Surfrider Love Your Beach tour

On May 22, Earth Day 2025, the Surfrider Foundation stopped in Ventura with the "Love Your Beach" California tour  to raise awareness and defend the California Coastal Act.  

Paul Jenkin led a walking tour of the Surfers Point Managed Shoreline Retreat project currently under construction, followed by an informal gathering at Topa Topa Brewery in downtown Ventura.  Postcards were circulated to collect signatures and will be delivered to elected officials at this year’s Coastal Day in Sacramento.

Paul Jenkin explains how "managed retreat" makes room for natural beach processes

Paul Jenkin explains how windblown sand migrates across the dune-less area created for kiteboarding
 in Phase 1 of the Surfers Point Managed Shoreline Retreat project

In the news:

"Love Your Beach" tour stops at Surfers Point in Ventura, Surfrider calls on public to support Coastal Act, Coastal Commission, VC Star, April 24, 2025

The Surfrider Foundation spent Earth Day at a Ventura beach, one of the advocacy group's first stops on a tour to rally support for California's Coastal Act.  The decades-old law helps protect coastal resources and public access, said Jennifer Savage, Surfrider's California policy associate director. Over the years, those rights have become woven into the state's identity, she said. Now, some may not think they need to be defended.

During the local stop, Paul Jenkin, Surfrider's Ventura campaign coordinator, lead nearly three dozen on a tour of the shoreline restoration at Surfers Point.

Called managed retreat, the project is expected to make room for the beach by relocating a damaged path and eroding parking lot at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Jenkin called it rewilding the coast.

He and others started advocating for the work back in the 1990s, pushing for an alternative to building a sea wall – a temporary fix that experts say can exacerbate issues. A first phase of the project wrapped up more than a decade ago, and the second phase started late last year.

"We’re allowing the beach to naturally come and go," Jenkin said. Because of that, the beach will be there long after others disappear, he said. 

Don't doubt the trout

On Saturday, March 1, the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy hosted an evening of music, film, and conversation at the historic Ventura River Steelhead Preserve.  The night began with a live performance by Par Avion, led by CalTrout Ambassadors Rebecca Ramirez and Bernard Yin, and a screening of Don't Doubt the Trout (directed by Ojai’s Isabela Zawistowska), which follows Rebecca and Bernard’s journey to understand Southern California’s endangered steelhead and how the experience deepens their connection to nature. The evening concluded with an outstanding panel of local conservation experts discussing fish, rivers, watersheds, and dam removal. 

PANELISTS 

Mark Capelli is with the National Marine Fisheries Service, where he is responsible for coordinating the development of recovery plans for the threatened and endangered steelhead trout of central and southern California (from Monterey to the U.S. Mexican border). He is the lead author of the "Southern California Steelhead Recovery Plan" and the most recent "2023 5-Year Review of Southern California Steelhead."

Rosi Dagit is Principal Conservation Biologist for the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains. She has initiated and coordinated numerous research, restoration and monitoring projects throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, starting with studies of Malibu Lagoon, Leo Carrillo State Beach, and moving inland to watershed level analysis and sensitive species monitoring. She recently led efforts to rescue tidewater gobies and steelhead trout in the Palisades Fire burn scar. Currently, Rosi leads the Topanga Creek Stream Team.

Paul Jenkin is the Ventura Campaign Coordinator for Surfrider Foundation, and founder of the Matilija Coalition. He serves on the Surfers Point Working Group, a multi-agency task force working to solve beach erosion problems near the mouth of the Ventura River. Paul has also served on the various technical work groups within the Matilija Dam Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study, and acts as the coordinator of the non-government efforts to remove Matilija Dam and restore the Ventura River watershed.

Russell Marlow is a CalTrout Senior Project Manager for the South Coast Region, leading the Ventura office. Russell previously worked for USFWS and the NPS as a biologist focused on native and endangered aquatic species before completing his graduate studies at South Dakota School of Mines studying aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Russell’s project focus in the Ventura Office is on reconnecting critical habitat for the endangered southern steelhead through passage barrier removal or remediation.

Bernard Yin and Rebecca Ramirez serve as ambassadors for CalTrout, Patagonia Fly Fishing, conservation co-chairs for the Southern Sierra Fly Fishers Club, and perform music with their band, Par Avion.

More:

https://wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/film/dont-doubt-the-trout/