presence of the Coastkeeper boat on the water and contact with recreational and commercial boaters; to complete a summer season of weekly water quality monitoring that provided data for our Swim Guide bacteria monitoring smartphone app as well as data related to basic water quality standards; to maintain regular patrol of the local watershed to identify pollution sources and address solutions; to lead and coordinate beach cleanup activities associated with the International Coastal Cleanup; and continue the Coastkeeper public outreach to generate opposition to the proposed federal regulation roll-backs to open the Atlantic to leasing for oil and gas exploration and drilling. Coast Kids

Purpose: To support the general operations of the Coast Kids youth education program. Goals: To provide monthly outdoor events for member families to learn about ocean/coastal environmental and conservation issues; to provide environmental educational programs to youth in school and community based settings; to organize and hold a two week summer camp for area youth, providing opportunity for children from underserved low-income and minority communities to participate. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Coastkeeper: The branded ‘Coastkeeper’ boat was able to make weekly runs in the northern Coastal Bays, maintaining public contact with boaters, throughout the summer season from May to the present, however it was off the water for five weeks due to the 12 year old outboard motor ceasing to operate. The Coastkeeper did maintain weekly water quality monitoring with support from volunteer boaters in the community, while funds were raised to replace the old motor and installation was completed, at which time the ‘Coastkeeper’ boat returned to the waterways. Due to unseasonably warm weather the Coastkeeper is still making periodic pollution patrols on the Bays well in to the fall season. Our Swim Guide app, alerting water recreationalists of unsafe levels of bacteria, had its most successful season yet, with over 6,000 views of the Coastal Bays monitored sites through the Swim Guide website and smartphone app. The 2017 season collection of water quality monitoring data has completed a five year project and the data will be used in our 2017 Annual Report to be released in early 2018. This fall’s International Coastal Cleanup activity, organized and promoted by ACT in partnership with the National Park Service on Assateague National Seashore oceanfront beaches, netted 1.5 tons of plastic and trash removed from the 10 mile length of the Maryland portion of the island. ACT has a graph on our website showing the categories of trash collected, which can be viewed here: http://www.actforbays.org/2017-coastal-cleanup-results.html In addition, beginning September 2017 the Coastkeeper boat is now making once a week runs, weather permitting and until the boat is pulled for the winter, to the northern most end of the National Seashore to collect trash and plastic litter that accumulates due to currents carrying trash from Ocean City MD on to the island. In May 2017, the Assateague Coastkeeper and 45 ACT members took a bus to Washington DC for the Peoples Climate March, carrying with us a 15’ tall Great Blue Heron. Our participation in the March was to raise awareness that fossil fuel extraction (Offshore Oil drilling) contributes to carbon pollution and sea level rise. If we don’t make change now our coastal communities and coastal habitats will be under water.

Three well attended public informational meetings were hosted by ACT to bring our communities current on the status of proposed offshore oil leases and to continue to build community opposition to Atlantic oil exploration and drilling. The meetings in Lewes, DE, Ocean City, MD and Chincoteague, VA encouraged participants to communicate with their state representatives and postcards were signed for distribution to the proper legislative offices. Coast Kids: Coast Kids held 12 monthly events involving over 200 families throughout the grant period. Activities included using seining nets to learn about life in the bay, studying animal tracks in the oceanside dunes and along our beaches, observing horseshoe crab spawning, and paddling activities in the coastal bays. Coast Kids again hosted more than 30 classes at five school or community center sites, reaching a diverse audience of students reflective of the diversity of our community. Class topics included stormwater pollution and water quality testing, habitat, earth science, aquatic biology and chemistry, and green energy. The Summer Camp continues to be a success, with increased attendance this year, engaging participants in a broad range of fun, inspiring and educational activities around the watershed. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? Coastkeeper: Water quality monitoring and data access through our Swim Guide App resulted in families being protected from unhealthy levels of bacteria in some waterways, and showed a substantially increased level of use by residents and visitors to the watershed. Of note, water and aerial Coastkeeper patrols of the watershed exposed shoreline vegetation clearing in violation of our Critical Area laws, and the resulting inquiry to county and state agencies has resulted in enforcement actions requiring the restoration of the impacted vegetative buffers. This will restore beneficial water quality protections, keeping polluted stormwater runoff from entering our bays and impacting the aquatic ecosystems that depend on clean water. The International Coastal Cleanup brings over 300 people outdoors, giving them a new perspective about Assateague Island and instilling a sense of pride in keeping this favorite recreational area pristine. Social media posts have gone ‘viral’ when photos were posted showing the amount of plastic litter collected off the beach. (You can view the Facebook September 4, 2017 post of ‘Kathlyn (Assateague Coastkeeper) Phillips’ by searching Facebook for the name and date.) Opposition to offshore drilling continues to grow within our watershed, as residents and visitors alike do not want our coastal watershed to be damaged the way Gulf Coast communities have been hit. ACT continues to be the only local organization actively engaging the public in our coastal watershed on this issue and our efforts paid off this spring when Maryland’s Governor Hogan officially declared opposition to seismic blasting oil exploration and offshore oil drilling.

Coast Kids: The SIMA grant helped us to offer scholarships to 8 low-income and minority youth who could not otherwise have been able to participate. ACT’s Coast Kids is a ‘one of kind’ program in the watershed and its popularity continues to grow, getting children (and their parents!) into the outdoors, unplugging and exploring the nature that surrounds us. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Public media coverage of our participation in the People’s Climate March on Washington DC, and our three Offshore Oil informational meetings in three states exposed ACT to a larger audience in the region, resulting in an increase in membership donations to the organization. Our water quality monitoring program and Swim Guide app garnered a greater level of support from the business community, who stepped up with significant donations to help ACT purchase a new outboard motor for the Coastkeeper boat. The ability to offer scholarships for the Coast Kids Summer Camp has allowed us to serve a broader and more diverse community.


Clean Ocean Action


Organization: Clean Ocean Action Contact Person: Mary-Beth Thompson Title: Chief Operating Officer Purpose of Grant: TIDE TOGETHER – THREE CAMPAIGNS TO SAVE THE SEA 1) Protecting Swimmers from Sewage: new federal law will improve water for swimmers. 2) A Debris Free Sea: a “Feet-on-the-Beach and Hands-in-the-Sand” approach to reducing litter. 3) The Clean Ocean Zone: Turning victory into permanent protection for the ocean from harmful industrialization – keeping the ocean wild, free, and blue! Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The goal is to protect all swimmers—whether they have feet, fins, feathers or none of the above. The surfing community is deeply rooted in the outdoors where many play and seek refuge from the industrialized world. COA seeks to engage all ocean enthusiasts by uniting these communities to protect what is sacred – a clean and healthy ocean. Together, we are a unique and powerful voice to protect the environment. Protecting the environmental, spiritual, and economic importance of the natural world is in our DNA. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Important progress was made toward meeting goals of protecting swimmers from sewage, reducing marine debris, and stopping ocean industrialization. However, the ocean is far from permanently safe. Thanks to the SIMA funds, COA’s achieved tangible results and enhanced our capacity to protect water quality. Highlights: Protecting Swimmers from Sewage was assured by the restoration of funding by Congress, led by NJ US Senators Booker and Menendez, for the national water quality testing program. While this stop gap measure was successful, permanent federal funding of the program is lacking so COA will continue to defend this essential

program. COA launched a new watershed protection program to attack local sources of fecal contamination or what COA calls “poo-llution.” The initiative, called “Rally for the Waterways,” combines the power of communities, state agencies, local officials and pollution-sniffing dogs from Environmental Canine Services to help track down sources of human waste. It is a “grassroots, no blame game, find it/fix it” approach that is working. Most importantly, it will establish a model for any waterway in the country. A Debris Free Sea The goal seems insurmountable, but there are signs of success. Marine debris, the scourge of the sea, is becoming a national call to action. Single use plastics (straws and bottled water) are becoming social pariahs. COA is helping lead the way with over 32 years of experience in reducing sources, especially through Beach Sweeps and municipal actions. COA also has 25 years of data on over 100 items which serves as a resource for towns to seek bag and smoking bans, and other litter abatement actions. Clean Ocean Zone Clean Ocean Action’s coalition successfully united the entire NJ congressional delegation to oppose drilling and seismic testing off the NJ coast, and garnered support from most against drilling in the entire Atlantic Ocean. At the end of 2016, it was clear the Obama Administration was committed to abandoning all plans for ocean drilling and blasting. However, there are still no permanent protections and the threats now loom even greater under the Trump Administration. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? The poo-llution sniffing dogs found 5 areas where human waste was seeping into to the estuary. Track down and elimination of these sources is well underway. Over 23 organizations are stepping up and taking actions to help reduce pollution, too. The collaborative approach leverages participant’s skills and knowledge with businesses, environmental organizations and elected officials engaged. In addition, COA has developed a “Watershed Mindfulness” program to educate and ensure that people understand they are connected to and responsible for water quality in their communities. Finally, COA is coordinated with the state environmental protection agency to establish a Citizen Volunteer Monitoring program to help track down additional sources of pollution. The Debris Free Sea initiative, despite foul weather, resulted in nearly 4000 volunteers removing 218,807 pieces of debris from 70 locations over two days in just 6 hours. Over 81% of the debris was plastic, a number that has increased over the decades according to COA’s 25 years of data collection. In addition, COA initiated a shoreline litter investigation to large areas of the Delaware River, one of the longest free-flowing rivers in the United States. Vast areas have accumulated litter which has never been touched and serve as excellent opportunities for examining historic debris accumulation. Time stamps on litter include 1974, and a one acre site recorded over

5000 beverage containers. COA is combing the debris for source track down to eliminate future debris. Clean Ocean Zone: The ocean off the NY and NJ coast remains free from harmful industry. Clean Ocean Action’s coalition successfully united the entire NJ congressional delegation to oppose drilling and seismic testing off the NJ coast and gathered support from most of the elected officials against drilling off the entire east coast. The NJ legislature passed a resolution opposing offshore drilling. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) To help expand COA’s capacity for action, Dr. Swarna Muthukrishnan was hired. With 15 years’ experience in water and waste water treatment experience in the public and industry, she brings extraordinary expertise to reducing poo-llution. Clean Ocean Action staff leads two workgroups, Microplastics and Straws, in the regional New York/New Jersey Plastic Free Waters initiative (established by USEPA as Trash Free Waters). This program leverages the talents and work of many national and local groups to conduct research and identify solutions to stop sources and impacts from debris. COA’s unique and powerful network, and successful action approach to protect the ocean—especially in this dark era under the Trump Administration—continues to gain momentum and increase capacity of the effectiveness of the organization.


Environmental Defense Center


Organization: Environmental Defense Center Contact Person: Owen Bailey Title: Executive Director Purpose of Grant: EDC’s project has been focused on the response to the May 19, 2015 Refugio Oil Spill during which the Plains All American Pipeline (Plains) spilled more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil onto the Gaviota Coast and into the Santa Barbara Channel by Refugio State Beach. The rupture caused spilled oil to quickly damage the sensitive environment of the Santa Barbara Channel, threaten endangered whales, close precious beaches and ultimately kill hundreds of birds and marine mammals. Ultimately, the oil spread at least 150 miles south into Orange County, and now serves as a potent reminder of the risks and impacts that result from oil development activities. Our main goal continues to be fully restoring our coastal environment impacted by this oil spill as well as enhancing and improving coastal access in the affected area. The objective is to influence the damage assessment and restoration planning process, also known as NRDA. Federal law requires that state and federal “trustee” agencies assess the impacts of an oil spill and develop projects that directly address those impacts to restore the environment to its pre-spill condition. The NRDA Process also presents critical opportunities for public access improvements. In 2015, EDC released a report outlining the NRDA process, to help the public participate and remain engaged. This year, we focused on meeting with the trustee agencies that will develop the Restoration Plan, investigating and recommending potential restoration projects, and participating in the planning phase of the NRDA process, which we anticipate will continue for the next year. We will continue to analyze and propose specific projects, and we will comment on the Draft Restoration Plan when it is made available for public review. Throughout this project, EDC will utilize our legal, scientific, and advocacy expertise and public education program to educate other NGOs and the public about the NRDA process and opportunities to ensure full restoration and responsible public access

enhancements. EDC is the logical group to take on this role as, from the start, we have been in the forefront of the response to this horrific tragedy. We monitored the response to the spill by the Unified Command, pressured the agencies to pursue full clean-up of our beaches and marine environment, investigated the cause of the spill and the adequacy of the response, pressed for enforcement of environmental protection laws and for increased regulations, as well as kept the public informed. Fortunately, EDC was poised to take immediate action due to our longstanding watchdog role regarding offshore oil and gas development in California. Founded in the aftermath of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, EDC has worked for 40 years to prevent more oil development off our coast. For the past 26 years we have led a coalition of NGOs that meets monthly to address continued threats of more oil drilling and development. Through litigation we terminated 36 federal offshore oil leases, and through various legal strategies we have stopped several risky oil drilling projects along California’s South Central Coast. We also helped draft the California Coastal Sanctuary Act, which prohibits more oil leasing in State waters. As such, we were able to mobilize our staff and supporters as soon as the Refugio Oil Spill occurred. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The following 4 goals were put forward as part of EDC’s grant funded project: 1. Finalizing research on effective comparable NRDAs and honing the communities’ demands for full recovery 2. Advocating for restoration projects to include in the Draft Plan, ensuring full restoration of the damaged environment, including beaches, and wildlife habitats, both onshore and offshore. 3. Ensuring precious funds allocated for responsible public access enhancements along the affected area. 4. Finally, it is critical that we prevent future oil spills. To date, EDC has sponsored successful state legislation requiring better pipeline technologies and response to spills. However, much more needs to be done, and EDC will continue forceful, strategic advocacy to ensure increased pipeline security and to prevent risky and irresponsible coastal and offshore oil projects do not further endanger our precious environment. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? EDC has had significant success over this grant year in moving forward our four main goals. This has been possible due to our building strong relationships with the trustee agencies which have involved EDC in the restoration process, encouraging our input on NRDA, and because of our close ties and leadership within the nonprofit and conservation communities along the South-Central Coast. Specifically, we have done the following: 1. EDC successfully researched other NRDA processes and their results, engaged with the community through interviews and meetings to gather ideas and vet proposed restoration projects.

2. EDC identified gaps in proposed restoration concepts and offered feedback on how to improve them, and ultimately offered preliminary recommendations for beneficial, community sanctioned, projects. 3. We learned that public access projects will not be considered until after the damage assessment process is completed. In the meantime, we are working with our partners to identify potential projects. 4. Over the course of this grant period, EDC has done a great deal to help prevent future spills by successfully opposing irresponsible fossil fuel projects. This includes the following: • Pushed back against the Trump Administration’s threats to open more federal waters to offshore drilling through a five-year oil leasing plan (which could include the Santa Barbara Channel) and attempting to weaken the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act; • Successfully fought the Administration’s attempted to dismiss EDC’s lawsuit that challenges federal approval of offshore fracking and acidizing without proper environmental review; • Successfully defeated the Phillips 66 Rail Spur project which would have brought 3-5 new oil trains per week through our region, each up to 80 cars long and hauling around 2,000,000 gallons of chemically treated tar sands oil; • Sponsored and supported statewide legislation to prevent new offshore oil development and expand the use of renewables across the state; • Led the environmental community’s efforts on positive changes in emergency response planning to ensure we learn the lessons from Refugio for when the next disaster strikes; and • Submitted formal comments to implement new state laws through regulations addressing oil pipeline safety, oil spill response, and pipeline inspections. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? EDC conducted and finalized research on the Refugio Oil Spill NRDA process (EDC had previously developed a NRDA Guide intended to help the public understand and participate in the NRDA process and how it would be applied to the Refugio Oil Spill). EDC also hosted and participated in a public meeting between NRDA trustee agencies and community members to discuss restoration opportunities; compiled information about the breadth of restoration proposals submitted by the community; interviewed individuals, scientists, and agencies who submitted proposals; identified potential gaps in the suite of proposals submitted; conducted an in-depth analysis of proposed restoration projects and provided feedback on potential gaps to the trustee agencies; gathered additional information on the types of projects used to address injury areas for other NRDAs; drafted a letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") that shared findings on gaps and included suggestions on how to fill those gaps; and provided our own preliminary recommendations for potential community supported restoration projects.

It is our hope that this project will assist the trustee agencies in choosing the best suite of restoration projects possible for their Draft Restoration Plan. Throughout, USFWS and the other Refugio Oil Spill trustees have involved EDC in the restoration process by encouraging our input on NRDA. We look forward to continued communication, including co-hosting another community meeting in order to help bring to life a comprehensive Draft Restoration Plan to restore injured resources to their pre-oil spill conditions. Additionally, EDC continues to lead the NGO community in our response to the Refugio Oil Spill. We have helped the community remain engaged through our community meeting, but also hosting and facilitating a monthly meeting of interested NGOs where NRDA is discussed. We have also fostered communications between the community and the trustees, which has improved our efforts towards restoration. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) The support from Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) has made a significant difference in keeping EDC engaged in this critical process which will define restoration, recovery and public access, following the 2015 oil spill. By allowing EDC staff to dedicate the time and energy on research, community engagement, and our efforts to ensure a successful suite of recommendations, SIMA has also helped us to keep the environmental community on target and engaged in this process. Without SIMA’s support, we would not have had the resources to accomplish our goals and objectives thus far. Raising funds for projects like this is often challenging as time has passed since the spill, but critical work needs to be continued, often outside of the public view. Because of the resources we were able to apply to this effort, we are now seen as the community leader in the eyes of the trustee agencies. This access has made our work that much more effective.


Heal the Bay


Organization: Heal the Bay Contact Person: Sheila McSherry Title: Foundation Grants Manager Purpose of Grant: SIMA grant funds supported Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card, one of the cornerstone programs of its Smart Water Management work. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. SIMA grant funds supported Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card (BRC) in 2017. Created in 1990, the BRC program enables Heal the Bay staff to analyze water quality data collected from more than 600 locations along the western U.S. coastline (California, Oregon, Washington-Puget Sound) to determine fecal bacteria levels and assess their potential to make exposed beachgoers sick. This data is translated into a simple A-F grading format so that it is easily and rapidly understood by users of all ages and education levels. The BRC is the only comprehensive analysis of coastline water quality on the West Coast. Heal the Bay posts weekly grades on a variety of websites and at beachreportcard.org. Heal the Bay also provides an Annual Report which assesses water quality over the last winter and summer seasons at each beach location. This report is then distributed via various media outlets, interviews, and blog posts. Online media outlets and public health agencies such as wunderground.com andwww.swellmagnet.com, the LA County Department of Health Services, City of Long Beach, Counties of San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Orange County Public Health sites all have links tobeachreportcard.org. Support from the SIMA Environmental Fund made it possible for Heal the Bay to:

• Identify polluted beaches along the California, Oregon and Washington state coastline;

• Disseminate information to the public and regulators about clean and potentially hazardous water-quality conditions;

• Assist with the development of pollution abatement strategies;

• Inform millions of beachgoers about water-quality conditions that may be hazardous to their health;

• Work with stakeholders to develop and implement protective water quality standards; and

• Develop and implement new, cutting-edge public notification tools. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Heal the Bay is committed to protecting the health of swimmers, surfers and everyday beachgoers and preserving local coastal resources through its impactful science and policy work. We are happy to report the following achievements: Highlights (publicity) Each year, Heal the Bay hosts two concurrent press conferences to promote the BRC Annual Report. This year, we hosted these press conferences in Los Angeles and San Francisco on June 15,, 2017. In the past, we have usually identified locations with poor water quality to bring greater attention to the problem with the hopes that the public agencies will respond. This year, Heal the Bay tried a different approach. We highlighted a beach, specifically Baker Beach in San Francisco, that had historically poor water quality during the peak beach going summer season and actually improved over the past year. By emphasizing a ‘good’ beach to visit and swim, Heal the Bay wanted to promote the coastal resource as a place to experience, and not avoid. In addition to this approach, Heal the Bay also utilized a social media tool, Facebook Live, as a means to disseminate BRC Annual Report grades and information to the public in a different format and in near real time. In the past, we merely conducted the press conference and relied on the media to cover the story. The results varied between the different media outlets. The Facebook Live allowed us a bit more flexibility on messaging, interaction, and timing. The program has been slowly trying different digital elements (BRC webpage, BRC app, video, twitter) to conduct outreach. However, this was our first attempt at live media streaming. Without Swain Baber Foundation this effort to conduct public outreach via different locations and media types would not be possible, and our messaging reach would be more limited. The BRC Annual Report received wide coverage this year by dozens of media outlets, including the L.A. Times, New York Times, KPCC, Daily Breeze, and San Francisco and L.A. based TV outlets, including all-morning coverage with KTLA onsite at the Santa Monica Pier with the morning show. Heal the Bay’s BRC blog received 3.5x more views than last year and the “beach bummers” slide show on our website received 4x more views than last year. Traffic was likely driven by a variety of sources, but some of the largest drivers of web traffic included the New York Times California Report Coverage of the BRC and Heal the Bay’s Facebook post and Facebook Live video. Highlights (technology)

Heal the Bay continues to expand the number of locations covered by the predictive modeling program. Last summer, Heal the Bay, Stanford Uni¬versity and UCLA expanded the predic¬tive modeling program from three to five Southern California beaches from July through October. The five beaches mod¬eled in 2016 were: • Arroyo Burro (Santa Barbara County) • East Beach (Santa Barbara County) • Santa Monica Pier (Los Angeles County) • Belmont Pier (Long Beach City) • Doheny State Beach (Orange County) Predictive models, or beach water qual¬ity ’Nowcasting’ tools, are designed to predict daily water quality based upon historic data and location specific infor¬mation for a defined beach. The models can be used to inform the public about water quality conditions on a given day for a particular beach. These ‘NowCasts’ can be produced much fast¬er than the current public notification methods, which rely on analytical meth¬ods that can take 18-24 hours to produce results. This delay in the existing system can lead to inadvertently not posting a beach advisory, which may put public health at risk, or alternatively, inappro¬priate advisories that may keep people away from enjoying a clean beach. Being able to run the model rapidly and daily helps close the notification gap regarding water quality, thus helping to protect public health every day in a more robust manner than the current testing methods. Heal the Bay continues to expand the NowCast program, with the goal of becoming a per¬manent part of the Beach Report Card program over the next three years. For the summer 2017 season, our staff scientist is modeling ten beaches, forecasting daily water quality information from April through October. The program will grow to 20-25 locations in the by the summer of 2018, with a handful of surf beaches modeled during the winter season for additional public health pro¬tection. Highlights (policy) For the past three years, the State Water Resources Control Board has indicated that they plan to amend the state’s bacterial objectives in the Califor¬nia Ocean Plan and the Inland Surface Water, Enclosed Bays and Estuaries Plan. In July 2017, the State finally released those objectives. The goal of this process is to update two statewide policies that protect rec¬reational users from the risks of swim¬ming in fecal contaminated waterbodies. There were 11 specific elements to the State Water Resources Control Board pro¬posal that have major impacts to protecting beachgoer health. Four of the 11 elements are of serious concern to Heal the Bay: 1) the recommendation to use a single fecal indicator, Enterococ¬cus, to determine risk; 2) the suspension of Recreational 1-uses (Rec-1)—swimming or wading in the water—during high flow suspension within rivers and creeks, 3) extending the averaging time period from 30-days to 45-days; and 4) the allowance for a variance, seasonal suspension or limited

Rec-1 water con¬tact. Each of these four elements has implications for reducing public health protection for swimmers in recreational waters. For example, California currently uses seven fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) criteria that are associ¬ated with different health outcomes (up-per respiratory, skin rash, flu-like symp¬toms and intestinal ailments). The State’s proposed amendment would limit the FIB criteria to two indicators. SIMA funds enabled Heal the Bay to analyze monitoring data, assess the public health implications of changing the bacterial objective, and write a comment letter and testify before the State Water Resources Control Board advocating for stronger public health protections. Our 45-page letter to the State Water Resources Control Board on this matter was submitted on August 16, 2017, and we will continue to track the policy through the consideration and adoption process. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? Heal the Bay believes the public deserves to know the state of beach water quality before exposing themselves and their families to potentially harmful pathogens that can cause severe illness including: fever, flu-like symptoms, ear infections, respiratory illness, and gastroenteritis. Funds made it possible for Heal the Bay to communicate more effectively when conditions were questionable and in turn protected the health of millions of beachgoers, surfer and swimmers. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) SIMA grant funds leveraged Heal the Bay’s overall capacity by supporting critical staff hours dedicated to research and public health advocacy though its Beach Report Card work.


North Shore Community Land Trust


Organization: North Shore Community Land Trust Contact Person: Tim Tybuszewski Title: Director of Conservation Purpose of Grant: The mission of the North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT) is to protect, steward, and enhance the natural landscapes, cultural heritage, and rural character of ahupuaa (watersheds) from Kahuku Point to Kaena Point. SIMA provided support in 2016-17 for the Pupukea Paumalu Stewardship Fund, the Kahuku Point Restoration Project, Community Stewardship of Public Beach Access, Landowner Outreach and Assistance, North Shore Trails, and the North Shore Community Food System Assessment and Food Summit. All of these priority projects support clean water, surf break protection, and ocean environmental education. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. NSCLT’s several priority conservation projects create on-going opportunities to safeguard and strengthen Oahu’s near shore environment, cultural heritage, famous surf breaks and world-class beaches, and quality of life by permanently protecting an ecologically significant area that is highly used and appreciated by Hawaii residents and millions of visitors each year. 2016-2017 Expected Results: • Pupukea Paumalu effectively stewarded by the community with monthly workdays • Water quality protected at North Shore surf breaks; surf sites preserved; ocean and terrestrial conservation education opportunities for local youth, residents, and visitors • Kahuku Point Restoration has to date removed over 75,000 pounds of invasive plants, out-planted over 3,400 natives, removed over 6,800 pounds of marine debris from the coastline and reached over 2,000 individuals who participated in the restoration activities. • North Shore Trails Plan has begun the initial phase of reaching out to landowners and regulators to get feedback about the development of a network of trails and bike paths that will connect the North Shore from Kahuku to Kaena Point to provide a safe

transportation alternative for locals and visitors that will connect cultural and recreational resources to communities to provide access without the need of vehicles. • North Shore Community Food System Assessment increases understanding of current food system and sets goals for increasing local production of - and access to - healthy food. SIMA’s grant funds are helping NSCLT achieve all of these results and more. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? The stated goals and objectives for our 2016 SIMA grant are being achieved on an on-going basis in accord with our plans. NSCLT, in partnership with the community, continues to implement several of the projects, programs, and initiatives identified in the Pupukea Paumalu management plan and we continue to promote community-based stewardship of this amazing coastal bluff. In 2017, NSCLT continued to extensively incorporate the North Shore Greenprint (completed in 2012) priorities into its conservation work. For example, because the North Shore Greenprint identified preservation of coastal lands and increased food production as two of the community’s highest priorities, NSCLT continues to facilitate both the North Shore Food Summit and Food System Assessment. The Malama Kawela-Kahuku Conservation Partnership (an effort to protect the Turtle Bay Resort’s undeveloped land in partnership with the landowner, State, and community) reflects NSCLT’s incorporation of the North Shore Greenprint into its conservation work. We plan to continually engage the community in updating the Greenprint to include future conservation successes, such as the permanent protection of the Turtle Bay Mauka Ag Lands (which was finalized in April of 2016) and the finalized agreement in October of 2016 to conserve over 600 acres from Kawela Bay to Kahuku Point (Malama Kawela-Kahuku), improved coastal access and stewardship, and to ensure that the Greenprint values and priorities remain consistent with the community’s vision for the area. Other highlights of NSCLT’s work in 2017 include: • Supported implementation of Pupukea Paumalu Long-term Resource Management Plan and updated and implemented stewardship agreements with the City and County of Honolulu, the State of Hawaii, and other partners for the Pupukea Paumalu property • Coordinated Pupukea Paumalu on-site community stewardship activities including trail clearing, community clean-ups, and erosion control on the 1,129 acre parcel on a monthly basis • Worked with US Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, and Turtle Bay to help restore 39 acres at Kahuku Point, one of the few remaining coastal strand systems remaining on Oahu. • Continued stewardship of agricultural conservation easement for 27 acre “Sunset Ranch” • Continued support for and momentum behind the effort to establish a healthy vibrant local sustainable food sysstem and hosted the Fifth Annual North Shore Food Summit on September 14-16, 2017.

• Established groundwork for the North Shore Trails Plan by engaging landowners and government agencies that would be involved. SIMA’s support in 2016 allowed NSCLT to aggressively undertake our work to protect and restore special natural areas on the North Shore of Oahu. NSCLT looks forward to protecting even more land in 2017 and beyond for the benefit of the public. SIMA’s support directly helps to protect and preserve the North Shore. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? Pupukea Paumalu Stewardship Fund: Community stewardship, planning, and implementation of the Long Range Resource Management Plan for Pupukea Paumalu remain high priorities for NSCLT. Native plant restoration and trail maintenance in particular help to ensure the health of the near shore marine environment along this amazing stretch of coastline that includes several of the North Shore’s infamous surf spots (Sunset, Rocky Point, Pipeline, Backdoor, Off the Wall, and more). Currently we host a monthly community workday that brings community members together in the restoration and preservation of this coastline. During 2017 NSCLT and our volunteers removed over 1,000 pounds of invasive plants, out-planted 300 native trees and plants, installed 200 stairs in areas of difficult terrain for hikers, and installed picnic tables for hikers to rest and enjoy the views of the shoreline. Kahuku Point Restoration Project: NSCLT is continuing our efforts to facilitate restoration efforts at Kahuku Point (which is part of the Malama Kawela-Kahuku Conservation lands that is now protected in perpetuity as of October 2015). NSCLT is working with US Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Humpback Marine Sanctuary, State of Hawaii DLNR, and Turtle Bay Resort to restore one of the only remaining coastal sand dune strands remaining on Oahu. The shoreline surrounding Kahuku Point is one of the few intact stretches of coastal sand dune ecosystem on Oahu. Whereas most of the island’s shoreline has been largely altered due to development and the encroachment of invasive species, Kahuku Point provides habitat for numerous species of endangered, threatened, and/or endemic wildlife, recreational opportunities for the community, and a place to perpetuate traditional Hawaiian practices. We have continued to host our monthly community workday to remove invasive species, propagate native plants, and improve endemic species habitat with help from community members. To date NSCLT and volunteers have removed over 59,000 pounds of invasive plants from the area, planted over 2,800 native plants, and removed over 4,800 pounds of marine debris. NSCLT is also currently working with USFW to develop a plan to install a predator fence in the area to allow seabirds such as albatross, blue-footed boobies, and shearwaters a safe nesting place. We have also partnered with James Campbell Wildlife Refuge and other conservation organizations to develop a native plant nursery to grow native and endemic species to out-plant at Kahuku Point.

Community Stewardship of Public Beach Access: Stewardship of existing beach accesses, MPA’s, and surfbreaks – and improving/increasing access to the same – will always be important priorities for NSCLT. Currently NSCLT is working with World Surf League and University of Hawaii Seagrant staff to develop a plan that will address the erosion issues related to foot traffic at various beach access points throughout the North Shore. North Shore Trails: NSCLT continues to work with US National Parks Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program to develop a system of hiking and biking trails throughout the North Shore region of Oahu. In 2017 NSCLT facilitated a meeting between Turtle Bay Resort and James Campbell Wildlife Refuge with the goal of connecting Turtle Bay Resort Property with Kahuku Sugar Mill with a multi-modal trail that can be enjoyed by visitors and residents alike. North Shore Community Food System Assessment and Food Summit: NSCLT continued the North Shore Community Food System Assessment project by hosting the Fifth Annual North Shore Food Summit on September 14-16, 2017. The annual Food Summit continues to bring together diverse food system stakeholders including farmers, landowners, health professionals, educators, non-profit partners, agricultural/food system funders, consumers, residents, and more to learn about and discuss the North Shore food system. Participants were overwhelmingly inspired to partner with each other to build a more sustainable North Shore food system, which lays a strong foundation for developing a food system assessment and action plan. Participants were able to learn about the local food providers on the North Shore during our first day of field trips followed by keynote presentations and panel discussions the second day. The third and final day of the event we partnered with several local organizations to provide people an opportunity to connect with the land for a hands-on stewardship day. NSCLT’s several other priority conservation projects create on-going opportunities to safeguard and strengthen Oahu’s near shore environment, cultural heritage, famous surf breaks and world-class beaches, and quality of life by permanently protecting an ecologically significant area that is highly used and appreciated by Hawaii residents and millions of visitors each year. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) SIMA’s support continues to help NSCLT make significant investments in strengthening the organization so that we will have a greater impact in voluntary land conservation. We are also excited about our communications tools such as the Greenprint, an enhanced web presence, email newsletter, social media platforms, and continued use of database improvements, such as the use of eTapestry and Gifttool.

We were also able to add a full-time internship position in 2017 by partnering with Kupu, a local organization that provides environmental education opportunities. SIMA support has directly led to NSCLT enhancing its operations and strengthening its capacity as we improve our ability to anticipate and adapt to change. These changes are directly improving our ability to conserve land and other natural resources. SIMA's support has also allowed us to invest in the tools and supplies needed to restore 39 acres of coastal strand ecosystem at Kahuku Point which will soon provide a safe nesting grounds for seabirds such as albatross, boobies, shearwaters, and petrels.


Ocean Institute


Organization: Ocean Institute Contact Person: Jane Birmingham Title: Director, Grants Purpose of Grant: SIMA Environmental Fund’s grant engaged 1,842 fifth grade students in in-depth, ocean-science-based discovery in our annual Watershed Program. Those nearly 2,000 students then educated and inspired hundreds more friends and families to increase the program’s impact on ocean protection. Grants, including this generous one from the SIMA Environmental Fund, keep the Watershed Program free, so ten-year-olds from underserved schools can have their first opportunity to explore the ocean. During the program’s five months, Ocean Institute educators encourage curiosity and instill passion, motivating students to be today’s new ocean stewards and tomorrow’s leading global ocean-environmentalists. As an indicator of Watershed’s reach, this year eleven Southern California watersheds were represented with students from twenty-four schools in eighteen cities. The SIMA Environmental Fund grant funded ocean research voyages on the R/V Sea Explorer that are a favorite component of the program. This opportunity for students to have first-hand ocean discovery is integral to the deep impact the program makes. Cruise expenses include fuel, wages for the Captain and educators, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The Watershed Program’s intended goal each year is to increase awareness and proactive stewardship of Southern California’s Pacific Ocean and interrelated watersheds with fifth grade students from all socioeconomic levels. Students in the program become informed and empowered to make choices and decisions that help protect and restore the ocean’s health. As a result of gains in knowledge, students are equipped and excited to influence their friends, families, and community leaders to take action with them to protect their community’s watersheds, the coast, and the oceans around the globe that belong to us all.

To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Students explored and discovered the interdependency of watersheds and oceans as they deployed equipment and conducted experiments at sea on the R/V Sea Explorer and in our marine science labs. Through a scientific lens, students saw how their daily behavior in their neighborhoods has serious impact all the way to the ocean. Each class conducted an environmental investigation focused on current ocean and watershed issues and used their findings to create presentations for Kids' Conference. They also were invited to present those projects as new experts on the ocean to community groups and civic leaders. Looking toward the program’s future, we intend to rigorously evaluate and update components as needed, ensuring the program stays relevant, engaging, and transformative as the field of ocean science continues to evolve. We also will diligently seek funding to expand the program and to include teachers on the waiting list. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? This grant from the SIMA Environmental Fund has equipped over 1,800 youngsters to be life-long ocean stewards. We measure increases in knowledge through pre-program and post-program testing that also documents new commitment to protecting the ocean. Two-thirds of the students live inland and have never been to the ocean. The website www.ed-data.k12.ca.us shows underserved demographics as high as 90% on the federal free/reduced meal program and 80% from families where English is not the first language. Educationally, Watershed engages in real-world programming that sparks curiosity - the foundation of learning and a key factor in academic achievement. Students are America’s future, but California’s students score among the lowest in the nation on science tests according to the Nation’s Report Card. The Watershed Program helps mitigate sub-par schooling with lackluster teaching methods and only limited access to rigorous courses. Students are taught by our enthusiastic educators who are role models as professional environmentalists and ocean scientists. Environmentally, one hundred percent of the fifth-grade students learn the importance of a healthy ocean during the program. Oceans are crucial life support systems but they are now in peril. They are overfished, polluted and faced with invasive species. We face climate change and ocean acidification, and drilling continues to address the demand for oil and gas. We all need to be informed and motivated to protect ocean resources. Watershed inspires nearly 2,000 youngsters each year toward that goal. Using your grant, we transform children’s lives by providing opportunities for them to be curious, to be excited to learn about the ocean, and to take on new responsibility and roles in environmental protection. Quantitative results include:

• 100% of the students gained new ocean and watershed knowledge • 100% of the students learned that the ocean belongs to everyone equally, no matter where they live • 100% of the students understand the seven principles of ocean literacy • In the short-term, nearly all participants became motivated to make informed choices so they limit human impact on the ocean • Students demonstrated that they could be effective at teaching others how even the smallest behavioral changes add up to make a tremendous difference in restoring and protecting fragile marine ecosystems What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) The grant allows the Ocean Institute to work toward fulfilling its mission to inspire students to protect the ocean today and for many tomorrows. Ocean Institute programs, including Watershed, are successful at sowing the seeds for a lifetime of discovery. SIMA Environmental Fund has played an important role in how the Ocean Institute has reached its 40th year of encouraging all visitors and program participants to develop a sense of ocean ownership. Watershed uses your grant and others in alignment with our goal to serve a diverse community. Since 2004, Watershed has grown to become one of our flagship programs and it remains free of charge, so it is available to all. As we seek organizational sustainability, we use your grant to leverage other funding. We are proud to have the well-respected SIMA Environmental Fund partner with us for Watershed, giving other grant funders confidence to do the same for the Ocean Institute. The Ocean Institute is committed to ensuring that Watershed remains a real-world experience; research supports the fact that students are more engaged in learning when experiences are authentic. Our educators set high standards for themselves and high expectations of the students. There is always a waiting list of teachers who want to bring their students to Watershed at the Ocean Institute. Your grant to the Watershed Program maintains the program's hands-on nature and provides ocean voyages that are an integral part of the overall experience. This method of immersive learning is effective in the Ocean Institute’s overall mission to educate, enlighten, and inspire action every day. Thank you.


Orange County Coastkeeper


Organization: Orange County Coastkeeper Contact Person: Garry Brown Title: Founder & President Purpose of Grant: This grant reduces and eliminate toxic pollutants from entering the water stream that has the potential to impair coastal waters. Orange County has one of the largest watershed areas in Southern California. Urban runoff and storm flows from over 3,200 square miles of mostly developed urban area containing nearly 5 million people drains through and from Orange County. This runoff discharges into our waterways, harbors and to our coastal waters. It dramatically impairs water quality for recreational use, including surfing. This toxic water contains viruses and pathogens tha can cause illness to those who ingest polluted water. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The Orange County Coastkeeper requested funding to continue its Coastal Water Qualtiy Improvement Program. This program has been the cornerstone of Coastkeeper’s body of work. It continues to produce, in measurable results, improved water quality of our coastal water, and an enhanced beach environment along our 42-mile coastline. The Program comprises four initiatives; strong advocacy, generating good science with water monitoring, aggressive enforcement using litigation, and education to both students and adults. The Goal is to keep improving and maintaining water quality for ocean waters along our 42-mile coastline. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Coastkeeper’s mission is to 1) reduce the flows from sources, 2) promote regulations, programs and projects that improve water quality, and 3) minimize the impact of pollution to our coastal waters. The result is improvement of our surfing environment along the Orange County coastline. Documented records indicate we have succeeded with each . We continue to experience a decline in “beach mile days” contamination postings and closures over the past decade. As positive as this is, we can not afford diminish our efforts or programs; it only shows our programs are working. Each year

we continue to experience discharges of polluted runoff, sewage spills, and storm flows that deposit tons of trash and debris on our beaches. The good news is that the frequency and quantities are substantially less. All of Orange County’s surfing beaches are now receiving an ‘A’ Grade for water quality, except for a storm event. We cannot affort to back off as there is significnat push-back from discharges to regulations we have worked hard to get into place. A major component of the program is Coastkeeper’s on-going exclusive campaign focused on cities and sanitation districts to expedite inspections, repairs, and retrofitting of aging sewage collection systems. The goal is to eliminate sewage spills reducing postings and closings of Orange County beaches. Through litigation, collaboration, and data monitoring Coastkeeper applies constant pressure on cities and special districts to invest more capital in retrofitting collection systems. The Result: The number of sewage spills continues to decrease. Today, the number of sewage spills annually is only a small fraction of what they were a decade ago. Coastkeeper successfully persuaded OCTA’s agreement to create a 2% of gross revenue fund for Water Quality Clean-Up program to the Measure M extension approved by the voters. Since 2011, the Envoironmental Clean-up Allocation Committee actively funds O.C. cities and the County of Orange to install “Best Management Technologies” (BMPs) that will treat urban runoff and remove trash and debris from ocean discharges. This program requires Coastkeeper’s involvement in establishing the distribution process of these funds. The Result: Coastkeeper Chairs the Environmental Clean-up Allocation Committee of OCTA, which ensures that funding goes to projects that improve coastal water quality. From 2011 to the present, $57 million has been granted to O.C. cities and the County to improve water quality of our waterways, harbors and coastal waters. Every city in the County has been funded to install devices that remove thrash and other pollutants from waters that discharge to the ocean. Continual collaboration with regualtory agencies, such as the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the County Watersheds Department, water and sanitation districts, and the Coastal Commission has generated higher water quality standards and requirements that dischargers must comply with. The dischargers are defined as cities, the County, industrial facilities, and special districts. Coastkeeper is the only environmental organization that has participated for the last fifteen years as a major stakeholder in developing these water quality standards for the regions waterways that drain to the ocean. Through Coastkeeper’s continual collaboration with the development industry, new development projects, both inland and coastal, are ensured to have state-of-the-art water quality management plans, which include total capture or treatment of urban runoff. The Result: Due to Coastkeeper’s efforts, all new development will be engineered with Low Impact Development Standards. This results guarantees less volume of water being discharges to the ocean. Enforcement & Litigation: Coastkeeper has substantially increased its enforcement presence throughout the watershed. With less enforcement from the agencies charged

with enforcing water quality laws, Coastkeeper has compensated by increasing our volume of enforcement cases. Today, Coastkeeper has brought over 90 Federal Clean Water Act enforcement cases to largely industrial polluters and to seveal local government agencies—all with a 100% success record. Industries such as the scrap metal, truck dismanteler, mining, food processing, trash haulers, machine fabrication, ready-mix plants, and metal foundaries have been forced to clean-up their facilities and ensure no discharge of pollution into our waterways, which ultimately discharge to the ocean.The Result: Through our clean water enforcement litigation we are cleaning up our watershed industry by industry. Special Note: This past year, Coastkeeper has filed a federal enforcement action against the City of San Juan Capistrano for multiple violations of the Federal Clean Water Act and other Federal and State regulations. This case pertains to the City’s operation of a horse riding facility adjacent to San Juan Creek. Periodically, thousands of horses are boarded in temporary stables without appropriate Best Management Practices for waste. The banks of the Creek have been illegally filled-in and seven horse washing racks that drain to the creek have been installed on the infill. We believe this source of major sporadic pollution might be the real cause of Doheny Beach pollutions issues at Baby Beach---and not the birds. Education: In 2017, Coastkeeper’s multi-level education programs received some funding from this years SIMA grant. These funds supported our “Kid’s Ocean Day” program. This is focused at the elementary age students where we go to the schools and put on assemblies talking about the ocean and the pollutions that comes from the land and our streets and highways. On one day in June, 1,500 elementary kids come to the beach at Huntington Beach. They first pick up trash, then pose for ariel photography send a Message for the Ocean. This a great program fostering the concept of steawardship our our young children. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? The area we serve is over 3,000 square miles of dense urban development with approximately 5 million residents. It is Coastkeeper’s contention that the entire area and population is both served and enhanced by our Coastal Water Quality Improvement Program. Reducing pollution and toxic runoff that flows through our watershed in creeks, streams, and channels and into our harbors to our coastal waters serves the entire population. By enhancing the quality of the water that flows through our communities and to our coast, we are improving the integrity of our communities. Surfing is the most direct beneficiary of our work, but it is really the entire watershed that benefits as well. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.)

The Impact of Coastkeeper’s Coastal Water Quality Improvement Program has had a very significant impact on the Organization’s visible standing throughout the watershed (Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties). Our successes in advocacy, our collaborative nature and commitment to work with others (even those that do not share our passion for the environment), and our enforcement of clean water laws, have given Coastkeeper a high level of credibility throughout the region. Our successes have brought greater credibility and the credibility has allowed for more successes. Thank you, SIMA!


Paso Pacifico


Organization: Paso Pacifico Contact Person: Sarah Otterstrom Title: Executive Director Purpose of Grant: The purpose of this grant was to protect and restore the Pacific marine environments and beaches of southwestern Nicaragua by working in the following areas: Ocean Education: Increasing appreciation for the ocean among the Nicaraguan general public, the Nicaraguan surfing community, and rural children from fishing and farming communities. Educational topics include trash-free seas and waterways, marine biodiversity, the link between ocean conservation and surfing tourism, and the rights of local people to access beaches and surf breaks. Ocean Conservation: Reducing the organic and inorganic pollutants that enter rivers and the marine environment through community participation in cleanups, establishment of marine protected areas, mangrove restoration, and sustainable aquaculture and tourism management. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The overarching goal of this project was to protect the Pacific Ocean and beaches of southwestern Nicaragua through increased awareness within the local Nicaraguan surfing community and through ocean conservation and restoration measures. There were five specific objectives for this project: 1. Lead beach clean-ups in partnership with local businesses and surfing community at key surfing beaches 2. Coordinate the International Coastal Cleanup for all of Nicaragua in September 2017 3. Support outreach and education during regional surf competitions and events held in Nicaragua 4. Share ocean conservation curricular units to junior rangers (100 students/year) and involve these students in beach and ocean clean-ups

5. Provide technical assistance and supervision to hotel and surfer partners in order to establish a sea turtle nesting beach protection program at Playa Maderas To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Objective 1) Lead beach clean-ups in partnership with local businesses and surfing community at key surfing beaches We met our targets through cleanup at key beaches in association with the surf community. Apart from the International Coastal Cleanup, we led cleanups at beaches that included Playa Hermosa, Playa La Flor, Playa Maderas, Playa Yankee and mangrove estuaries at Escamequita and Escameca Grande. These cleanups were conducted in partnerships with local businesses and the surfing community including Morgan’s Rock Ecolodge, Costa Dulce Resort, and included more than 100 participants overall. Over the past two months our clean-up efforts have been challenged by the extreme weather this rainy season: this fall, after weeks of record rain, a major flood associated with Hurrican Nate devastated coastal communities and damaged one of Paso Pacifico’s field offices. We will continue to maintain and seek partnerships with local businesses, surfing communities, and organizations that help maintain clean beaches; these local partnerships make it possible for us to scale our impacts. In March 2017, we achieved our goal to establish garbage service on two beaches. We place one hundred receptacles between villages at Playa Ostional, Playa Yankee (village Tortuga) and Playa Yankee/Escamequita (village Escamequita). We arranged for the local garbage collection service to empty the cans as needed through meetings and coordination with the San Juan del Sur municipal government. The garbage receptacles were purchased through matching funding from the IDB-Multi-Lateral Investment Fund. Objective 2) Coordinate the International Coastal Cleanup for all of Nicaragua in September 2017 2017 was our 10th year coordinating the International Coastal Cleanup for the entire country of Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s annual participation in this worldwide beach cleanup event led by the Ocean Conservancy has been made possible through the consecutive funding and support provided by the SIMA Environmental Fund. This year, our goal was to clean 20 beaches and attract 5000 volunteers. Nationwide, we organized twenty-six cleanups at beaches and lakes. Of these, twenty cleanups proceeded as planned and six cleanups were postponed due to heavy rains and Hurricane Nate. We have now scheduled clean-ups for November 2017 with authorization from the Ocean Conservancy. We have compiled data for thirteen cleanups and are still compiling data for the remainder. At those thirteen beaches, 1,281 participants picked up 17,585 pound of garbage. While we probably did not reach our goal of 5000 participants, the thirteen cleanups had more participants than all the cleanups we had last year.

The event was a success as US Ambassador Laura F. Dogu, along with local surfers and our Junior Rangers joined in the clean-up, and the two major newspapers covered the cleanup event as well as several major news radios stations. The US Embassy also shared the news of the cleanup through its media channels. For future cleanups, we will decrease the number of expected volunteers, but increase the number of beaches we reach. Our goal is to involve an additional 5 beaches that were not previously included in the International Coastal Cleanup in 2018. Objective 3) Support outreach and education during regional surf competitions and events held in Nicaragua There have not been international surfing competitions in Nicaragua this year and so to bridge the gap in reporting (we did not report on our 2016 activities) we will focus on our participation in the Asociación Latinoamericana de Surf (ALAS)’ to organize the “Torneo ALAS Latin Pro Nicaragua” held in July 2016. Paso Pacifico helped sponsored this international competition by assisting in event organization in coordination with Lucy Valenti of CANATUR. Through this participation, we were able to give a brief presentation to the attendees about coastal and ocean conservation efforts in Nicaragua and to urge the audience to support sustainable surf tourism by maintaining clean beaches and supporting coastal access. During the event presentation we also were able to acknowledge the SIMA Environmental Fund for its contribution to this ocean conservation outreach. We had an educational stand throughout the event which was staff by Paso Pacifico community rangers and Junior Rangers who shared information about protecting our coasts. Objective 4) Share ocean conservation curricular units to junior rangers (100 students/year) and involve these students in beach and ocean clean-ups We met and exceeded our goal to share ocean conservation curricular units with 100 Junior Ranger students in 2017. And in 2016, a total of 132 children participated in and graduated from the Junior Ranger program. These youths not only participated in cleanup events together with the surfing community (more than doubling our target of 50 Junior Rangers participating), but also in rich ocean conservation curricular units. Thanks in part to SIMA’s support, this year in 2017 Junior Ranger learned about ocean and mangrove ecosystems, participated in a workshop in San Juan del Sur about whales, released baby turtles in La Flor Wildlife Refuge, visited local mangroves, and participated in cleanups and surfing outreach efforts. We intend to reach another 100 Junior Rangers in 2018, but also plan to strengthen our ocean conservation curriculum objective by including studies of marine mammals in next year’s curriculum. During the ALAS Latin Pro surfing event in 2016, teams of ten Junior Rangers assisted at our event table daily. These young people proudly shared with the public and the international surfing community ways that people can reduce plastic pollution and

protect marine wildlife. displayed a banner about sea turtle protection and talked with people about reducing garbage as well as setting an example to surf event attendees by picking up litter and placing them in nearby garbage cans. Objective 5) Provide technical assistance and supervision to hotel and surfer partners in order to establish a sea turtle nesting beach protection program at Playa Maderas We are providing technical assistance and supervision to hotel and surfer partners in order to establish a sea turtle nesting beach protection program at Playa Maderas, Playa Colorado, Playa Azul, Playa Yankee, and Rancho Guasacate (near Popoyo). These sites are important nesting beach for critically endangered leatherback sea turtles while also providing prime surf breaks. We have been meeting with management and staff at hotels to plan for a leatherback sea turtle protection program. Next month, hotel staff and leaders from nearby coastal communities will attend a weeklong focused on beach and leatherback sea turtle protection. This training and a follow-up community-led leatherback protection program is funded in part by the USFWS-Marine Turtle Fund. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? Here we describe indicators of our impact for each of the project objectives: Objective 1. Lead beach clean-ups in partnership with local businesses and surfing community at key surfing beaches - led six cleanups at surfing beaches in partnership with local businesses and the surfing community - involved more than 100 people in cleanups at key surfing beaches - established garbage service with 100 garbage cans that influence 3 beaches including Playa Yankee Objective 2. Coordinate the International Coastal Cleanup for all of Nicaragua in 2017 - 26 cleanups organized - 20 beaches cleaned - more than 1,281 volunteers (still compiling data) - more than 17,585 pounds of garbage cleaned up (still compiling data) Objective 3. Support outreach and education during regional surf competitions and events held in Nicaragua - Outreach about ocean conservation to 1000+ attendees during ALAS Latin Pro Nicaragua in 2016 Objective 4. Share ocean conservation curricular units to junior rangers (100 students/year) and involve these students in beach and ocean clean-ups - 50 junior rangers participate in events together with the surfing community

- Shared rich ocean conservation curricular units with 132 Junior Rangers, children from rural villages near the coast and graduated these students from the Jr. Ranger program Objective 5. Provide technical assistance and supervision to hotel and surfer partners in order to establish a sea turtle nesting beach protection program at Playa Maderas - Partnership development underway at four beaches important to Leatherbacks - Training workshop planned for community and surf hotel staff in November 2017 What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Continued support from the SIMA Environmental Fund has enabled Paso Pacifico to maintain surfing as a thread that connects all of its water and ocean conservation programs. The 2016 grant continues our association with the fund and with SIMA, and those associations gives us more credibility and recognition in the international surfing and tourism sector. This has helped open the door for us to partner with surfing groups, hotels, and tourism boards on a number of projects. For example, we received counterpart funding for $700,000 from IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund focused on sustainable tourism, including surf tourism, in coastal areas and have been able to expand community-based tourism in San Juan del Sur. The USFWS Marine Turtle Fund is another example of funding that has been brought on to work closely with surfing hotels at key sea turtle nesting beaches. Funding from the SIMA Environmental fund has been crucial to leveraging these partnerships and attracting new funding. We are grateful the SIMA Environmental Fund and its Board for making this possible.


Reef Check Foundation


Organization: Reef Check Foundation Contact Person: Jan Freiwald Title: Director, Reef Check California Purpose of Grant: Thanks to the wonderful support of the SIMA Environmental Fund in 2016, the Reef Check Foundation’s California Program (RCCA) has almost completed its twelfth year of improving marine management in California through education, training and community engagement. The 2017 SIMA Environmental Fund grant allowed Reef Check to grow in efficacy and impact as California’s only statewide reef monitoring network. The Reef Check California program was established in 2005 to sustain and strengthen California’s coastal communities by protecting and improving the health and sustainability of California’s reefs. It does so by empowering California’s ocean enthusiasts, through education, training and community engagement, to become active stewards of their local ocean resources. Specifically, RCCA’s goal is to use citizen science, community-based monitoring and data collection to improve marine management and educate the public about the marine environment along our coast. RCCA’s training and monitoring program effectively empowers thousands of California’s ocean lovers to take direct action in the stewardship and management of California’s reefs. Our volunteers, who range in experience from surfers to commercial fishermen to recreational ocean users and university students, come to RCCA because they are concerned about the changes they see in California’s marine environment. They want to “make a difference” and “dive with a purpose”. RCCA gives these concerned citizens an avenue to make a tangible difference in the management of their marine resources by engaging them in the education and conservation processes, and promoting ocean stewardship among California’s coastal communities. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The Reef Check Foundation was awarded, in 2016, a one-year SIMA grant for its Reef Check California Program (RCCA) for the stated goal of continuing to improve marine management and conservation in California. RCCA provides critical ecological data on California’s nearshore rocky reef ecosystems through its work with volunteer scuba divers as citizen scientists; and by educating the public it creates an informed

constituency supportive of science-based management and conservation. RCCA’s four objectives are to: 1) Facilitate citizen science monitoring by increasing the number, and retention of certified RCCA divers; 2) Directly contribute to marine decision-making and management by expanding and strengthening RCCA’s monitoring network; 3) Work with decision-makers, resource professionals, and stakeholders to bring RCCA’s monitoring data to bare on resource management and policy decisions by analyzing and sharing data; 4) Broaden RCCA's public education and outreach to surfers, recreational divers, ocean users, community members, commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists, academia, state agencies, and business groups, all of whom work together to monitor and conserve the rocky reef ecosystems. In 2017, RCCA was involved in marine protected area (MPA) monitoring throughout the state and in fact is now the only program that monitors kelp forest and rocky reefs in MPAs statewide to inform California’s resource managers. We are particularly excited to report that we have added a climate change monitoring program to our long-term ecological monitoring. We now track changes in water temperature, ocean pH and dissolved oxygen along the California coast. All of these parameters are indicators of a changing ocean in response to global climate change. Linking climate change monitoring directly with ecosystem monitoring will allow us to better understand the impact climate change will have on our coastal resources. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? We are excited to report that in 2017 - once again - the Reef Check California program met or exceeded all of its annual objectives as outlined in the SIMA proposal: Objective 1) In 2017 we have maintained a body of active volunteers of about 300 participants. While the exact numbers are not in yet as we are still in our field season, we have maintained a high level of volunteer retention and trained many new volunteers. Objective 2) In 2017 we already conducted 97 surveys statewide and we are still going strong with about a month of survey season left this year. This will be the first year with over 100 surveys statewide. Again, we completed two excursions to survey sites in the difficult to reach coast of the Northern Channel Islands and along the Big Sur coast. We have added an excursion to the backside of Santa Catalina Island an area which has not been surveyed in years. Objective 3) We have shared the results of our monitoring work widely in 2017. Our findings from the northern California MPA baseline monitoring have been published and a summary of some results was distributed in the “A Changing Undersea Forest” edition of the Ocean Science Trust snapshot report series. We continually improve the capabilities of our Global Reef Tracker data portal (data.reefcheck.org). Our work has been featured in several new media and we have presented the results of our work at conferences and meeting at all levels from local

community gathering to national scientific conferences and co-authored several scientific publications in 2017. Objective 4) We have successfully broadened our outreach through several avenues and continued to give presentations on marine conservations, MPAs and the importance of citizen sciences monitoring of the marine environment. We have worked closely with the MPA collaboratives statewide to create outreach and education materials. In particular, we are excited to report that we have successfully grown our school children education program – Reef Check’s EMBARC program. This program, now run out of our office in Marina del Rey, is taking school children out on a whale watching boat to let them be ‘marine biologist’ for a day. We have partnered with several schools and there is much demand for this program as teachers continue to return with their classes. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? We now have a time-series dataset of the ecological communities on California’s rocky reefs spanning more than a decade and of an unprecedented geographic scope. No other organization has such an expansive dataset on the rocky reef and kelp forest communities along our coast. This information will be useful for current and future management of our marine resources and for understanding the effects of Californian’s MPAs. Our biggest success in 2017 was the addition of climate change monitoring to our citizen science program. Going forward we will continuously monitor for changes in temperature, acidity and oxygen (OAH) statewide. This will help to better inform adaptive management of California’s marine resources in light of a changing climate. We continue to see massive declines in the kelp forest along the north coast and are still focused on building capacity to collect data on red abalone. We hope this will contribute to the management of the recreational abalone fishery in northern California. Right now, this is critical as the environmental changes have led to a massive decline of the red abalone populations in this region. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Thanks to SIMA’s generous and ongoing support, RCCA continued in 2017 to give California’s concerned citizens an avenue for engagement in the conservation processes of California’s marine resources. SIMA funds helped to pay for the salaries of our tireless and dedicated staff, many of whom work every weekend during the entire dive season, from April to November, to empower our incredible volunteers to survey California’s reefs and make a difference. Your support enables us to continue our core mission of monitoring California’s reefs. Thank you again for your generous support of the Reef Check California program.


Santa Barbara Channelkeeper


Organization: Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Contact Person: Kira Redmond Title: Executive Director Purpose of Grant: The purpose of this grant was to support Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Clean Water Advocacy and Enforcement Program in 2017. The purpose of our Program is to protect and enhance water quality and aquatic habitats in the Santa Barbara Channel and its beaches, creeks, and ocean waters, and to defend our community’s interest in and right to clean water. Our aim is to compel government agencies and polluters to clean up major sources of water pollution and to enact and enforce stronger environmental protections for the Santa Barbara Channel and its beaches and tributaries in the interest of better protecting public health, wildlife, the environment, and our tourism and recreation-driven economy. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The purpose and goals of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper's 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant were to: • Sue the federal government for improperly authorizing permits for fracking and acidizing from offshore oil platforms in southern California waters and compel them to conduct a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report that adequately assesses and mitigates the impacts of these practices on wildlife and the environment; • Compel the City of Santa Barbara to implement a more effective sewer system management program that significantly reduces sewage spills; • Ensure that lessons learned from the Refugio Oil Spill are addressed so that oil spill response agencies, SBCK as an organization, and Santa Barbara as a community are better prepared and can respond more effectively to future spills; • Compel the State and Regional Water Boards to revise and strengthen agricultural pollution regulations to protect public health and the environment; • Track local decision-making on water supply issues and advocate for the prioritization of environmentally sound supply sources, including recycled water, stormwater capture and increased conservation and efficiency, over desalination and other environmentally harmful sources of water supply;

• Participate as the key environmental stakeholder in the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in the Ventura River watershed to ensure that the plans they’re developing to implement California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act effectively preserve water supplies and protect the Ventura River and its tributaries from over-pumping of groundwater; and • Conduct research and advocacy to ensure that oil exploration and production activities in the Santa Barbara Channel, including fracking, don’t harm water quality, aquatic habitats and public health To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Santa Barbara Channelkeeper (SBCK) made excellent progress toward our goals and objectives and achieved significant gains for clean water through our advocacy and enforcement efforts in 2017, thanks in no small part to support from the SIMA Environmental Fund. SBCK scored a big win this year in our effort to stop the federal government from allowing fracking and acidizing at offshore oil platforms along the southern California coast. In partnership with the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), we filed a lawsuit in November 2016 challenging the issuance of permits by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to authorize the use of these “well stimulation techniques” at offshore oil platforms in southern California, including in the Santa Barbara Channel, without first completing a full Environmental Impact Report and consulting with federal wildlife agencies about potential impacts to endangered species, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. This past July, SBCK and EDC cleared a huge legal hurdle when the Court agreed with the arguments we laid out in our legal brief and denied the feds' motion to dismiss our lawsuit. This favorable ruling allows us to proceed with our case, which aims to provide much-needed information on the potential environmental impacts of fracking and acidizing so that appropriate measures can be implemented to protect the environment and the diverse web of marine life along our coast. SBCK achieved several additional victories through our oil-related advocacy in 2017. We served as a lead advocate in support of Senate Bill (SB) 44, the Coastal Oil Well Cleanup and Remediation Act, authored by our State Senator Hannah Beth Jackson. The bill requires the California State Lands Commission to monitor and plug old “orphaned” or “legacy” oil wells in California waters when the original oil company that operated the well no longer exists and cannot be held responsible. It also directs up to $2 million dollars annually for the state to remediate improperly abandoned and leaking legacy wells, the majority of which are located in Santa Barbara County. As the bill progressed through the Legislature, SBCK submitted letters of support to various legislative committees and Governor Brown, and rallied scores of constituents to submit additional support letters through a series of action alerts. At Sen. Jackson’s request, SBCK also served as an expert witness for the bill at a key committee hearing

in Sacramento. We are thrilled to report that the Governor signed the bill into law in October 2017. In August, SBCK submitted written comments on the Trump administration’s initiation of a new Five-Year National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which could re-open the California coast to new and expanded offshore oil development. The entire Pacific Coast has been excluded from the five-year leasing plans for the past 25 years, and California hasn't issued a new lease in State waters since the devastating 1969 oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel. SBCK’s comments emphasized that this new plan threatens the progress California has made to protect our coastal resources and to transition from dirty fossil fuels toward cleaner, renewable energy sources, and urged that the Santa Barbara Channel remain excluded from the new plan. We will continue to participate in the public review process as it moves forward. SBCK and our allies have worked hard over the past several years to oppose Venoco's efforts to expand oil development at Platform Holly and in the sensitive shoreline of the Ellwood Mesa (in Goleta). In April, Venoco declared bankruptcy and returned the leases associated with Platform Holly and the Ellwood Beach piers to the State to be incorporated into the California Coastal Sanctuary. This is a huge victory because it permanently ends operations at the only remaining oil platform in State waters in the Santa Barbara Channel. SBCK will work with the State Lands Commission and our partners to ensure that the platform and associated facilities are decommissioned in the most environmentally sound way possible. In addition, after a nearly three-year long process and weeks of public testimony, in March 2017 the San Luis Obispo (SLO) County Board of Supervisors voted to uphold its Planning Commission's denial of the Phillips 66 Rail Spur Extension Project. The project would have sent three additional oil trains per week (each carrying 2.2 million gallons of crude oil) traveling along the California coast, passing through or near residential areas, schools, endangered species habitat, public beaches, Marine Protected Areas, and tourist destinations. SBCK testified numerous times in opposition to the project over the course of the process, and the SLO County Board of Supervisors agreed with the pleas of SBCK, other environmental groups, teachers' unions, firefighting associations, medical professionals, school districts, state agencies, local governments, homeowners associations, and public health officials throughout California that the project was simply not worth the risks. SBCK also had great success this past year with our work to ensure that lessons learned from the devastating Refugio Oil Spill of May 2015 are adequately addressed. Over the past year, SBCK has been actively participating in quarterly meetings of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Area Committee, which is comprised of various government agency representatives charged with updating the Oil Spill Contingency Plan for our region (San Luis Obispo to Orange County) to address lessons learned from prior spills. Various subcommittees were established under the Area Committee to incorporate

recommendations from the county, state, and federal spill response agencies’ Refugio Oil Spill “After Action Reports” into the Contingency Plan. SBCK has been participating in two subcommittees, on “Information Management” and “Operational Needs,” and helped develop a natural seep monitoring plan and an improved oil sampling strategy, as well as a mechanism for research institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like SBCK to apply for access to spill sites for third-party monitoring. Through our participation in the Area Committee, SBCK has also successfully advocated for a new requirement to include NGOs in Coordinators’ Meetings during spill response, which will provide for more transparency and community input in decisions made by Unified Command as well as improved coordination between NGOs and Unified Command. We have also been working with the spill response agencies to update maps and sensitive site protection plans in the Contingency Plan to more adequately identify and protect Marine Protected Areas from future spills. To address the After Action Reports’ recommendation that NGOs be better trained and integrated into spill preparedness and response, two SBCK staff members completed the 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPR) certification and the Incident Command System training, and also participated in a boom deployment drill at Hollister Ranch. SBCK’s continued involvement in the Area Committee and our participation in boom deployment drills has not only helped to ensure that important lessons learned from the Refugio Oil Spill are incorporated into the Oil Spill Contingency Plan, but also ensured that SBCK is identified by oil spill response agencies as a trusted and valuable partner with unique skills and assets to assist in the response to any future spills in our area. On another front, SBCK has been working for many years to secure stronger regulations to curb pollution from agriculture – one of the biggest threats to water quality and public health on California’s Central Coast. In March 2017, the Central Coast Regional Water Board adopted a "new" Ag Order that is essentially unchanged from the one it replaced, which SBCK and our partners challenged in 2013 as illegal and inadequate to arrest the continued degradation of the region's waters caused by agriculture. The Court ruled in our favor in 2015 and ordered the Water Board to adopt stronger regulations that will result in tangible improvements in surface water and groundwater quality, but the Water Board and ag industry groups appealed that ruling, and their appeal remains pending. After submitting extensive written comments and testifying before the Central Coast Regional Water Board in strong opposition to the new Ag Order, our coalition petitioned the State Water Board this past April to review and strengthen the Order. However, the State Water Board declined to review it, so we filed a new lawsuit against both the State and Central Coast Water Boards in August 2017, alleging that the boards have repeatedly failed to enact or enforce rules to effectively limit agricultural pollution, thereby jeopardizing the safety of public drinking water supplies and the health of rivers, coastal waters and fisheries. This lawsuit is another in a series of legal actions our coalition has taken in attempt to reverse the widespread and well-documented pollution of California's groundwater and surface water by agriculture, but it uses a new and creative legal strategy by arguing that the systematic failure by the water boards to adequately regulate agricultural pollution has

become "pattern and practice." Our goal is to secure the adoption of a new Ag Order that will result in real and verifiable improvements for waterways and communities impacted by agricultural pollution on the Central Coast, and that will set the precedent for Ag Orders in other regions of the state. SBCK succeeded in compelling the City of Santa Barbara to implement a more effective sewer system management program that will reduce sewage spills. Back in 2011, SBCK filed a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the City for having one of the highest rates of sewage spills on the Central Coast and lacking an adequate program to address the problem. The City signed a settlement agreement with SBCK in 2012 which required them to increase their level of effort and funding to repair and replace leaking sewer pipes and progressively reduce sewage spills. Unfortunately, however, the City exceeded the maximum number of spills allowed under our 2012 settlement in 3 of the first 4 years of the 5-year agreement, which prompted SBCK to notify the City in late 2016 that we would require an extension of our agreement or be forced to seek recourse from the Court. After extensive negotiations, the City signed a new agreement with SBCK in early 2017 which extends our 2012 settlement for an additional 3 years and commits the City to undertake specific improvements to its sewer pipe cleaning, assessment, and spill response protocols as well as to further reduce sewage spills. Over the past year, SBCK has continued to serve as the key environmental stakeholder in the process underway to implement California’s recently enacted Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in the Ventura River watershed. Under SGMA, agencies managing priority basins must develop robust Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) to protect groundwater supplies and interconnected rivers, but they also have a limited opportunity to submit an “alternative” to a GSP provided it is functionally equivalent to a full GSP. The Ventura River is identified by the State Water Board as one of the top five priority waterways in the entire state threatened by over-pumping of groundwater, but water agencies in that watershed are already fighting to preserve the status quo and avoid changes in water management that could result in any curtailment of groundwater pumping. This past spring, SBCK submitted extensive written comments to the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) expressing opposition to an Alternative Submittal by the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency (OGBMA). Its Alternative Submittal was grossly inadequate in demonstrating GSP equivalency and sought to make the case that its basin is already being managed sustainably but offered little evidence to support that claim. The Alternative Submittal is currently being reviewed by DWR, and we are awaiting its determination. SBCK has also been participating as the lead environmental stakeholder in processes convened by water agencies in the Upper Ventura River Basin through their newly established Groundwater Sustainability Agency. We’ve attended several meetings and reviewed and submitted comments on official proposals and plans that the Agency is required to submit to DWR as it works to comply with SGMA’s implementation timeline. The Agency recently recommended that its hydrology consultant partner with

SBCK to leverage our expertise to conduct surveys of stream flows in the river using an aerial drone. During the grant period, SBCK also continued to track and weigh in on the City of Santa Barbara’s reactivation of the desalination plant it built in response to the last drought in the early 1990s but then quickly mothballed when that drought came to an end. We were successful in compelling the City to complete studies analyzing the feasibility of replacing the desalination plant’s environmentally harmful open ocean intake with either subsurface intakes or a potable reuse facility, but unfortunately the City rigged the studies to pre-meditate a finding that both alternatives were infeasible by defining “feasible” as capable of producing 10,000 acre-feet per year of water (despite the fact that they are only recommissioning the desal plant to produce 3,125 acre-feet per year). Over the past year, SBCK testified at hearings before the Regional Water Board and City Council to express our disappointment with this premeditation and to urge the City to take a harder and fairer look at these more environmentally sound alternatives now that the drought emergency has dissipated and there is less need for desalinated water. Finally, in October SBCK co-sponsored a forum on the environment for the candidates running for Mayor of Santa Barbara, and we wrote two of the seven questions posed to the candidates, which required them to lay out their positions on water supply/desalination as well as on ocean pollution. The forum was well-attended by more than 200 local citizens. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? As a result of SBCK’s clean water advocacy and enforcement efforts over the past year, the beaches, rivers and coastal waters along the Santa Barbara Channel will be cleaner, healthier and safer, and fewer people will become ill from recreating in polluted water. Thanks to SBCK’s ongoing vigilance, the City of Santa Barbara is now required to ramp up its efforts to prevent sewage spills and repair and replace leaky sewer pipes, which threaten public health, our environment, property and the local economy by polluting creeks, beaches and coastal waters with pathogens and toxic chemicals. The outcome of SGMA implementation in the Ventura River watershed will have a direct and long-term impact on the Ventura River ecosystem, local water supplies, and all those who depend or care about them. Our involvement in the SGMA implementation process to date has already steered the Upper Ventura River Groundwater Sustainability Agency toward more robust strategies to attain sustainability, which will benefit wildlife and the community. Moreover, the outcome of SGMA implementation in the Ventura River watershed will likely set a precedent for how effectively DWR protects rivers state-wide under SGMA, so SBCK’s efforts to ensure that the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in this watershed develop and adopt new management strategies that are based on sound science and actually

achieve the goals of SGMA - to preserve water supplies and protect rivers from over-pumping of groundwater – will have far-reaching implications. Our outreach, education, advocacy and monitoring efforts in the wake of the Refugio Oil Spill are helping to ensure that important lessons from that spill are learned and incorporated so that oil spill response agencies, SBCK as an organization, and Santa Barbara as a community are better prepared and can respond more effectively in order to minimize the environmental and economic damage caused by oil spills that may occur in our region in the future. SBCK’s success in helping get Senate Bill 44 enacted will ensure that the numerous improperly abandoned oil wells along the Santa Barbara County coast will be properly capped. Many of these wells are leaking and pose a substantial threat to public health, aquatic life and water quality, so this legislation and the funding it provides will go a long way toward cleaning up sources of leaking oil on area beaches that have until now had no source of funding to be remediated. Finally, the forward progress on our fracking lawsuit puts us a crucial step closer to compelling the federal government to fully analyze and mitigate the impacts that fracking and acidizing may have on the environment and wildlife before issuing any more permits to approve these risky practices. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Thanks in large part to the generous support from the SIMA Environmental Fund, SBCK has been able to strengthen our capacity to provide credible, informed and effective advocacy to protect the beaches, rivers and coastal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel from the many pollution threats they face. Our success in influencing policies to better protect our water resources has not only resulted in better protections for the environment but also for the health of surfers and other ocean enthusiasts who recreate in our waters as well as the wildlife that inhabit them.


Save The Waves Coalition


Organization: Save The Waves Coalition Contact Person: Nick Mucha Title: Director of Programs Purpose of Grant: Ever since Save The Waves Coalition launched our initial campaign in urgent response to an ill-conceived coastal development in Madeira, we have seen waves continually threatened by coastal development, water pollution, coastal armoring, and beach closure. Many coastal communities also face trade-offs between costly infrastructure or development projects and longer-term tourism income. Without adequate economic information, communities are likely to discount the resources they already have, such as surfing spots, and instead promote unsustainable coastal development. Save The Waves seeks to preserve and protect the most iconic coastlines and surf breaks through a unique combination of protected areas, economics and direct action campaigns. Funds from this grant were used to directly address threats by creating a network of protected areas (World Surfing Reserves) and taking direct action to address acute coastal threats around the world (Endangered Waves). Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The goal of the 2016 SIMA grant was to support our environmental programs aimed at protecting and preserving our coastal resources with a focus on the surf zone. Specifically, this grant aimed to support the effective delivery of the World Surfing Reserve program, using the Endangered Waves program to address acute coastal threats around the world, and finally to increase our organizational capacity to respond to more demands around the world. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? With the support of the 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund, Save The Waves has met and exceeded most of the goals and objectives we laid out in our grant proposal.

The objective related to hosting the 5th Global Wave Conference has been postponed until March 2018 because the original dates in 2017 were in conflict with other organizations’ availability to participate. We are actively engaged in the planning for the March 2018 conference and will be fully executing that objective. World Surfing Reserves: Guarda do Embaú, Brazil This year STW has been focused on supporting the newest World Surfing Reseve at Guarda do Embaú in southern Brazil. Our efforts have been largely focused on helping that community mobilize around the WSR program, identifying a local stewardship council, and developing a stewardship plan to achieve measureable conservation outcomes in that location. In July 2017 STW staff spent time in the community to lead them through a series of workshops aimed at identifying their key coastal issues and drafting a stewardship plan in response. The result of this trip is a finalized stewardship plan that articulates their WSR goals, key issues, underling root causes, strategies, and activites. This plan serves as the blueprint for their conservation efforts and has identified the water quality and water use of the Rio do Madre River as their core focus. Gold Coast, Australia In March 2017, Save The Waves spent time visiting the Gold Coast Australia World Surfing Reserve to continue supporting their stewardship planning efforts. We also helped them host the International Surfing Symposium which drew international participation in a three-day conference exploring themese related to surfing and conservation.. Punta de Lobos, Chile We are participating in the formal Punta de Lobos WSR dedication ceremony on November 16, 2017. This ceremony will be the culmination of over three years working with the Pichilemu community to permanently protect Punta de Lobos from commercial coastal development plans. The past two years have been very productive as we have partnered with the Punta de Lobos Foundation and they have made great strides towards the original conservation model of acquiring the key coastal parcels and implementing conservation easement terms to guarantee their full legal protection in perpetuity. The ceremony on November 16 will be a public recognition of this achievement and will recognize all of the groups that have worked together to achieve this goal. Noosa, Australia In October 2017, the World Surfing Reserve Vision Council voted to approve Noosa, Australia as the 10th WSR. Noosa represents an exciting addition to the WSR network because of their strong commitment to coastal conservation and the deep community

support for this program. Save The Waves will begin working with the Noosa community in 2018 to draft their stewardship plan and identify the primary WSR projects. Santa Cruz, California With SIMA’s support we have taken great strides in implementing our Local Stewardship Plan in the Santa Cruz WSR. Our focus has been on improving the water quality at Cowell’s Beach, which has earned the distinction as ‘California’s Dirtiest Beach’ on the Heal The Bay report card. We have assembled and coordinated a Cowell’s Working Group over the past three years and have collectively studied the issue, resulting in our recommendation to Santa Cruz City Council to install bird exclusion barriers under the wharf. We concluded that pigeons were a significant contributor to the high bacteria levels. Since installing the bird barriers last summer, we have a reported two years of 50% less high bacteria postings compared with 2015. We will continue to work closely with the Cowell’s Working Group and conduct ongoing monitoring. Bahia de Todos Santos, Baja California, Mexico The Stewardship Plan for the Bahia de Todos Santos World Surfing Reserve is focused on establishing the first state park in Baja California. The proposed San Miguel State Park would legally protect 58 hectares of the critical watershed and rivermouth that create the epic surfing conditions at San Miguel. With SIMA’s support this past year, we have deepened our working relationship with Baja California’s Secretary of Environmental Protection and we are on track to have the State Park legally declared in early 2018. Global Wave Conference The Global Wave Conference (GWC) is scheduled to take place November 4-8 in Santa Cruz, CA. Save The Waves is co-hosting this event alongside Surfrider Foundation and we have been dedicating significant staff time toward the event planning. Event planning is also being supported with leadership by Surfers Against Sewage and SIMA. The 2018 GWC is a renowned international event that will bring together the brightest minds in surfing, conservation, and innovation. This year’s event will be focused on three themes; Land/Sea Connection, Marine Protected Areas, and Climate Change Innovation. Keynote speakers will include Greg Long, Shaun Tompson, Sylvia Earle, Greg Macgillivray, Guy Kawasaki, and others. Endangered Waves: Endangered Waves Mobile App

Over the past year, Save The Waves has launched our beta version of a surf spot-monitoring app that uploads photos and catalogs to an online mapping platform. This allows any user with a smart phone to take a picture of a coastal threat that will be geo-tagged to their location, choose the type of threat (water quality, marine debris, access), and then share it with our team on a mapping platform. This will allow us to create a database of user-generated threats from all over the world, and prioritize campaigns and actions. Over the course of this year we were able to do primary testing of the app with a group of approved users. We have consolidated the user experience feedback to now develop an improved version that should be publicly available via iTunes in December 2017. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? The goals achieved in 2017 with the 2015 SIMA Environmental Fund grant had the following impacts on the communities Save The Waves serves: World Surfing Reserves • Will be hosting the 9th WSR Dedication Ceremony at the Punta de Lobos, Chile World Surfing Reserve. • Raised over $400,000 to support Fundacion Punta de Lobos’ acquisition and permanemtn legal protection of 6 acres of coastline through conservation easements. • Observed a second straight year of 50% reductions in high bacteria postings at Cowell’s Beach, compared to 2015. • Approved Noosa, Australia as the 10th World Surfing Reserve • Held regular Global Wave Conference (GWC) planning meetings to prepare for the March 2018 GWC held in Santa Cruz, CA Endangered Waves and Direct Action • Launched and tested first beta version of the Endangered Waves mobile app • Gathered user experience feedback and initiated development of next version What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) The support from the SIMA Environmental Fund has allowed Save The Waves to enhance its operational infrastructure, including technology and processes; increase our capacity to deliver and improve our programs; improve our board policies and organization governance; and attract, recruit, and retain talented employees and fellows.


Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz


Organization: Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz Contact Person: Julie Barrett Heffington Title: Director Purpose of Grant: Funding was used to deliver ocean science and conservation programs for school groups––kindergarten through community college––at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz. Each of the following three student opportunities is of equal importance. 1.) Discovery Lab & Tour 2.) Reserved School Tour 3.) Self-Guided Exhibit Exploration Funds were spent during fiscal year 2016-17. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. Ocean Science and Conservation Education Programs: K–Community College The Seymour Center provides a welcoming setting for learning about the ocean. Through age-specific curricula for visiting K-14 school groups, we build an awareness of the ocean’s importance to all humans, increase consciousness of threats to ocean health, provide skills to study and learn more about the ocean, and encourage a stronger bond with the marine environment and its inhabitants. Our purpose is to empower these students to take action in their lives that helps to protect and conserve our ocean environments. Participating in a Seymour Center school program may provide the first experience many of our region’s diverse students (and their parents) have had in a marine science center or with ocean conservation topics. Participation provides an introductory opportunity for younger ages to explore their ocean and its inhabitants. It may provide a pivotal experience for a high school or community college student to discover an ocean-related career, or simply make them a more conservation-minded young adult. The Seymour Center is committed to providing ocean science and conservation

programs for our region’s diverse population, regardless of background or financial situation. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Our goals were met during the grant period by providing three different opportunities for visiting school groups from kindergarten through community college to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants. Students engaged in age-appropriate programs led by teams of science educators and outstanding volunteer instructors and interns. We provided Discovery Labs & Tours for seven months of the year, immersing students in hands-on lab activities where they worked closely with live animals, objects, and artifacts. The youngest students worked with live sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers, and sand dollars, discovering the “gripping” world of these spiny-skinned creatures. Grade two students explored the fascinating world of sharks, rays, and skates, learning about their adaptations that make them different from other fish. Fourth graders learned about the sea otter’s important role in a healthy kelp forest food chain. Middle schoolers explored the deep sea by experimenting with pressure and how visible light changes with depth. High school and community college students compared and contrasted the anatomy, physiology, and evolutionary history of marine mammals. Reserved School Tours occurred year round, with a skillful guide sharing the sights and sounds of a working marine lab, including encountering the enormous “Ms. Blue,” one of the world’s largest whale skeletons. Self-Guided Exhibit Explorations also occurred year round, providing the opportunity for teachers to create their own activities, or select from our specially designed activities made for their visit. Live animals inspired students to pose questions as scientists do, while knowledgeable docents helped students understand how researchers work in the lab and in the field. Each of these program types fulfilled a different niche for visiting school groups who have varying time and transportation regimes, different teaching styles and learning needs, or other logistical or content-driven requirements. Factors affecting success: While programs were successful, one staff change occurred between the grant submission and implementation. A long-time staff member resigned and relocated out of state due to personal reasons. While we lost this key individual (Suzanne Hebert), this provided the unusual opportunity to rehire a founding member of the Seymour Center staff who served for nearly six years as our first Youth Programs Manager, beginning with the Center’s opening in 2000. Kevin Keedy is once again our Youth Programs Manager. During his first years at the Seymour Center, Kevin wrote the bulk of the ocean science curriculum that was still in use during this grant period.

About Kevin: Kevin holds a B.A. in biology, with a marine science emphasis; an M.A. in education; and California Teaching Credentials in Life Sciences and Multiple Subjects with a BCLAD (Bilingual, Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development––English/Spanish Certificate). His work experience includes nearly 20 years of implementing science programs for a diverse K-14 audience in field, lab, and formal classroom settings. We are extremely pleased to have Kevin return to our team after a decade away teaching science in the formal school system. On a more challenging front, amenities that made visitation for school groups simple and seamless declined due circumstances beyond our control––the ongoing nearby construction of a significant building and associated infrastructure. The entry gate from a public street onto our approach road moved several times; the gate malfunctioned many times during open hours; temporary signage was unclear, incorrect, or lacking entirely; the half-mile approach road itself followed three different paths (all spurring from that same gate area); and finally moved completely to a gravel road that was rough and difficult due to equipment and rain. In general, the approach to the Seymour Center (which is already remote) was problematic. Upon arrival, parking was often problematic and in short supply due to the construction. Construction equipment and materials near our iconic outdoor exhibits (blue and gray whale skeletons) imposed temporary barriers across walking paths, making access difficult, noisy, and confusing for educators and school groups alike. It was also an extremely rainy winter with highway closures throughout our service area that forced an unusual number of school group cancellations. These disturbances contributed to slightly lower than expected participation. Future plans: While we will not revise the objective of delivering these programs to a diverse K-14 audience, we are moving forward with revising the actual programs. With Kevin’s leadership, we are now redesigning our curriculum to help teachers meet the newly adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These new standards place extra emphasis on environmental education and protection of natural resources including the ocean. Our programs will still include the hands-on opportunities for students to work with live animals in an exciting setting, but also engage them in scientific practices essential to understanding and conserving our oceans. At the time of this report writing, the construction described above is nearly complete. Positive outcomes include a new approach road with an orientation kiosk, new ADA- compliant paths, lighting, signage, and outdoor interpretive panels, increased native coastal landscaping, nearby wetlands restoration, and increased parking. All of these aspects are very positive for K-14 student visitors to the Seymour Center. These K-14 ocean education programs are a keystone offering of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. We are committed to funding this work through proceeds from our annual auction, fundraising gala, earned income streams (such as facility rentals and book shop), and our ongoing donor support.

What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? The Seymour Center motivated thousands of students and teachers in grades K-12 and community colleges through these marine science programs. During the grant period, we provided 8,593 students, teachers, and adult chaperones with inspiring school field trips. Of the 304 classes that visited, 200 engaged in our acclaimed, hands-on Discovery Labs. The remaining 104 classes were nearly equally divided between Reserved School Tours and Self-Guided Exhibit Explorations. All three experiences are equally valuable with teachers choosing the one that best fits their needs. 115 classes, more than a third of all visiting classes, came from Title 1 schools with high numbers of students from low-income families. Scholarships from Seymour Center donors helped fund trips for Title 1 schools, making it possible for more than 1,198 participants from these schools to experience marine science at a working research lab. Local schools in Santa Cruz County and the greater San Francisco Bay Area made the Seymour Center an essential part of their students’ science education experience. 49 percent of visiting school groups came from Santa Cruz County, including Watsonville, Soquel/Aptos, Santa Cruz, and the San Lorenzo Valley. Another 36 percent came from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, from cities such as San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Portola Valley. Other schools traveled from more distant, inland locations like Fresno, Yolo, and Yuba counties, rounding out the additional 15 percent of field trip visits. Beyond California, schools from as far away as Nevada, Arizona, and Wisconsin made the trek to the Seymour Center to enrich their students’ understanding of how marine science matters on a global scale. Due to underwriting by SIMA Environmental Fund and other donors and supporters, our program fees did not increase during this grant period. Beyond the sheer numbers, we know that our programs have far-reaching effects. During the grant period, we engaged thousands of students with local marine life, a diversity of habitats, and marine science research techniques. These young people may be motivated to work toward ocean conservation or explore the marine environment in ways we can never know. Our ability to work with college interns is especially valuable, as we do know that many go on to careers in ocean science, conservation, and public education in organizations and classrooms around the country. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.)

In addition to growing the next generation of ocean conservationists, advocates, and marine scientists, this grant helps us to build a stronger institution. Your continued belief in our work and our mission over a period of years is extremely meaningful. This is not only due to the funding that you provide, but also due to your endorsement of our work. The staff, volunteers, and the board members know that the SIMA Environmental Fund has supported what we do over time and that we are in this together. Although the Seymour Center is a public benefit unit of UC Santa Cruz, 100 percent of all our costs are funded from outside the campus. Managing this effort is increasingly challenging. The long-term support through SIMA Environmental Fund not only helps to fund our mission-driven work, but also helps to build a stable organization in the eyes of other donors, foundations, and our board of directors. From a final perspective, the thousands of K-14 students who first visit the Seymour Center as part of one of our field trip experiences are also among the most likely to join us in our summer science programs, enter our volunteer training programs at age 15 (our youngest volunteer age), or bring their parents to the Seymour Center for a follow up visit. We are truly grateful to the SIMA Environmental Fund for your support of our ocean science and conservation programs for school groups at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz. Thank you so much.


Surfers Against Sewage


Organization: Surfers Against Sewage Contact Person: Peter Lewis Purpose of Grant: The grant has been used to recruit, train and equip our network of Regional Representative Volunteers. Excitingly the grant has also been used to recruit and train a network of Plastic Free Coastline Community Leaders who have been working in coastal communities throughout the UK to prevent the use of single use plastic. Both our Regional Reps and our Community Leaders have been working in their local communities to address environmental issues affecting their local coastline, including plastic pollution and water quality. They do this through education work, organizing practical conservation initiatives, campaigning and most importantly building a community of activists to care for their local coastal area. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The specific purpose and goal of the project was to recruit a further 50 volunteers, deliver 2 training events for all of our volunteers and equip them with Beach Clean Boxes to ensure they have all of the equipment they need to work in their local communities to deliver conservation activities, education initiatives and campaigns to enhance the ocean and beach environment. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? The project has been a huge success, we have grown our network of volunteers considerably and their impact on the UK’s coastal environment has been significant. Importantly the success of the project has continued to grow and we have found that by investing in training and equipment for our volunteers their impact on the coastal community that they serve has grown. We have found that there is a huge appetite from individuals to become involved with this project and we have a waiting list of people who want to join the Regional Reps volunteer project.

We found that it was difficult to get all of the volunteers together for the 2 training events, moving forward we feel that it may be better to organize 2 large events and 4 smaller events to work better with the needs of our volunteers. The success of the project means that we will continue to grow it with the aim of having over 300 Regional Reps by 2020! We have also found that it is important to continuously update and improve all of the training materials for the project on a yearly basis. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? We wanted to recruit a further 50 Regional Reps to bring the total up to 175. We have recruited another 78 individuals to the program bringing their total to 203. We now have 203 communities covered by our network of volunteers throughout the UK. We have delivered 3 training events for our volunteers, against an initial target of 2. We found that it was difficult to get all of our volunteers together in one place so we organized one large event and then 2 smaller events. This meant that we were able to deliver training to every one of our volunteers. We measure all of our volunteer’s activities and they have had an amazing year, to date they have achieved the following results for our coastal environment. • This year they have undertaken 388 beach cleans involving 10,992 local community volunteers and removed 28,318kg of marine plastic pollution. • They have conducted 73 formal education talks to schools, colleges, Universities and scout and community groups, as well as 388 beach clean education talks bringing the total to 461 environmental education talks. • They have organized and attended 44 festivals in the UK, speaking to in excess of 50,000 people. • They have engaged with 165 MP’s (Members of Parliament) and been instrumental in ensuring that the UK government is considering the introduction of a plastic bottle deposit scheme which could ensure 38.5 million plastic bottles are recycled each year and do not enter the marine environment • They are working with 69 communities in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland to go plastic free. • As a result of their work 3 local councils have passed motions committing their communities to going plastic free. Local councils are the UK’s local government. • They have organized 40 viewings of our Wasteland Film in their local communities • They have engaged 69 local businesses to get them to remove three or more single-use plastic items.

What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Support from the SIMA Environmental Fund continues to have a huge impact on our organization. SIMA has been supporting SAS since 2014 and has helped us to grow to where it is today. Since 2014 when SIMA first started to support our work, our organization has grown the size of our team, the reach and effectiveness of our work to protect the UK’s coastline, and the effectiveness of our organization as a whole. The specific projects that SIMA has supported over the years have all had a huge impact on our ability to protect the coastal environment. SIMA’s belief in and support of our organization has helped to propel us to a new level.


Surfing Education Association


Organization: Surfing Education Association Contact Person: Keone Downing Title: Member Purpose of Grant: SIMA’s Fund Grant also enables SEA to educate the public regarding these ocean issues as well as encouraging leadership and the importance of people power. All funds granted by SIMA are directed towards SEA’s mission to preserve our ocean, coral reefs, waves, beaches, water quality and shoreline accessibility. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. Waikiki Beach Master Plan Project, T-Head groins, Laniakea parking To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Waikiki Beach Master Plan Project- Part of working group to develop master plan for Waikiki. Working with stakeholders and government to make sure the next round of sand replenishment has better guidelines in size of sand brought to beach and what areas sand will be added. T-Head groins- Able to get State to send out for second opinion on groin in Waikiki, which would directly affect our surf sites. Continuing dialog with North Shore community, City & County of Honolulu, and State of Hawaii regarding rules for public surf sites and the temporary blocking of Laniakea parking lot. Laniakea parking- This will be the hardest. Even though we got them to remove barriers and do an EA, the fire will stay hot for some time.

What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? The efforts of Surfing Education Association (SEA) are on going. We have made in roads in dialog with all stakeholders. As far as sand replenishment- our ideas are now listened to in the early stages of drafting. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Surfing Education Association (SEA) is dedicated to the preservation of our ocean, coral reefs, waves, beaches, water quality, and shoreline and beach accessibility. SEA shares with key individuals of various like-minded organizations ideas for use in dealing with specific issues of concern. SEA believes in encouraging leadership through people power and conducting thoughtful research before speaking on a subject.


Surfrider Foundation


Organization: Surfrider Foundation Contact Person: Lori Booth Title: Global Grants Manager Purpose of Grant: Funds from the SIMA Environmental Fund were allocated to Surfrider Foundation’s campaigns and programs that enable our grassroots chapters’ activities to enhance ocean and beach environments through clean water initiatives, surf preservation and access and ocean conservation education. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The Surfrider Foundation's long term goal is to protect 100% of the coast. To accomplish this, we work with citizens and decision-makers in communities nationwide to increase awareness of the need for coastal protection and educate and involve the public in efforts to preserve coastal environments. In 2017, we supported our network of chapters with programs, campaigns and initiatives focused on the following issues: -Coastal water quality -Beach access -Coastal preservation -Plastic pollution & debris -Ocean protection -Surf protection With SIMA Environmental Fund support, the Surfrider Foundation and our grassroots activists continued to carry out the mission-critical programs and projects described above to address pressing threats to the ocean and surf environment. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? This past year, the generous SIMA Environmental Fund grant once again enabled us to assist and sustain chapter campaigns throughout our grassroots network. These grassroots-driven campaigns are the key to our long-term success, and achieving

victories in these campaigns is a focus of all of our organizational activities. In 2017, Surfrider has achieved nearly 40 victories, bringing our total since 2006 to almost 450. Some of our notable wins in 2017 include: • Protecting Maine’s Bottle Bill from bad legislation that would have resulted in less recycling and more pollution in our waterways and dumps. • Contributing to the state adoption of an Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan that defines actions to address plastic pollution and leverages partnerships with groups including the Surfrider Foundation. • Enhancing low-income beach access opportunities in Crystal Cove State Beach through advocacy at the California Coastal Commission meetings. • Passing the first plastic bag ban policy in the state of Florida, in the City of Coral Gables. • Protecting beach preservation standards in California through support of a California Supreme Court decision to uphold permit conditions for a seawall in Encinitas. This spring, Surfrider achieved two major victories in long-fought campaigns to stop the flow of polluted water to the beach in the Pacific Northwest. Due to nearly eight years of extensive efforts by the Northwest Straits Chapter in Bellingham, Washington, the warning sign at Larrabee State Park has been removed after bacteria levels have remained low for the past two swim seasons. In addition, the Vancouver Island Chapter and their local partners successfully convinced regional authorities to build a sewage treatment plant that will stop the daily discharge of 40 million gallons of untreated sewage effluent into the Strait of Juan de Fuca along the U.S. and Canada border. In April, the Maui Chapter in Hawai‘i collected its first water quality samples from 18 beaches and creeks along the North Shore of Maui. Their volunteer-led Blue Water Task Force program complements the state beach monitoring program run by the Hawai‘i Department of Health. The Surfrider Maui Chapter activists are proud to be doing their part to help ensure that surfers, swimmers and beachgoers have the information they need to enjoy the beach without worrying about getting sick. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? To date in 2017, the Surfrider Foundation has achieved 38 coastal victories, including 17 policy advancements and 16 surf-related victories. (A coastal victory is a decision made in favor of the coastal and ocean environment that results in a positive conservation outcome, improves coastal access, or both. Policy advancement establishes a policy that will support future protection of our ocean, waves and beaches.) Fourteen of these victories dealt with plastic pollution; nine with coastal preservation; six with beach access; six with clean water; and three with ocean protection. Most of the victories (21) were local in scope, with fifteen coming in at the state level and two national victories. Each victory we achieve means cleaner water, better access to waves, and/or less pollution on the beach and in the lineup.

What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) The Surfrider Foundation continuously monitors the progress of our efforts and, as necessary, revises our activities based on shifting requirements and contexts to assure we meet our goals. Victories is one indicator of our progress; others include process indicators such as water quality tests conducted and beach cleanups held, and outcomes such as the number of beach access points retained or acres of coast preserved. Moving forward, our goal remains to protect 100% of the coast, and we are working hard to increase our capacity to achieve that goal.


WILDCOAST


Organization: WILDCOAST Contact Person: Zachary Plopper Title: Conservation Director Purpose of Grant: WILDCOAST’s 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant supported WILDCOAST’s efforts to conserve over 41,479 acres of some of the most important coastal and marine areas on North America’s Pacific coastline including: 1) 5,700 acres of wilderness coastline on the Baja California Peninsula; 2) 18,000 acres of wetlands and coastal open space in the San Diego - Tijuana border region; and 3) 17,779 acres San Diego County’s MPAs. This project helped conserve habitat for incredible wildlife such as gray whales, sea turtles and migratory and endangered birds. It also helped protect some of the most iconic and least disturbed surfing areas and coastal recreation sites in North America including Swami’s reef, the La Jolla submarine canyon, the Tijuana Sloughs and Baja California’s pristine points headlands. Additionally, WILDCOAST helped build conservation capacity among 543 students from underserved communities in order to continue to grow the new generation of coastal and marine stewards. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. WILDCOAST’s 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant supported our efforts to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife in the Californias. This includes the following programs: 1) Protect 5,700 acres and 1.6 miles of coastal ecosystems on the Baja California Peninsula through direct land purchases and conservation concessions; 2) Protect 18,000 acres of coastal ecosystems in the San Diego - Tijuana border region through wetland and beach cleanups and restoration; and 3) Help conserve 17,779 acres of marine protected areas (MPAs) in San Diego County by building coastal and marine conservation capacity among students in underserved communities through educational, recreational and stewardship activities. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project?

WILDCOAST was able to significantly advance the conservation of over 41,479 acres of coastal and marine ecosystems in California and Baja California through a combination of establishing and managing protected areas and directly engaging 543 students and 3,478 volunteers from local communities in conservation stewardship of these sites. 1) Protect 5,700 acres and 1.6 miles of coastal ecosystems on the Baja California Peninsula through direct land purchases and conservation concessions; On Baja California’s Valle de los Cirios Pacific Coast, one of North America’s most pristine coastal desert regions, WILDCOAST was able to add 6,018 acres and 0.7 miles of coastline to its private protected area, now totalling 50,795 acres and 35.5 miles of bays, points, wetlands dunes and rocky shore. Additionally, WILDCOAST maintained visitation best-practices signage installed on protected properties, worked with local fishing camp members to help monitor the protected area, and collected wildlife data using camera traps. WILDCOAST is currently negotiating the purchase of properties that include an additional 1,645 acres and four miles of coastline. 2) Protect 18,000 acres of coastal ecosystems in the San Diego - Tijuana border region through wetland and beach cleanups and restoration; WILDCOAST led the eighth annual Tijuana River Action Month, a series of binational cleanup and stewardship events to address transboundary solid waste and wastewater and help conserve 18,000 acres of coastal ecosystems in the San Diego - Tijuana border region. WILDCOAST partnered with the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, I Love a Clean San Diego, Urban Corps, Surfrider San Diego, Tijuana Calidad de Vida, and Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental to carry out the project. The project engaged a total of 3,478 volunteers that donated 10,434 hours to remove 6,296 lbs of trash, 300 lbs of recyclables, 8,000 lbs of invasive species and 34,401 tires, and improve 50 miles of trails and restore one acre of habitat within the Tijuana River Watershed. 3) Help conserve 17,779 acres of marine protected areas (MPAs) in San Diego County by building coastal and marine conservation capacity among students in underserved communities through educational, recreational and stewardship activities. During the grant period, WILDCOAST continued its work with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, fishermen, surfers, local tribes, students and others to help conserve and manage 17,779 acres of coastal and marine ecosystems in San Diego County’s 11 MPAs. WILDCOAST engaged a total of 543 students from underserved communities and tribes in the region as citizen scientists to monitor the ecology and human use of the local MPA network. The data that the students collected is being contributed to the California Department of Public Health’s biotoxin study and San Diego Coastkeeper’s water quality monitoring program to monitor water quality in the MPAs and improve public safety. Human use data collected through the statewide

MPA Watch Program is being contributed to statewide and local resource management agencies to help guide coastal and MPA management decisions. The students that participated in WILDCOAST’s MPA engagement projects also enjoyed incredible behind-the-scenes tours of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and guided kayak tours of La Jolla’s Matlhauhayl MPA. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? WILDCOAST’s 2016 Environmental Fund grant made significant measurable impacts on underserved communities throughout San Diego County, including local tribes, in addition to coastal communities adjacent to MPAs and other protected areas, and fishing communities on the Baja California Peninsula. A total of 543 students from local tribes and underserved communities in San Diego County were engaged as citizen scientists to monitor the region’s MPAs, which helped to increase their awareness of local coastal resources and engagement opportunities and also facilitate access to these sites. Cleanups and restoration activities in the Tijuana River Valley improved trails, open space access and ecosystem value for local south San Diego County residents while also engaging 3,748 volunteers in local conservation projects. This engagement helped to improve their awareness of local outdoor recreation and education opportunities in the Tijuana River Valley. Lastly, the protection of 6,018 and 0.7 miles of coastline on the Valle de los Cirios Pacific Coast in Baja California protects open access to vast undeveloped coastal areas for visitors and local fishermen. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) With the support of the 2016 Environmental Fund grant, WILDCOAST has able to increase staff capacity to more effectively carry out our conservation projects. We hired two new full time MPA Program Coordinators to coordinate MPA youth engagement activities in San Diego County and the statewide California MPA Watch Program. This allowed us to reach a broader audience in more effective MPA monitoring and stewardship activities. Additionally, we brought on a fulltime Coastal and Marine Director to manage activities related to improving water quality in the San Diego-Tijuana border region and run WILDCOAST’s United States marine and coastal policy work.


Wishtoyo Foundation


Organization: Wishtoyo Foundation Contact Person: Rachel Chung Title: Development Associate Purpose of Grant: Wishtoyo Foundation’s 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant funds were used to support its Ventura Coastkeeper (VCK) program, the 54th member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance. Wishtoyo Foundation and its VCK program aim to protect the ecological integrity and health of the ocean, coasts, and inland waterways in and around Ventura County through legal actions, coastal restoration and access projects, water quality monitoring, Marine Protected Area education programs, advocacy efforts, and beach cleanups. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. Wishtoyo Foundation and its Ventura Coastkeeper program requested support from the 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund in order to augment our existing water protection efforts and to expand our legal actions and programs. The exploitation of Ventura County’s inland and coastal waters in the preceding decades has inflicted ecological, social, and economic harms and threats to residents, visitors, and species – from stormwater runoff and toxic discharge to new developments and public access restrictions. Wishtoyo and VCK work to address these impacts and threats through a community-based and multifaceted approach: 1) Legal actions; 2) Coastal restoration and access projects; 3) Water monitoring efforts; 4) Marine Protected Areas advocacy and education; and 5) Community beach cleanups. Grant support from SIMA directly facilitates our ability to sustain, improve, and grow these initiatives. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Legal Action: 1) New Legal Actions & Enforcement of Consent Decrees to Protect Waterways and

Ventura’s Coast: Since 2009, Wishtoyo Foundation has entered into, monitored, and enforced our legal settlements, initiated new citizen suits against, and/or went into trial against over 16

dirty companies. Wishtoyo and its VCK program have continue to ensure protections for Ventura’s Coast through compliance monitoring and enforcement of consent decrees, which involves site investigations, sampling, dispute resolution, expert retention, and sometimes action in federal court. In 2017, in two separate actions, Wishtoyo and its Ventura Coastkeeper Program sued Arcturus Manufacturing Corporation and Wiggins Lift Company under the federal Clean Water Act as part of its 8-year campaign to abate the discharges of toxic industrial storm water discharges into Ventura County waterways. Wishtoyo has already secured a settlement with the 3.7 acre Wiggins fork lift truck manufacturing facility located in Oxnard, CA. The settlement ensures protections to prevent the facility from continuing to impair the ecologically and culturally significant Santa Clara River, Santa Clara River Estuary, and Pacific Ocean through its discharges of stormwater containing high levels of toxic metals and other pollutants. Arcturus’s 10-acre complex metal components and products manufacturing facility for aerospace, chemical processing, oil and gas, energy and other industries is located adjacent to the Ormond Beach Wetlands and the Halaco Superfund site. The facility discharges toxic metals and other pollutants into the Ormond Beach Wetlands, Mugu Lagoon, and Pacific Ocean. The company has scarred the site with on site dumping of toxic waste. Arcturus’s contaminated stormwater discharges threaten a plethora of native and endangered wildlife, the natural cultural resources in the ocean and wetlands that the Chumash Peoples use to sustain their cultural lifeways, and degrade the cultural values associated with the nearby Chumash Native American villages of Wenemu, Kanaputeqnon, and Kasunalmu. It also impairs native and endangered wildlife, Chumash cultural resources, and the hard-fought Ormond Beach wetlands restoration effort undertaken by the local community. We are hopeful to force the company to clean up its site and to prevent the discharge of pollutants into the Wetlands, Mugu Lagoon, and surrounding coastal waters. In addition to these cases protecting waterways, they also are having an effect of reducing polluted discharges from other industrial facilities and municipalities in Ventura County because of the public’s knowledge that VCK is out there to ensure Clean Water Act compliance. 2) Protecting Ventura County Coastal Waters and the Santa Clara River from the

Newhall Ranch Mega Development Wishtoyo and its VCK program took a lead litigation role in four federal and state Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), Clean Water Act, National Environmental Protection Act (“NEPA”), National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”), California Fully Protected Species Statute, and California Environmental Protection Act (“CEQA”) cases to protect the Santa Clara River and Ventura’s coastal waters from the Newhall Ranch mega development that would create a new, unsustainable city along the River, including a California Supreme Court victory against the project in November 2015. As proposed, the project would create a new city of roughly 60,000 residents over 12,000

acres of Santa Clara River floodplain and tributaries that would devastate wildlife, human recreation and cultural uses, and Native American cultural resources in its path and throughout the region due to water quality, dredge and fill, and other local, regional and global impacts. In September 2017, Wishtoyo Foundation and co-plaintiffs approved a historic settlement agreement over the Newhall Ranch development project, which preserves thousands of acres for wildlife, provides millions of dollars to protect the Santa Clara River, and requires stringent measures to cut greenhouse gases, including 10,000 solar installations. In addition, the agreement reduces the project’s footprint in the Santa Clara River floodplain, ensures that the development minimizes impacts to endangered species, and establishes a Wishtoyo owned and operated Chumash and First Nations cultural center to expand our education, advocacy, cultural preservation, and monitoring efforts along the Santa Clara River. The center will be a state of the art research, museum, training, community, and educational center to preserve and protect the cultural resources and practices, well-being, and the heritage of Chumash, First Nations Peoples, and the communities and natural resources of the Santa Clara River. It holds more than a promise to serve as a place where people from all over the world will come together to learn about First Nations Peoples, and to protect the culture, natural resources, life ways, and rights that all peoples depend upon. Coastal Restoration & Access: In 2018, Wishtoyo and its VCK Program plan to implement Phase II of the Santa Clara River Estuary Habitat Restoration and Enhancement, and McGrath State Beach Campground Relocation, Feasibility and Design Study project in partnership with State Parks, which would include finalizing the new campground, coastal access plans, and restoration design; assisting with applications for local, state, and federal permits; and helping facilitate the environmental review process. This has not happened yet, but is forecasted for the future. Water Monitoring: VCK monitors Ventura County’s waterbodies for pollution, and uses the results of its monitoring efforts to protect the water quality and ecological integrity of coastal and inland waterbodies. VCK’s Staff and Stream Team monitor in accordance with VCK’s Volunteer Water Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP), which is certified and approved by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. Additionally, VCK reviews Clean Water Act municipal and industrial discharge monitoring reports submitted to the State and inspects waterways and watersheds to determine the suitability of waters for human and species uses, and to pinpoint and help abate sources of pollution. In 2017, staff and volunteers performed extensive hydrological walking surveys of the Santa Clara River to assist in our efforts to protect water quality and the native and endangered species of the Santa Clara River. In 2017, Wishtoyo and VCK were unable to conduct regular Stream Team water quality monitoring excursions due to staff and equipment limitations. Moving forward, we

hope to hire a full-time staff scientist who will be able to assist with re-launching the Stream Team program as we have in previous years. In other areas, Wishtoyo has increased our engagement with citizen science initiatives through the Chumash Eyes on the Water campaign outlined in our proposal, including hosting an 11-week Certified California Naturalist course in partnership with UC Cooperative Extension which qualifies and trains First Nations community leaders and educators to lead monitoring activities. For instance, we have now actively participated in LiMPETS sand crab surveys, Sea Grant sandy beach monitoring, Urban Tides beach profile monitoring which contributes to the CoSMoS sea level rise modeling system, California budburst phenology, and iNaturalist. Collection of this survey information and consistent participation in these programs allow participants to see how their service directly contributes to a better understanding of local coastal ecosystems. In the long term, this program will promote consistent monitoring and reporting of waterway and ocean health by the public at large. Marine Protected Areas (“MPA’s”): Wishtoyo and its VCK program play a vital role in ensuring that MPAs protect marine wildlife and the integrity of ocean water quality throughout Southern California, especially in the Santa Barbara Channel which is the traditional territory of the Chumash people and a hotspot of biodiversity and endemic species. In 2017, Wishtoyo offered Chumash Tribal Marine Protected Areas programs to approximately 4,000 K-12 students at Wishtoyo Chumash Village in Malibu, of which ~75% are from Title I or underserved schools that receive transportation scholarships. These outdoor educational programs are an integral part of our efforts educating the public and young future stewards about the importance of MPAs, ocean conservation, and pollution prevention, and are needed to ensure the current and future success of ocean conservation efforts. In February, the 2017 South Coast State of the Region Report was published and featured, for the first time, language about coastal California Native Nations regarding cultural connections and Marine Protected Area management because of Wishtoyo’s consultation with Ocean Science Trust. The text and images we included in the report highlight the importance, significance, and history of sustainable recreational and cultural uses of natural resources along the South Coast. Wishtoyo went on to host a South Coast MPA Community Gathering at the Village in March, a free, public event hosted in partnership with the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, Ocean Protection Council, and Ocean Science Trust to inform and discuss with community members the key findings from Marine Protected Area baseline monitoring along the South Coast. Speakers at our event included researchers, resource managers, citizen scientists, fishermen, and others actively involved in monitoring and decision-making, including Wishtoyo’s First Nations Program Officer, Alicia Cordero, who spoke on the vital importance of consultation, tribal inclusion, and integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Community Beach Cleanups: In 2017, Wishtoyo and its VCK program hosted our largest Coastal Cleanup Day event yet – 139 volunteers came out to Mugu Rock Beach and collectively picked up nearly 300 pounds of trash and recycling that would have made its way into the ocean, threatening wildlife, human safety, and clean waters. Additionally, multiple student groups participated in beach cleanups throughout the year as part of their educational field trip program to Wishtoyo Chumash Village in Malibu, CA. Students submit their results to the Ocean Conservancy database or Clean Swell app to contribute data on trash pollution. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? In Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties, Wishtoyo Foundation and its Ventura Coastkeeper Program are fighting to protect the recreational uses, cultural uses, and ecological uses of the inland and coastal waters of the Santa Clara River watershed, Ormond Beach watershed, Mugu Lagoon/Calleguas Creek watershed, and Ventura County’s other coastal watersheds. These waters are critical areas for native and endangered species; Chumash and Tataviam Native American burial grounds, sacred sites, villages, and cultural landscapes; surfers and beachgoers; kayakers and swimmers; and for the communities of Ventura, Oxnard, El Rio, Saticoy, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, Valencia, and Santa Clarita, many of whom are underserved and underrepresented. We deem the economically and politically marginalized Ventura County neighborhoods along the Santa Clara River, consisting primarily of Latino residents and some Chumash Native Americans, as some of the communities that benefit most from our work that provides residents with enhanced wellbeing resulting from the protection of and access to Ventura’s natural amenities. Many of our programs directly outreach to and prioritize involvement of these communities, including our goal of 75% of Chumash Tribal Marine Protected Area Education programs reserved for Title I or underserved K-12 schools. The measurable impacts to all of Ventura County’s communities are cleaner and safer waters more suitable for wildlife use, observation, and study; surfing; beach going; swimming; kayaking; and Chumash Native American cultural and spiritual uses. The outcomes of our successful legal actions directly affect the quality and ecological integrity of inland and coastal water bodies. Wishtoyo and VCK reach over 7,000 people – including 4,000 K-12 students – in-person annually through our programs and events and continually engage new constituents in education and environmental protection. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.)

Grant support from SIMA directly impacts our organization’s ability to support these programs by contributing to our staff and equipment costs; all of the above described programs are carried out by our small team of 7 full-time staff members. Specifically, grant support has allowed us to increase our capacity to monitor and protect the health and ecological integrity of Ventura County inland and coastal waters, and expand into new legal actions, community mobilization initiatives, advocacy work, and education programs.

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