This year is our 20th anniversary and we are proud to announce the Coastal Champions on World Oceans Day. These individuals, organizations and businesses have helped ensure that San Diego County has had fishable, swimmable, drinkable water for the past twenty years and for the next twenty years. Join us in honoring them by reserving your seat to the breakfast celebration at Birch Aquarium on Monday, June 8 at 7 a.m.
Lighthouse Lifetime Achievement
Skip and Donna Frye: Lifelong surfers and waterlovers, Skip and Donna Frye are both also clean water activists and environmental leaders. These two have given back to San Diego in many ways and have positively impacted our local community. In the 1990s, they founded Surfers Tired of Pollution to raise awareness about water pollution and to educate the community about the harmful impacts of pollution. Together, they fight for clean water safety standards in San Diego and ensure that San Diego has fishable, swimmable and drinkable water.
Volunteer of the Year
Allison Scofield: Over the past twenty years, we have been supported by our dedicated volunteers who make powerful impacts in our community. Allison is one of San Diego Coastkeeper’s most dedicated lab volunteers. Since 2010, Allison has been analyzing nutrients and fecal indicator bacteria for Coastkeeper’s water quality monitoring program once a month, even when she was in school at UCLA. She’s known around the office as an expert analyzer and an enthusiastic volunteer.
Runoff Rockstar
Nielsen and Beaumont Marine, Inc.: Nielsen and Beaumont Marine, Inc. is leading its boatyard community in preventing runoff with their modern, environmentally advanced facility. Nielsen and Beaumont Marine, Inc. designed their boatyard to capture and collect stormwater for treatment and storage, and it is more advanced than current stormwater regulations for boatyards. San Diego Coastkeeper and our community appreciates their efforts to prevent harm to our waters.
Water Wise
Brickman Group: San Diego is currently in a water crisis. We import more than eighty percent of our water from outside the area and much of it goes to landscaping. Thanks to Brickman Group, you can create a beautiful yard with native, drought resistant plants that will make your neighbors jealous. Brickman Group is helping local residents conserve water with water management services such as turf removal, native planting, soil nutrition and smart irrigation systems.
Marine Conservation
Ocean Discovery Institute: San Diego Coastkeeper loves educating about marine science and so does Ocean Discovery Institute. Ocean Discovery Institute was founded in 1999 to teach young people about science and conservation. Over the past 16 years, Ocean Discovery Institute has educated thousands of students, trained teachers, and engaged volunteers to help restore local wildlife habitats. Their work has inspired young people to become environmental leaders and make a difference in our community.
Find & Fix
John W. Stump: John Stump exemplifies this award: he found a pollution problem and immediately decided to fix it. John came across harmful debris and waste in the Chollas Creek and called a plan of action by alerting and mobilizing the community and the media of this pollution problem. This action had an immediate response from the City of San Diego and workers removed the harmful debris and waste, laid a layer of gravel and installed fencing and bumpers to mitigate future runoff pollution. San Diego Coastkeeper and Chollas Creek thanks John for being a community activist and environmental leader.
Blue Tech
ECOLIFE Conservation: Do you love fresh, organic produce? Gardening or farming? Working with your hands? Well, if you said yes to any of these, then now you can have it all thanks to ECOLIFE. ECOLIFE develops aquaponic systems: a sustainable farming technique that is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponic farming, and they are bringing it to San Diego. These aquaponic systems allow individuals to grow fresh, organic produce and fish while only using ten percent of the land and water in comparison to traditional farming. ECOLIFE hosts community workshops and provides aquaponic kits as teaching curriculum in schools. Also, ECOLIFE has solar-powered greenhouses and rainwater collection barrels to be even more sustainable. How awesome are they.
