Protect Public Lands and Waters Now!

Written by
June 12, 2025

FRIDAY, JUNE 13

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 Protect Public Lands and Waters Now!

Santa Barbara County Action Network Roundtable

FRIDAY, JUNE 13

Noon-1:30pm

Public lands could be removed from Channel Islands National Park; devastating logging and mining could be in the future for Los Padres National Forest; offshore oil drilling could restart; national parks, forests and marine sanctuaries could have their budgets slashed. These are a few of the threats to local public lands and waters that could wreak havoc on our local coastal environs.  

Three engaged activists from local nonprofits will give their takes on what is happening and the numerous threats to our local public lands and waters.

We will open the floor to questions and discuss what we can do together.

Our guest speakers are:

  • Jim Hines, conservation chair of the Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter of the Sierra Club
  • Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch
  • Ken Palley, member of the Executive Committee of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation

RECENT DETRIMENTAL ACTIONS:

  • Santa Barbara office of U.S. Department of Ocean Protection - CLOSED
  • Camarillo office of U.S. Bureau of Energy Management - CLOSED
  • Ocean and marine protections - SUSPENDED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER

THREATS:

  • Grants canceled for Channel Islands NP, Santa Monica Mountains NRA, Chumash Heritage NMS and Los Padres NF
  • Removal of Santa Rosa Island and San Miguel Island from Channel Islands National Park
  • Defunding of the Marine Mammal Commission 
  • Drastic reduction of  the U.S. Forest Service budget nationwide including the Los Padres NF
  • National park system areas to be closed including Channel Islands NP and Santa Monica Mtns NRA
  • Slashing the budget for various federal natural resources agencies impacting national parks, national forest and national marine sanctuaries in our region
  • Public lands sell off
  • Disposing of 360 national park system units
  • Restart of offshore oil production and transportation through the Sable oil pipeline that devastated our coast 10 years ago
  • Uranium mining and oil drilling in the Los Padres National Forest
  • Fix Our Forests Act could pass the Senate with bipartisan support, codifying executive orders that allow logging in the Los Padres National Forest
  • U.S. Forest Service Wildfire Risk Reduction Project proposes to remove trees, chaparral and other healthy native vegetation across 90,796 acres of Los Padres National Forest public land. The project emphasizes vegetation removal in remote areas—places that pose little threat to public safety but are rich in biodiversity, cultural value, and recreational importance. The plan also allows for commercial logging, and it overlaps with roadless areas and endangered species critical habitat.

OTHER THOUGHTS -- FROM JIM HINES:

Does the increased military presence off our coast have anything to do with the following: Discussions of returning San Miguel Island to the island's owner, the U.S. Navy. (The National Park Service manages the island but does not own it.) The U.S. Navy already owns two islands (San Nicolas and San Clementine). Discussions on removing Santa Rosa Island from the boundaries of Channel Islands National Park, although it could be part of a deep sea mining proposal.

How does the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system, SpaceX launches, massive budget and staff cuts to offshore protected areas and the administrations plans for an offshore oil and gas lease sale fit into all of this?

OUR GUEST SPEAKERS:

Jim Hines is the conservation chair of the Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter of the Sierra Club. His presentation is based on his perspectives from ongoing meetings with people in power in DC, such as Department of the Interior staff, Office of the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service (for Los Padres National Forest issues) and staff at the House Committee on Natural Resources. He has been following and disseminating information about actions taken and threatened against our national parks, national forests, Bureau of Land Management conservation lands, national marine sanctuaries and national wildlife refuges. He has been following these issues for years and is more alarmed now than ever.

Jeff Kuyper is the executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, which has the mission of "Protecting the Los Padres National Forest, the Carrizo Plain National Monument, and other public lands along Califoria's Central Coast." As one of the original founders of ForestWatch, Jeff brings more than 25 years of experience in legal and policy advocacy on behalf of wildlife, public lands, and the local communities that depend on them. Jeff holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resource Law, and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara. He has worked with several of the West’s leading public interest environmental law firms, including the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, Oregon; Advocates for the West in Boise, Idaho; and the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara, California.

Ken Palley is on the Executive Committee of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and has served as the chair of the organization. He is a retired Physician Assistant who practiced Urgent Care medicine at Sansum clinic for 30 years and has been an activist with Surfrider Foundation Santa Barbara chapter for the past 25 years. The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches, for all people, through a powerful activist network. He will focus on threats to the Gaviota Coast, including the Sable oil pipeline.

RECENT ACTIONS BY LOS PADRES FORESTWATCH AND ALLIES:

We thank Los Padres ForestWatch for taking the lead on demanding the Forest Service NOT cut trees, clear chaparral and remove other healthy native vegetation across 90,796 acres of public land.

Santa Barbara County Action Network joined a coalition of 91 environmental and community organizations calling for a new vision for wildfire protection. See the letter here.

We were one of seven organizations that signed a detailed technical letter prepared by the Environmental Defense Center urging forest officials to adopt a Community Alternative that reduces the Forest Service's plan by 83 percent. See the technical letter here.

 
Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN) is a countywide progressive organization working to promote social and economic justice, to preserve our environmental and agricultural resources and to create sustainable communities.
 
SBCAN advocates a holistic approach to community planning that integrates housing, open space and transportation to meet the needs of all members of our community and future generations.
 
SBCAN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Memberships and donations are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. Join with us to work on environmental, economic and social justice issues.
  

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Jeanne Sparks and Ken Hough, Co-Executive Directors

[email protected]