Community Restoration Projects
Learn more about our Community Restoration Projects here!
Want to protect your beautiful topsoil from El Niño this winter? We do too!
That`s why we are planting a soil-building cover crop this Sunday at the Bucket Brigade Humanitarian Farm!
Come and learn from Master Farmer Tom Shepherd this Sunday as we put our "topsoil to bed for the winter." There is a high likelihood of an extremely wet winter (75%+) and we aren`t taking any chances with the soil we have been rebuilding for the last 3 years as we grow food for food-aid in Santa Barbara County.
Come learn and grow with us at the Humanitarian Farm - click the volunteer link in our bio to learn more!
Blue Dog learned some things at Bucket Brigade Academy this summer like…
Don’t let that rainwater go to waste at your habitat restoration project! A bioswale on contour is a good way to capture rainwater, to prevent erosion and to prevent loss of top soil. It also helps hydrate the landscape to help your baby plants and trees grow.
Better get to work on that berm blue dog! Looks like it needs a little tuning up!
#communityrestorationproject #sbbucketbrigade #bucketbrigadeacademy #bbhumanitariangarden
We are happy to announce the completion of a new section of the Carina Dee Velazquez Memorial Trail in Santa Ynez!
The new section of the trail goes from the corner of Mission Drive (HWY-246) and Homestead Lane on Refugio Road. With this addition, Santa Barbara County and the Bucket Brigade have completed 1-mile of trail restoration in the Santa Ynez Valley. The BB has completed 5.25 miles of new roadside trail installations since the 2018 debris flow as a part of our long-term community recovery and resilience campaign.
This project was made possible by funding from the Chumash Foundation and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. Additional funding came from a Santa Barbara County Air Pollution District “Supplemental Environmental Project” settlement agreement.
All Bucket Brigade trail projects are performed through Road Enhancement Partnership Permits with Santa Barbara County Public Work in support of local community plans. To learn more, please visit our website www.sbbucketbrigade.org
We have reached peak fire season.
When the winds start blowing - it is Stay Ready Time.
Sign up for readysbc alerts.
Review your evacuation plan.
Check your go bag.
#sbbucketbrigade
In response to the Statewide Emergency Declaration by Governor Newsom, the Bucket Brigade is mobilizing community resources to prepare for peak fire season and the potential for major winter storms.
Our greatest resource is, of course, our volunteers. Together with our community partners, we form the foundation of Santa Barbara County`s grassroots resilience capacity. Now is the time to begin work together, in earnest, to prepare our families, our neighborhoods and our community for the months ahead.
Because of the severity of this Super El Niño, we are calling all Bucket Brigade volunteers to step up their level of preparedness at this time.
To get things started, here is a link to our 5-Step Neighborhood Action Kit to help concerned citizens and volunteers to orient and engage in neighborhood-level preparations for a potentially challenging fall and winter.
We will be following up with a series of posts and neighborhood meetings to share different ways each neighborhood in Santa Barbara County can step up their level of preparedness and resilience this fall.
For a free copy of our 5-Step Neighborhood Action Kit - click the link in our bio!
Volunteers needed this Sunday! #bbhumanitarianfarm
Green Bean Harvest this Sunday!
Volunteers needed at the Bucket Brigade Humanitarian Farm! All produce donated to local food aid!
#bbhumanitarianfarm #sbbucketbrigade #bucketbrigadeacademy
Come and join us at the Humanitarian Farm and help us grow organic produce for local food-aid! #bbhumanitarianfarm #bucketbrigadeacademy
Climate change and natural disasters have taken a toll on our local ecosystem. Repeated wildfires, record-breaking droughts and short-duration, high-intensity rain events have caused all kinds of problems in the past 10 years. The Bucket Brigade has been working to restore ecological damage since our first deployment in 2018. Our restoration work began in the debris-flow damaged areas of the Ennisbrook Open Space and the Casa Dorinda Open space where we spent a whole year removing man-made debris, digging out native oak trees, rebuilding trails and replanting areas that were struggled with post-disaster invasive species pressure.
This work really resonated with volunteers, with the neighborhoods where we worked and with communities served by these restorations – so we stuck with it. To carry our our mission to train volunteers and volunteer leaders, we found a damaged area of a beloved local park and began a 7-acre Community Restoration Project: The Bucket Brigade Humanitarian Garden.
The garden sits in the heart of a vital watershed ecosystem that was badly damaged by failed agricultural ventures and a decade long drought. For this reason, it seemed like the perfect place to teach restoration leadership…by actually restoring the whole area together. The work began with weekly volunteer projects to remove flammable invasive plants to reduce fire risk and to clear areas for restoration. We then replanted the area with endangered native trees and an edible native cactus grove. We also created a 1-acre buffer area with 72 species of native nectar-producing plants to create a native pollinator demonstration garden.
In 2022, we launched the Bucket Brigade Academy at the Humanitarian Garden where we have trained 66 local students to lead volunteer deployments and restoration projects. Many of those students have gone on to lead flood-relief and sandbag assistance projects in the community. 8 elite students have become professional volunteer coordinators for the Bucket Brigade and lead local restoration projects at open spaces, schools and trails.
Our current restorations projects include The Humanitarian Garden (ongoing), Ellwood Mesa Butterfly Preserve (on behalf of the City of Goleta) and The Bucket Brigade Humanitarian Farm – a 1-acre urban farm restoration where we grow produce for local food-aid.
