Start the giving season off strong by donating to a local nonprofit organization in Santa Barbara County on #GivingTuesday, November 29th!
With your support these nonprofits can continue to thrive and serve those who need their services the most. This is why Noozhawk has re-launched its annual Good for Santa Barbara Section, so that finding a cause you connect with is made easy and donation information is readily available!
In this interview, Noozhawk spoke with Morey Spellman, Marketing Manager for Channel Islands Restoration to learn more about how this nonprofit protects, enhances, and restores habitats for native wildlife.
Channel Islands Restoration
Question: What is the name & mission of your nonprofit?
Answer: CIR’s mission is to protect, enhance or restore habitat for native wildlife, provide environmental education for young people and adults, help protect open space from development, provide volunteer opportunities for people who want to help the environment
Q: How long has your nonprofit been in service and whom was it started by?
A: CIR was founded in 2002 as a volunteer project on Santa Cruz Island by Ken Owen and Duke McPherson. CIR eventually grew into a nonprofit organization providing services on behalf of four federal agencies, six state agencies, and nine local or tribal agenc
Q: What was the inspiration behind your nonprofit?
A: We were inspired to start CIR because of the previously unchecked spread of nonnative plants and the lack of understanding by most of the public that these plants are a big problem for the environment. This inspired the founders of the
organization to work with volunteers to replace the nonnatives with native plants and to educate our community about problematic invasive species.
Q: How is your nonprofit primarily funded and what are your greatest needs?
A: CIR is funded by a combination of grants, donations from the public, and contracts by government agencies. Last year, CIR joined a coalition of organizations and individuals in saving the West Mesa of the San Marcos Foothills from development of luxury homes. In just 90 days the coalition raised $18.6 million to purchase the land from the developer. The property will soon be transferred to the County Parks Division for inclusion in the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, and CIR is managing the land and restoring the habitat for birds and other wildlife. We will soon be improving the trails system on the land, creating an ethnobotanical garden in partnership with our Chumash partners, implementing a docent program to educate the public, and arranging for K-12 students to volunteer caring for the environment. Most of these projects do not have identified funding sources yet, so in the meantime, CIR is spending our own funds on these projects.
Q: In what ways does your nonprofit utilize it’s funding?
A: CIR uses our funding to help save and preserve open space, and to provide educational and volunteer opportunities for young people and adults. Since our founding. we have arranged service-learning field trips for 2,505 young people, mostly from underserved communities. Our funding paid for the bus and the boat to transport the kids, along with more than 480 adults who accompanied them on the trips. Funding paid for staff to provide classroom education before the trip and to lead the groups on island hikes and to guide them in their service projects.
Q: How do people get involved/volunteer for your nonprofit?
A: The public can get involved with CIR in many ways, and the best place to sign up to help is on our web site. We need help with planting native plants, educating kids and adults through our docent program and help working on the trails on the San Marcos Foothills Preserve. CIR works in many other areas, including on the Channel Islands, and we announce volunteer and educational activities through our email list.
Q: What makes your nonprofit different from others?
A: Our nonprofit is unique from other groups because we have varied sources of funding and we rely on volunteers to help us carry out much of our work. We have worked with more than 12,000 adult volunteers since 2002 on projects on the remote and beautiful islands and in the backcountry wilderness. Since we can fund much of our staff time by providing contract services to government agencies, we are able to utilize grant funding and donations from the public to help pay for working in open spaces and educating the public. We not only provide education in classrooms, but we also teach people about the environment through volunteer stewardship.
Q: How does the work of your nonprofit get communicated to the public?
A: Although this is our 20th anniversary, many people are not familiar with Channel Island are not aware of our work. We have several thousand people on our email list, and even more people follow us through our social media channels.
We came to the attention of the public in a big way last year when we helped save part of the San Marcos Foothills from development.
Q: Why should donors trust your organization and are there other ways to help outside of donations?
A: We can be trusted by donors, because of our well-earned reputation built over 20 years, and because we have our finances independently audited. Federal, state, and local governments, plus many nonprofit organizations have been working with CIR for over two decades, and we are known to deliver quality environmental restoration and educational services.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to share about your nonprofit that has not been mentioned above?
A: Twenty years ago, Channel Islands Restoration grew out of a dream by two people, who late in life fell in love with the unique species and extraordinary beauty of the California Channel Islands. We soon brought our enthusiasm for habitat
restoration and environmental education to the mainland, and we have worked in many areas in Southern California that are as unique and beautiful as the islands off our coast. Since our founding we have worked on the mainland from northern Santa Barbara County to as far south as the Ballona Wetlands in Los Angeles and on and on all eight of the Channel Islands. Last year we had the privilege of working with others to help save one of our remaining open spaces from development by working to purchase 101 acres of land in the San Marcos Foothills. Now CIR is tasked with managing the land, restoring the habitat, maintaining the trails, providing education for adults and kids alike, and working with our Chumash partners to honor their heritage and history on the land. It is our opportunity to give back to nature and to indigenous people, and we are honored to have the Santa Barbara community join us in this adventure!
Click here to support Channel Islands Restoration’s mission to protects rare and endangered plants and animals by restoring habitat in sensitive and unique natural areas on the California Channel Islands.
Check out Noozhawk’s Guide to Giving for a full list of nonprofits to donate to this giving season.