Current Projects and Goals is regularly published about once a quarter. Its purpose is to communicate to our membership about important issues that the board of directors and committee members are involved with.
Projects and Goals March 2021
SBAS is actively working on many projects related to our three main focus areas: education, conservation, and science. This column will be updated regularly with an overview of selected current projects and goals (project list is not all-inclusive). Likewise, the goals summarize what each SBAS committee is working towards with occasional opportunities for member involvement.
From the desk of Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Current Projects
Goals
Education
- Providing socially distant education & outreach programs to serve community during COVID
- Teaching online Meet Your Wild Neighbor curriculum at 12 local 1st-3rd grade classrooms.
- Bringing Eyes in the Sky raptor ambassadors to local schools and other groups via Zoom for 15-60 min. presentations. (Contact Hannah)
- Presenting monthly Evening Programs via Zoom.
- Schedule new SBAS Zoom outreach program at local retirement communities. (Please contact Hannah or Dotti to set this up.)
- Circulate new SBAS Learning Resources and Additional Resources:
https://santabarbaraaudubon.org/learning-resources/ - Reintroduce in-person raptor outreach at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
- Continue work with UCSB Goleta Coast Audubon.
Conservation
- Meeting with agency decision-makers, providing public comments, and authoring local conservation letters to promote bird, habitat, and biodiversity protections. (e.g., Manzana Wind Power Project Condor Incidental Take Permit, City of Goleta LEDs, and Baron Ranch Master Plan.)
- Using science to inform decision making for bird protections and habitat for Goleta creeks and watersheds and City of Santa Barbara Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
- Build advocacy to protect local open spaces, wetlands, bird habitats, and ecosystems.
- Collaborate with Goleta Parks & Open Space Manager, SB County Flood Control staff, and others to preserve birdlife and habitat at regional open spaces and stream corridors.
- Run the Breeding Bird Study (BBS) project for its 6th year; gather, edit, and curate the 9300 BBS records & continue promoting breeding data as a tool to inform land management and resource planning.
Science
- Exploring community science outreach about Nest Box monitoring of breeding Tree Swallows and Western Bluebirds at Lake Los Carneros (LLC).
- Processing aquatic invertebrate data for COPR and North Campus Open Space to provide quantitative data in support of understanding and evaluating ecosystem health..
- Working on Kite Watch, the community-based program of gathering White-tailed Kite breeding data.
- Plan 2021 Nest Box monitoring & related outreach.
- Strategize adapted Winter Bird Count For Kids community science event at LLC.
- Devise COVID-safe ways of encouraging community members to gather White-tailed Kite breeding information for the season that began in January and goes till September. (Contact Mark Holmgren.)
Projects and Goals November 2020
SBAS is actively working on many projects related to our three main focus areas: education, conservation, and science. This column will be updated regularly with an overview of selected current projects and goals (project list is not all-inclusive). Likewise, the goals summarize what each SBAS committee is working towards with occasional opportunities for member involvement.
From the desk of Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Current Projects
Goals
Education
- Providing new adapted socially distant education & outreach programs to serve community during Covid
- Creating new Learning & Additional Resources webpages with education materials: videos, birdcalls & field guides.
- Bringing Eyes in the Sky (EITS) raptor ambassadors to local schools via Zoom for 30-45 min presentations. (Contact Hannah for pricing.)
- Providing adapted monthly Evening Programs.
- Reintroducing redesigned in-person raptor outreach at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
- Circulate SBAS Learning Resources and EITS video. https://santabarbaraaudubon.org/learning-resources/
- Provide new interactive online Meet Your Wild Neighbor (MYWN) curriculum to 12 local 1st-3rd grade classrooms in the 2020-21 school year.
- Adapt and deliver new SBAS Zoom outreach program to retirement communities and other audiences.
- Continue work with UCSB Goleta Coast Audubon.
Conservation
- Meeting with agency decision-makers, providing public comments, and signing local conservation letters to promote bird, habitat, and biodiversity protections.
- Using science to inform decision making for bird protections and habitat for Goleta creeks and watersheds and City of Santa Barbara Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
- Reminding agencies that fuels reduction (trimming & removal of vegetation/trees/habitat) should occur during non-breeding times, specifically during months ending with “r”: September, October, November, December. (Sent 80 Tree Trimming letters Oct. 2020).
- Build advocacy to protect local open spaces, wetlands, bird habitats, and ecosystems.
- Collaborate with Goleta Parks & Open Space Manager, SB County Flood Control staff, and others to preserve birdlife and habitat at regional open spaces (e.g., Lake Los Carneros (LLC) & Ellwood), creek corridors, and Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR).
- Continue promoting the use of Santa Barbara County Breeding Bird Study records as a tool to inform land management and resource planning.
- Work with City of Goleta to consider the use of raptor perch at LLC to control pests and prevent use of rodenticides.
Science
- Exploring community science outreach about Nest Box monitoring at LLC: study of Tree Swallows (TRES) and Western Bluebirds (WEBL) breeding.
- Processing aquatic invertebrate data for COPR and North Campus Open Space to provide quantitative data in support of understanding and evaluating ecosystem health.
- Processing White-tailed Kite breeding data from February through September; 11 nesting events produced a minimum of 14 young.
- Plan 2021 Nest Box monitoring & related outreach.
- Promote 2021 Winter Bird Count For Kids community science event at LLC. (Moved to April.)
- Explore research and conservation fund to protect Purple Martins.
- Welcome more volunteer Kite Watchers to assist tracking kites and other raptors in open spaces in 2021. (Contact Mark Holmgren.)
Projects and Goals August 2020
SBAS is actively working on many projects related to our three main focus areas: education, conservation, and science. This column will be updated regularly with an overview of selected current projects and goals (project list is not all-inclusive). Likewise, the goals summarize what each SBAS committee is working towards with occasional opportunities for member involvement.
From the desk of Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Current Projects
Goals
Education
- Creating digital outreach and learning materials to share Eyes in the Sky (EITS) raptor ambassadors with local schools, Scout clubs, & retirement communities.
- Developing interactive online Meet Your Wild Neighbor (MYWN) curriculum to support local 1st – 3rd
- Building outreach with UCSB Goleta Coast Audubon.
- Share new SBAS Learning Resources and EITS video. https://santabarbaraaudubon.org/learning-resources/
- Deliver adapted MYWN wildlife education program to local classrooms in the 2020-21 school year.
- Safely reintroduce in-person outreach programs with live raptors at Santa Barbara’s Museum of Natural History, redesigned for socially-distanced audiences.
- Create “socially distant” adapted bird walks, bird sits, and monthly evening programs.
Conservation
- Meeting with agency decision-makers, providing public comments, and signing local conservation letters to promote bird, habitat, and biodiversity protections.
- Using science to inform decision making for bird protections and their habitat for Goleta creeks and watersheds and Wildfires Protection Plans.
- Encouraging use of Santa Barbara County Breeding Bird Study records as a tool to inform land management and resource planning.
- Build advocacy to protect local open spaces, wetlands, bird habitats, and ecosystems.
- Collaborate with Goleta Parks & Open Space Manager, SB County Flood Control staff, and others to preserve birdlife and habitat at regional open spaces (Lake Los Carneros (LLC) & Ellwood), creek corridors, and Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR).
- Remind agencies that fuels reduction should occur during non-breeding times, specifically during the months ending with “r”: September, October, November, December.
Science
- Completing 9th year of Nest Box monitoring at LLC to understand Tree Swallows (TRES) and Western Bluebirds (WEBL) breeding more deeply.
- Invertebrate project perseveres in reduced capacity.
- Finishing Purple Martin nest cavity surveys at Nojoqui Falls Park.
- Summarize Nest Box breeding data at LLC & COPR.
- Complete data analyses about invertebrate research at North Campus Open Space & COPR.
- Explore research and conservation fund to protect Purple Martins.
Projects and Goals May 2020
SBAS is actively working on many projects related to our three main focus areas: education, conservation, and science. This column will be updated regularly with an overview of selected current projects and goals (project list is not all-inclusive). Likewise, the goals summarize what each SBAS committee is working towards with occasional opportunities for member involvement.
From the desk of Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Current Projects
Goals
Education
- Using 1st and 3rd grade teacher feedback about Meet Your Wild Neighbor (MYWN) to fine-tune program.
- Supporting new UCSB Goleta Coast Audubon.
- Strategizing COVID-19 “socially distant” bird walks, programs, and Eyes in the Sky (EITS) outreach.
- Clarify who SBAS is and what we’re doing to the general SB public; highlight SBAS actions in 5 local newspapers (March-May 2020).
- Explore online outreach to elementary & high school students for 2020-21 school year.
- Continue reaching out to EITS volunteers, members, and local nonprofit leaders to strengthen SBAS community during this time of uncertainty.
Conservation
- Signing local conservation letters and providing public comments to promote bird & biodiversity protections.
- Using science to inform decision making for bird protections and their habitat for Goleta creeks and watersheds and Wildfires Protection Plans.
- Protecting Goleta open spaces (including Lake Los Carneros (LLC) & Ellwood) by providing guidance to Goleta City Council, Commissioners and Parks Staff.
- Communicate to the greater SB public the impacts of the Strauss wind energy project on birdlife, including Condors.
- Build advocacy to protect local open spaces, wetlands, bird habitats, and ecosystems.
- Collaborate with Goleta Parks and Open Space Manager to preserve birdlife and habitat at regional open spaces (LLC & Ellwood).
Science
- Providing Nest Box habitat for cavity-dwelling birds at LLC and opportunities for people to understand Tree Swallows and Western Bluebirds more deeply.
- Encouraging broad agency use of Santa Barbara County Breeding Bird Study records as a tool to inform land management and resource planning.
- Collect breeding data for Tree Swallows and Western Bluebirds at 22 Nest Boxes at LLC.
- Resume snowy plover monitoring, water quality and invertebrate research at North Campus Open Space & Coal Oil Point Reserve.
- Get White-tailed Kite nesting data from Winchester, Ellwood, More Mesa, & San Marcos Foothills.
