What Your Dollars Do: 2013 in Review

Friends of the River (Sacramento)

Friends of the River Foundation took over 200 at-risk youth on river trips exposing them to river conservation and helping them to develop both personal confidence and team building skills. In addition Friends of the River secured commitments from federal legislators to introduce Wild & Scenic bills to protect 380 miles of California rivers on the north coast, the central coast, the high desert and coastal portions of Southern California. Learn more about river conservation at www.friendsoftheriver.org.

Golden Gate Audubon Society (Bay Area)

Golden Gate Audubon reduced threats to birds from wind turbines in the Altamont Pass. The wind turbines potentially kill thousands of birds each year, including protected species such as Golden Eagles and Burrowing Owls. Thanks to our advocacy, a wind company was prevented from rolling back protections for birds and was required to continue a seasonal shutdown and other mitigation measures that have been demonstrated to save birds. Get the latest success stories at www.goldengateaudubon.org.

Heal The Bay (Santa Monica)

Heal The Bay celebrated a big victory when Los Angeles became the biggest city in the country to ban single-use plastic grocery bags. Working with L.A. City Council members, it took more than six years of their hard work and diligence to help draft and enact the ordinance.  This change could keep over 2 billion plastic bags out of the waste stream next year, which affects a multitude of species who often mistake plastic for food as it breaks down. For more information about the Ban the Bag campaign or to volunteer, go to www.healthebay.org.

Marin Agricultural Land Trust (Marin)

Photo courtesy of Paige Green

In 2013, Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) protected two iconic Marin farms—the Barboni Ranch in Hicks Valley and Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales. More than 1,600 acres of rolling pasture, oak woodland, and grass-covered hills are now safe from development. The health of an entire watershed, as well as rare plants and animals including the iconic golden eagle and the California red-legged frog, were protected.  For a glimpse into this beautiful agricultural landscape that’s preserved forever, go to www.malt.org/news/farmsneedfriends.

Pacific Environment (San Francisco)

Russia’s endangered big cats—tigers and leopards in Siberia and the Far East—are hunted by poachers and losing forest habitat to illegal logging and human-caused wildfires. Pacific Environment helped local Russians form citizen patrols to bring poachers to justice, combat wildfires, and stop illegal logging. For more information, go to www.pacificenvironment.org.

San Diego Coastkeeper (San Diego)

San Diego Coastkeeper's thousands of members celebrated the culmination of several negotiations and legal actions in 2013. After a decades-long battle, local shipyards began a cleanup of more than 140,000 cubic yards of toxic sediment in San Diego Bay and Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base agreed to reduce sewage spills by more than half over the next three years. Fishable, swimmable, drinkable water in San Diego County is making a comeback!  For information on getting involved, visit www.sdcoastkeeper.org.

San Francisco Baykeeper (San Francisco)

One of San Francisco Bay’s rare, wild beaches lies on the shore of Point Molate in Richmond—but the area had been closed off for more than a decade due to toxic debris. In a four-month effort during 2013, Baykeeper and their volunteers removed 96 tons of debris from Point Molate. Eliminating this debris will improve the health of eelgrass beds along the shoreline, which provide important habitat for sea life near the beach. The shoreline cleanup helped make it possible for Point Molate Beach Park is being re-opened in October, making this natural treasure accessible to all Bay Area residents. Concerned about pollution in the Bay?  Visit www.baykeeper.org.

Save Our Shores (Santa Cruz/Monterey)

A small group of hard-core volunteers (the Xstream Team) made a difference at a neglected yet often visited shoreline: Davenport Main Beach. We held consistent cleanups there all year and the Xstream Team worked out better than we could have hoped. 2,640 pounds of trash and recycling off the beach has been collected since March. And the public is getting the message – the amount of trash has been decreasing each time the Xstream Team visits. Due to the program's success, funding was obtained to clean-up Panther Beach in the coming year. Xstream cleanups prove that a small group of amazing volunteers can turn a legendary dirty beach into a beautiful paradise for people of all ages. Get your Xstream on at www.saveourshores.org/volunteer.

Urban Corps (San Diego)

A two-month restoration project on the popular Cowles Mountain Trail in San Diego kept youth enrolled in Urban Corps’ job training and education program busy for six weeks in the spring of 2013. Crews worked with City of San Diego Parks and Recreation staff to re-slope 3.5 miles of trails, reconstruct water outflows, address drainage and erosion issues, lay gravel, and construct rock retaining walls. Learn more at www.urbancorpssd.org.

Desert Tortoise Preserve (Riverside)

A Fall Work Party at the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in the western Mojave Desert was one of their largest and most productive stewardship events to date:  five major trash sites were cleaned up, removing 6.79 tons of debris from desert conservation lands! 15 additional signs were also installed at the boundaries of the conservation area. By cleaning up sites visible from routes and roads and installing no trespass signs, the habitat quality of the sites was improved and future dumping in these areas is discouraged. Volunteers also enjoyed a sighting of a female desert tortoise in her burrow at one of the clean-up sites.  For information on protecting desert tortoise and their habitats, visit www.tortoise-tracks.org.

Surfrider Foundation (national scope)

2013 proved to be another incredible year of coastal protection for the Surfrider Foundation with major surf protection victories on either side of the US. After Hurricane Sandy, the popular Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island was slated for large repairs, which put New England’s most popular surf break, Ruggles, at risk. The local surf community and larger global surf community engaged and after tireless efforts, a lower impact, surfer-friendly plan was embraced. Another surf protection fight took place at one of the most famous waves in the world, Honolua Bay, Hawaii. In 2013 Hawaii state lawmakers passed a bill authorizing the acquisition of 280 acres surrounding Lipoa Point and kept development at bay. One more treasure secured.  For more information, please visit www.surfrider.org.