Welcome

Dear Visitors,

I am a student in the HBP (Home Based Partnership*) Ocean Guardians class. We do a variety of activities in this class. On a weekly basis, we meet at HBP and walk down to the Maria Ygnacio creek to examine the water. We conduct tests on the water, and make measurements to determine the condition.

In the fall of 2010, we took a field trip and hiked up to the headwaters of Maria Ygnacio creek, called Bjorklund Ranch, which is located in the foothills of Santa Barbara. There, we completed our tests, and recorded them on our Quantitative Analysis Sheet.

Then, later on in the term, we did a Rapid Trash Assessment project, where we went up the creek to a certain point to pick up all the trash that we saw, and then brought it all back to the school. Then, we counted up all the trash, from the tiniest things, such as bottle caps, to the largest things, that ranged from metal pipes to large amounts of steel rebar.

Near the end of the term, we went all the way to the bottom of the watershed, near the point where the Maria Ygnacio creek joins with the Atascadero creek. After the trip, we compared the data we recorded from the headwaters to the data we collected from the bottom of the watershed to gain an understanding of how our creeks were doing, from top to bottom.

This is the second time I have taken the Ocean Guardians class and we hope to present our information to professional watershed watchers. I am thrilled to learn more about our creeks, and maybe one day inspire others to help take great care of this beautiful, natural resource.

by John

*Associated with the Santa Barbara Charter School

Goleta City Council Presentation

The Ocean Guardians made a grand presentation of their research and recommendations from studying the Maria Ygnacio Creek this past year. The video of their presentation and the Council's responses is a little over 13 minutes long. Check it out. They did a fantastic job!

Paper or Plastic?

by Jade
How many times have you gone into a store and had the cashier ask you,  “Paper or plastic?”  Plastic shopping bags are horrible for the earth.  There are several reasons why you should say “no” to plastic bags.
One reason to refuse plastic bags is that they are made from polyethylene. Polyethylene is made from a gas, which is a type of oil, which is nonrenewable. I think within the next 300 years we will run out of oil. Instead of plastic bags, we could then use polyethylene for transportation (if we do not have all electric transportation at that time) or for heating houses. Not for plastic bags! In addition, plastic is not recyclable. The trash is put in landfills, where a big hole is dug in the earth and the trash, including the plastic, piles higher and higher. This is a problem because birds come and eat the trash; therefore they will eat the plastic bags. Plastic bags become smaller and smaller as they take 500-1000 years to decompose, that is a long time! The smaller the plastic particles get the bigger the problem is for the environment!   
Some plastic bags do not make it to landfills, instead they blow away. When the rain comes the bags end up in streams and rivers, which make up our watersheds and eventually flow into the ocean, where marine life eats it. For example, a turtle may think a bag is a jellyfish and will eat it. Soon the turtle will die. Not only are plastic bags harmful for marine life, but the chemicals from the plastic and the stuff in the bags, like dog dodo, makes the water unsafe for our dogs and us. Once plastic bags reach the ocean, they can end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice as big of the state of Texas! 
We can do some things about this problem. If we use plastic bags, make sure they are biodegradable.  We can also clean our beaches and streams so there is not as much trash. Lastly, we can use paper bags at stores instead of plastic bags. So now you know what to say when some one asks you “paper or plastic?” You can say, ”I brought my own bag”