September E-Letter

In this E-Letter:

HTO Tackles the Homeless Encampment Problem in the Santa Ynez Riverbed
Yet another Derelict Boat on East Beach
Recap of Hillary’s Book Signing at Chaucer’s

HTO Tackles the Homeless Encampment Problem in the Santa Ynez Riverbed

**The Santa Ynez Riverbed Cleanup Crew**

Heal the Ocean (HTO) has been involved in cleaning up abandoned houseless camps in environmentally sensitive areas because the camps often contain trash and human waste that can eventually end up in the ocean.

In 2020, HTO Field Advisor Harry Rabin, of On the Wave Productions began to survey homeless camps from Summerland to Goleta, using drones with high-power lenses and infrared capability. While Harry visited the camps, he would take photographs and talk to the unsheltered about their situations – while also asking them to put out their fires.
The City and County Fire Departments, working with Public Health workers, became interested in Harry’s work. His ongoing surveys have helped fire officials keep an eye on potential conflagrations. It has also provided useful metrics for housing and health authorities to justify ongoing efforts to house the unhoused.

Harry keeps an updated interactive map on Heal the Ocean’s website, accessible to all.
On Wednesday, September 28, Harry and his son, Drake Rabin headed to Lompoc with On the Wave high-tech equipment. Their goal: to survey the homeless population in the Santa Ynez Riverbed. The survey was recommended to City Net Lompoc by Santa Barbara County Housing and Community Development Encampment Response Coordinator, Lucille Boss.

City Net provides services for people experiencing homelessness, and Lompoc City Net official, Keela Potter, needed help in locating and assessing the number of encampments and occupants that had returned to the Santa Ynez Riverbed since it had been cleared out previously. State funding had arrived, and City Net Lompoc had a high need to assess what it could now achieve with such funds to help the homeless people living in the Santa Ynez riverbed.

Escorted by Lompoc City Net personnel - Charlotte, Denise and KC - Harry and Drake launched the On the Wave high-tech drone, and very quickly covered 2.5 square miles of the riverbed. They spotted a number of cars and trucks parked - or driving - in the riverbed. They captured minute information on each site - which included dogs, propane tanks, fuels, chemicals, and more. Some of the sites had crudely constructed shelters framed with makeshift roofs.

Harry Rabin approximates 26-30 individuals living in the Santa Ynez riverbed based on the approximate 11 encampments surveyed with 2-3 being abandoned. There were numerous fire hazards at more than half of these sites. Approximately 2.5 square miles were surveyed revealing these encampments. This was accomplished in minutes by 2 drones with one having infrared capabilities. Both had high powered lenses to enable closer examination of site contents. Human waste being dumped into the riverbed was evident in several of the photos. Most importantly, mountains and trails of trash were documented. This was alarming because all the polluting matter could wind up in wetlands and finally, the ocean.

Harry and Drake will return to Lompoc to obtain more GPS data, and all of this information will be entered into Heal the Ocean’s interactive map. The ultimate goal of the work - and the map - is to help the unhoused get the help they need.

The final step is, of course, cleanup. Waiting in the wings for this important work for Heal the Ocean is Andrew Velikanje of Earthcomb - a team of once-homeless workers, who will get into the riverbed to remove the tons of debris left behind.

Another Derelict Boat… Not even a week later

**Time Lapse Video taken by Harry Rabin**

On September 10th, the extreme hightide and surf washed an anchored sailboat ashore onto East Beach. A week later on September 19th, another boat washed up on the same beach and Harry Rabin, HTO Field Advisor, was the first one on the scene. Harry was on the beach at dawn, removing pollutants from the boat, calling authorities for permission to get the boat off the beach. (He tracked down the owner in Italy). The City of Santa Barbara finally responded to HTO’s calls for assistance, and ended up paying the fee for disposal by MarBorg Industries. The cost of the cleanup exceeded almost $20,000, and the boat owner could have avoided this problem by insuring the boat for $102 a year.

Heal the Ocean is here, first and foremost, to protect our Oceans and the safety and welfare of our community. Boats washing ashore has been a consistent problem, therefore HTO is working on a program to prevent derelict boats from anchoring in front of our beaches.

HTO asks all boat owners to be responsible. If you’re negligent, your boat will get eaten!

If you own a boat please have the following:

Vessel Registration
Boaters Insurance
Operational vessel

**Boat Demolition Photo taken by Harry Rabin**

Recap of Hillary’s Book Signing at Chaucer’s

**Click on the YouTube video for a Full Recap!**

Last week Hillary had her book signing event at Chaucer’s, despite having knee surgery just two days prior.

It was a great success with a full house packed into Chaucer’s. The audience got to listen to Hillary talk about her journey writing “Dancing on Waves.”

If you would like to listen to her book writing backstory and her small adventures along the way, click on the above video.