Coastal Fund

INTRODUCTION

The Coastal Fund (CF) fund is a student initiative dedicated to the conservation of the UCSB coastline. Our student body recognizes that the coast is at the heart of our campus’ culture and character and must be protected. In response, each undergraduate student contributes $5.75 per quarter, and each graduate student $3.00 per quarter, into a fund that provides over $350,000 each year to protect and enhance our coastline. Since Fall of 1999, the Fund has allocated over $3 million to countless local projects or programs.The Coastal Fund accepts proposals during three funding cycles throughout the year (one per academic quarter) and critically reviews them for consistency to the CF Mission Statement vision and principals, relevance to the student community, adherence to UCSB and Regental policy and benefit to the UCSB shoreline. Applicants present their proposals at regular meetings which gives Board Members opportunities to ask specific questions to each applicant and learn about the project in detail. The proposals are funded entirely, modified as needed, or denied.

The Fund creates an excellent opportunity for students and the UCSB and Santa Barbara communities to become actively involved in the protection of their local coastal environment. Funds may be requested for projects that advance the Coastal Fund’s mission such as undergraduate and graduate marine research, community and campus programs, or coastal education.

To further involve students the Coastal Fund has established the Coastal Service Program, which offers student organizations an opportunity to raise funds by participating in a local beach clean up or native habitat restoration. The program enables all student organizations to gain much needed funding for their programs while contributing to keep our community clean and healthy.

The Coastal Fund is a shining example of a grassroots community-based effort to care for the coast and can be used as a model for other campuses. Funds are generated and administered by the students, who ultimately will be one of the largest beneficiaries of a healthy coast.

FUNDED PROJECTS

Fall Quarter 2019

1. NCOS Impact Video and Long Film Filming/Post Production, CCBER
Included funding for 6 interns.
Total funding: $13,100

2. Restoring Fuel Breaks to Promote Native Ecosystem Services, EEMB
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $4,000

3. MPA Watch Internship Program, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $4,023.38

4. Internships and Additional Funding Support for Conservation, Education and Restoration Programs for Winter and Spring 2019, COPR
Included funding for 17 interns.
Total funding: $11,538.40

5. Native Tree Restoration, Maintenance and Education, Your Children’s Trees at UCSB
Included funding for 7 interns.
Total funding: $6,375

6. A New Horizon-Oil Platform Decommissioning, EDC
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $10,000

7. IV Foam Free for the Sea Pilot, Community Environmental Council
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $2,200

8. Turning Up the Heat: Climate Science in Action, MSI & EEMB
Total funding: $13,279.00

9. Kids in Nature Peer-to-Peer Environmental Education Program, CCBER
Included funding for 5 interns.
Total funding: $17,889

10. Wildfire and mudflow impacts on marine phytoplankton community composition in the Santa Barbara Channel, MSI
Total funding: $5,600

11. Assessing giant kelp’s microbial community structure under different environmental conditions and host quality, EEMB
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $7,500

12. Carpinteria Salt Marsh Habitat Restoration-Sand Point Road, Channel Islands Restoration
Included funding for 4 interns.
Total funding: $2,974

13. Inventory of the Seaweeds of Santa Rosa Island, Santa Barbara County, California, CCBER
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $13,260.70

14. Coastal Ecology Literacy for Early Childhood Education and Pre-K Nature Based Education at North Campus Open Space, CCBER
Included funding for 3 interns.
Total funding: $7,877

15. UCSB Campus Lagoon Restoration 2019-20, CCBER
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $16,172

16. Impact of Natural Disasters on the Native Olympia Oyster in the Santa Barbara Watershed, Bren School
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $16,470

17. Identifying native seeds in the seed bank through DNA and RNA extractions, EEMB
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $4,871.06

18. A Sweet Deal: understanding plant-pollinator interactions in coastal ecosystems around the UCSB campus through the lens of nectar equality, CCBER
Total funding: $828.96

19. Investigating the dynamics of amphibian chytridiomycosis: Linking variation in the amphibian mucosae and immunogenetics with disease risk and long-term dynamics of amphibian populations
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $900

20. Effects of symbiotic fungi on drought tolerance of Quercus Agrifolia, EEMB
Total funding: $735

21. Tracking a marine heatwave, NEP19, along the Santa Barbara Coast, MSI
Total funding: $973

Winter Quarter 2020

1. Kelp forest and rocky reef monitoring student internships, MSI
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total Funding: $8,660.40

2. Restoring Fuel Breaks to Promote Native Ecosystem Services, EEMB
Included funding for 4 interns.
Total Funding: $4,000

3. Preventing ExxonMobil’s Gaviota Oil Trucking, EDC
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funding: $8,070

4. Photographic mark and recapture of giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) around Anacapa Island, utilizing remote observation techniques, MSI
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $12,584

5. Coastal Biodiversity and Restoration Research and Monitoring Internships, CCBER
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $6,100

6. Surveys of the Leopard Shark aggregation of Coal Oil Point (Project Renewal), MSI
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total Funding: $8,450

7. Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Wastewater Treatment Plants, Bren
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funding: $9,852.76

8. Watershed Resource Center Internship Program, Explore Ecology
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funded: $4,000

9. Soil Amendments in Coastal Grassland Restoration for Carbon Sequestration, Earth Research Institute
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funded: $7,609.39

10. Measuring Cliff Base Erosion in Isla Vista, UCSB Earth Science Department
Included funding for 3 interns.
Total funded: $6,075.63

11. Reefcheck Califorina, Reef Check Foundation
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funded: $13,620

12. Wildlife Rehabilitation and Outreach, Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network
Included funding for 13 interns.
Total funded: $10,000

13. Assessing connectivity and genetic diversity of sandy beach indicator species on mainland and Channel Island beaches, MSI
Included funding for 2 interns
Total funded: $7,540

14. Microfiber Mitigation, UCSB Environmental Studies
Total funded: $3,963

15. Greenhouse Gas Fluxes of an Intermittently Tidal Salt Marsh, Earth Research Institute
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funded: $9,028.32

16. A multivariate spatial approach to identifying unprecedented shifts in phytoplankton functional groups and other ecologically important taxa in the Santa Barbara Channel during regional SST anomalies and perturbations during localized natural disasters., MSI
Included funding for 7 interns.
Total funded: $14,516.22

17. UCSB Nearshore Wave Forecasting System, Earth Research Institute
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funded: $1,000

18. Using Functional Traits to Create Invasion Resistant Grasslands, EEMB
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funded: $1,000

19. Glitter-Free Oceans, Environmental Studies Program
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funded: $555

20. Seasonal and Tidal Plasticity of Salt Marsh Fish in the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, EEMB
Included funding for 1 intern.
Total funded: $1,000

21. Ontogenetic shifts in the parasite community of Girella nigricans, EEMB
Included funding for 2 interns.
Total funded: $922.32

22. Coastal Craze, UCSB Department of Art
Total funded: $209.77

SPRING QUARTER

Coastal Fund Board on Zoom

Due to the coronavirus Coastal Fund issued this statement for spring quarter:

To our friends and partners,

The Coastal Fund Board recognizes that current national and global conditions are highly concerning and changing each day, and that it may be some time before we return to a level of normalcy. UCSB classes as well as the majority of UCSB staff and faculty are operating remotely through spring quarter, and we are all trying to adapt and be as flexible as possible.

Keeping that in mind, Coastal Fund is moving forward with its spring 2020 grant cycle with some changes. First, our deadlines will remain the same: April 10 for major grant applications, and May 15 for minor grant applications. All meetings and grant presentations will however be conducted via Zoom to maintain social distancing and to accommodate members who are not staying near campus this quarter. Because we will not be meeting in person, we encourage applicants to submit any additional supplemental material they feel might be helpful along with their applications; we will enable screen-sharing as needed during presentations for applicants who would like to present slides or other visuals during the meetings. Meetings will most likely still be held Tuesday evenings, but this is to be confirmed.

Further, both our Coastal Service Program and annual Coastal Fund Gala will be cancelled for spring quarter in order to keep our students and partners safe.

We thank everyone for their efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and we eagerly anticipate the day when we can all reconvene in person.

For questions, contact coastalfund(at)gmail(dot)com or sarahs(at)as.ucsb.edu.

SCIENTIFIC DIVE SAFETY COURSE

Photo: Eduardo Romero

One of the programs that the Coastal Fund supports is the Scientific Dive Safety Course Program. This program is an opportunity for students to get certified in order to complete marine field research. The course provides an American Association of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) Scientific Diver certification, a NAUI Rescue and Enriched Air NITROX certification and a First Aid, CPR, AED and Oxygen safety certification.

CCBER INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY COLLECTION INTERNS

With the help of the Coastal Fund, the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration (CCBER) has been able to recruit 16 interns to their Invertebrate Zoology Collection team. CCBER interns aid in the curation and identification of local, coastal insects, take photographs of insects for science communication and upload them onto their one-of-a-kind online database, as well as survey local areas for new invertebrate species. The database that these interns have contributed to has been used in over 58 publications since 2016 and is especially pertinent to Santa Barbara County because online access to our local invertebrate species is minimal.

GRANTEE PROFILES

TURNING UP THE HEAT: CLIMATE SCIENCE IN ACTION

Coastal Fund highlighted the work of one of its grantees on its Facebook site. It was able to fund a project entitled “Turning Up the Heat: Climate Science in Action”, a project headed by Xochitl Clare, who is a UCSB Marine Biology Ph.D. student in the Hofmann Lab. They talked with Xochitl about her personal insights into the project and the motivations behind her work, as well as why the work she does is so invaluable.

Xochitl said, “Never has it been more important to understand our coastline—and for scientists to grow strong relationships with the public. Because climate change will influence global management of natural resources, it represents significant environmental and social challenges in our future. I [She is] determined to ensure individuals from a wide range of backgrounds are able to tackle these challenges.”

MEASURING CLIFF BASE EROSION IN ISLA VISTA

The Coastal Fund was able to help fund three undergraduate research assistants for “Measuring Cliff Base Erosion in Isla Vista”, a project run by Paul Alessio at the UCSB Earth Science Department. Undergraduate Student Research Coordinator, Kevin Raver, kindly gave some personal insights into the project. As an avid outdoorsman and Geology major, Kevin explained why this project is so imperative to the UCSB community, stating:
“Being that a huge part of the UCSB culture is the beach, and Del Playa is ‘where it all goes down’, and yet the cliffs so readily erode, it seemed almost urgent that we find out more about the environment that we find ourselves a part of. Additionally, with as much traffic as the beaches in Isla Vista see, it seemed imperative that we know more about the forces that affect them and how they change on short time scales, given that many of us are only even typically at UCSB for 2-4 years.”

COASTAL CRAZE

One of Coastal Funds grantees, Avery DeSantis, had a solo art exhibition on the UCSB Glassbox Gallery page. This exhibition, which strives to provide an interdisciplinary view of marine conservation, can be seen at:

https://glassbox.arts.ucsb.edu/coastal-craze-a-solo-art-ex…/

and at Avery’s personal Coastal Crazy Gallery site:

https://averydesantis.ucraft.site

GRANT WORKSHOPS

Each quarter Coastal Fund presented grant workshops to make sure applicants followed the proper procedure and optimized their chances of receiving funding.

COASTAL SERVICE PROGRAM

Coastal Fund once again supported student groups working to clean up and restore our local coastal areas. This work engages student and makes a real difference in preserving our coastal resources from year to year.

Project Descriptions

Beach Cleanups

Compensation: $100 Volunteer time: 2 hours Location: Del Playa and beaches surrounding the UCSB campus Minimum # of volunteers per organization: 10 We provide you the supplies! All you and your organization need to do is collect trash in the designated area! The following are beaches that we maintain:

Goleta Beach/Campus Point
Depressions/Lagoon Area
IV Beach
Devereux/Sands Beach

Restoration Projects

Compensation: $200 Volunteer time: 2-3 hours Location: varies (some projects require transportation) Minimum # of volunteers per organization: 10 Your group will work with one of the local environmental organizations listed below in a restoration project. Activities have included tree planting, creek cleanups, weeding, planting native species, mulching, and general maintenance. Be sure to wear sturdy closed-toed shoes. We work with the following organizations:

Your Children’s Trees
Arroyo Hondo
Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR)
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER)
Channel Islands Restoration
Santa Barbara Urban Creeks Council (SBUCC)
Santa Barbara Audubon
Growing Solutions
Storke Ranch Restoration

Coastal Fund Volunteer Day With CCBER

The Society of Asian Scientist and Engineers came out in force to help out at the UCSB North Campus Open Space administered by the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER). The event was hosted by Coastal Fund.

SANTA BARBARA WILDLIFE CARE NETWORK VISIT

Coastal Fund toured the network’s facility in winter quarter.

The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network is a nonprofit, volunteer organization that helps rescue and rehabilitate wildlife in the area within and surrounding the Santa Barbara county. The Coastal Fund had the privilege of being able to visit the grounds in Goleta in order to get an insight into the work that is done there. Recently, the organization completed a rehab and release, where around 250 birds were released back into the wild. The busiest season for the network comes during “baby season”, which starts in mid April and goes to the end of summer. During this time, there is a wide variety of wildlife that is managed onsite, ranging from crows and ducks to skunks and badgers. There are normally 200 to 300 birds onsite being rehabilitated. The Wildlife Care Network helps thousands of animals a year. This help ranges from feeding crows and skunks to completing medical procedures and aiding oil-impaired wild birds.

SEA OF LIFE SPOTLIGHT OF THE YEAR WINNER

After 4 days of grueling competition, Coastal Fund announced that the California Blue Dorid was its Sea Life Spotlight of the Year winner! Thanks to everyone who voted!

SEAS THE (EARTH) DAY PHOTO CONTEST

Each year Coastal Fund hosts a photo contest. This year was no different.

The winners were:

1st: Justin Huitema (“Gaviota Glass-off”)
2nd: Brandon Hopper (“SB Sea Slug”)
3rd: Elisa Romanelli (“Sunset at Sands”)
Honorable Mention: Felix Dong (“Glass”), Justin Huitema (“Arroyo Burro Sunset”)
Most on Theme: Kevin Scott (“Catch of the Day”)

The Coastal Fund would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who submitted a photo to the Seas the (Earth) Day Photo Contest.