December 12, 2019
Channel Islands WILD! is a bold, new all-encompassing Sierra Club campaign to:
1) Protect Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary:
** Lead the resistance to stop proposed new offshore oil platforms when the federal government releases plans for increased offshore drilling in federal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. Plans are scheduled to be released in 2020. Meeting on this issue with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in January.
** Continue our to work for a complete ban on the use of all long line nylon nets used by the commercial fishing industry to catch a targeted commercial fish species but these same nets which lie for miles below the surface of the ocean and entangle and kill hundreds of whales, sea otters, dolphins, seals, diving sea birds and sea turtles each year.
** Take part in planning sessions and stakeholder meetings for the update to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Management Plan which is ongoing through 2021.
** continue to work for a northern expansion of the marine sanctuary.
** lobby members of congress for passage of legislation which would create several underwater sea mounts, sea caves and sea canyons national marine monuments in the SB Channel. This would prohibit undersea mining.
** Meet with the Japanese Consul General to discourage potential Japanese whaling in federal waters off the coast of SoCal.
2) Protect Channel Islands National Park:
** Prevent the removal of Santa Rosa Island from the national park.
** Lobby congress to move forward with wilderness lands designations as recommended in the Channel Islands National Park General Management Plan, which congress has never acted upon. (Note: only an act of congress can create protected federal wilderness areas).
Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary are special and precious ecosystems which our campaign will aggressively work to the protect.
Our Channel Islands WILD! Team members will fan out across the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter region of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, to the state Capitol and to the halls of power in Washintong DC speaking at events, to groups and organizations, rallying, advocating and meeting with decision makers to make absolutely certain that all wildlife and wild places in the Channel Islands land and marine ecosystems stay Channel Islands WILD!
Our team is carrying on the Sierra Club tradition of the past 127 years, doing what we do best, protecting the wildlife and wild places which we all love and enjoy.
for Channel Islands WILD!
Jim Hines
