Thank You, Thank You, Thank You: After a difficult year, we would like to send out our heartfelt appreciation to all the incredible volunteers and donors whose commitment in 2021 made so much essential work possible. Surfrider Ventura County is alive and thriving thanks to you! We'd also like to extend a special wave of gratitude to Laura Oergel, who is stepping down as Chapter Chair after an inspiring three-and-a-half-years. Laura's determination and willingness to adapt to Zoom and a host of other restrictions - while always bringing a smile and seemingly endless reserves of energy - has kept our volunteer-run organization going during these unprecedented times. Luckily, even though she's stepping down as Chair, she will still be actively involved as a pillar of the Ormond Beach and Ocean Friendly Gardens programs. Thank you, Laura!

Matilija Dam Update: We're happy to report that the new Santa Ana Bridge on the Ventura River is taking shape - just in time for the winter rains. The longer bridge, which will widen the river at a chokepoint and allow for renewed sediment transport to flow the beach after the removal of the obsolete Matilija Dam, is slated to be completed next summer. Thanks to Rich Reid who has been documenting progress.

CSUCI Surfrider Club: Thanks to exemplary leadership and team collaboration efforts led by Surfrider CSU Channel Islands and Green Generation Officers, the CSUCI Surfrider Club is back on campus after a brief hiatus! During the course of the Fall semester, the club collaborated on over 10 events, picked up more than 270 pounds of trash on campus, and received Ocean Friendly Garden certification for the student therapy garden. We can't wait to see what they achieve in 2022!

Surfers' Point Update: Although communication has been difficult during the Covid-19 pandemic, progress has been made on the Surfers' Point Managed Shoreline Retreat Project and the Surfers' Point Working Group is scheduled to hold a meeting in early January to update stakeholders. At their April 2021 meeting, the California Coastal Commission approved (with conditions) modifications to the project. Phase 2 will relocate the damaged oceanfront bike path and remaining parking lot back to Shoreline Drive and reconfigure day-use parking to maintain beach access. Looking to the future, the prospect for securing grant funding for the construction of Phase 2 seems promising, with Governor Newsom recently signing a budget bill that includes a total of $500 million for coastal resilience to be appropriated to the State Coastal Conservancy in Fiscal Years 2022-23 and 2023-24. Learn more about the overall status of the project here. Pictured below: Ventura City workers move the bike path in response to recent erosion on December 21, 2021.

C Street Cleanups: In December, over 40 volunteers gathered on the Ventura Promenade and collected more than 115 pounds of trash and 10 pounds of recycling (shout out to volunteers Adrienne and Mike, pictured above)! Of note, 16 pounds of trash came from spray paint cans alone, which had washed down onto the beach after the rains. Keeping these toxic items out of the ocean makes a massive difference - which is why we hope to see YOU out there in 2022! Join us at 9:00am on Saturday, January 22, for our next monthly cleanup. Register and sign your waiver in advance here!

Ongoing Testing: Our Blue Water Task Force team remains committed to measuring bacteria levels in ocean water samples from nine sites in Ventura County. This essential program helps raise awareness about local pollution problems that impact recreational beachgoers. Surfers and swimmers should pay particular attention to BWTF testing results in the wake of winter rains, during which time run-off flows into the ocean from streets, streams, culverts, and storm drains. Weekly testing is performed on Thursdays with the results made available on Friday via email and social media.

PFVC Year-End Update: We are thrilled to report that efforts to reduce EPS (aka styrofoam) and single-use foodware made significant progress in Ventura County over the course of 2021. The City of Ventura's EPS ban went into effect on January 1 of last year, and EPS bans in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo will go into effect on January 1 of this year! After our team's July 2021 presentation to City Council, Port Hueneme is also currently considering an EPS and single-use foodware ban. Starting in 2022, PFVC will be approaching the City of Oxnard with our EPS/plastics reduction ordinance. This type of upstream plastic-reduction work has never been more important, as highlighted by a recent KCLU article which spotlights the devastating effect microfibers are having on our local environment and waterways. Learn more about the danger of microfibers here as well as the various ways you can help reduce or eliminate microfibers in your wash (like with this Guppyfriend Washing Bag).

Volunteer Reflections: As a volunteer for Surfrider VC’s Ocean Friendly Gardens program, Laura Oergel recently had the pleasure of working with Parkview Elementary School in Port Hueneme on a project in the school’s native garden. You can read more about her positive experience with the school, but also the difficulties she has encountered with her work on the Ormond Beach program, here. 

RRP Year-End Update: Over the course of 2021, the RRP team grew to 12 regular volunteers who removed over 300 pounds of trash from the Rincon Parkway Day-Use section from September to December alone! Solo cleanups netted an additional 200 pounds of trash during this time. Our final cleanup of 2021, which occurred after the King Tides (pictured above - during which time the beach disappears almost completely), focused on removing microtrash from kelp on the beach to prevent seabirds from ingesting the toxic trash. We also removed over 2,000 cigarette butts from the Day-Use area in 2021. In 2022, thanks to the hard work of our team, be on the look out for new County-permitted cigarette butt containers along the sea walls and other hotspots!  
 
Monthly Cleanups: Join us where the land meets the sea! Our growing team joins together as a community to help keep the 14-mile parcel of Rincon coastline clean for marine life, recreation, and future generations. Cleanups are help every second Saturday of the month from 8:30am to 11:30am For more information, email rrp@ventura.surfrider.org. Sign-up spots for smaller weekday cleanups are also available with the RRP lead.

HOTYB Year-End Update: Our HOTYB program now has over 110 ashcans installed in three cities! Between cigarette butts collected from ashcan usage and those picked up at our beach cleanups, we have been able to keep over half a million toxic cigarette butts out of our ocean and environment. Our ashcan program is going strong in Port Hueneme and Ventura and we're hoping to get some more cans up in Oxnard soon. A big THANK YOU goes out to our newest HOTYB sponsor, Adolfo Grajales! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor or a member of our HOTYB Team, please contact Juli Marciel at julimarciel@gmail.com to learn more.