At the Aug. 21 meeting of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, Representatives of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS) gave an update on California’s newest national marine sanctuary, with an overview and some highlights from the first year since its designation in January 2025. The Water Board partners with CHNMS and serves on the Sanctuary Advisory Council.
The report “Year One and Moving Forward” is an overview of CHNMS work since designation and its focus areas moving into the future to support building foundational sanctuary programming and relationships. This work has concentrated on education and outreach, operations and administration, resource protection, research and monitoring, and working closely with Indigenous governments, organizations, and communities.
Over the next three to five years, the Sanctuary will continue to explore and build partnerships, facilitate the spread of sanctuary information, and develop strategies to meet community needs. It will be drafting a volunteer program outline and looking into potential approaches to share information with the community. The Sanctuary also will continue to mentor and support the next generation of marine scientists and ocean professionals through fellowships, internships, volunteer opportunities, and project guidance.
If you want to help with education and outreach efforts, you can:
● Disperse information to your community about NOAA student opportunities, which can be found here: https://www.noaa.gov/education/opportunities/students
● Disperse information to your community about NOAA grant and network opportunities: https://www.noaa.gov/education/opportunities/grants-networks
● Reach out to your local educational institutions to inform them of the sanctuary and provide them with links to the NOAA sanctuaries educational resources: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education/
● Help the Sanctuary identify what environmental education programs already exist in the region. Send the information to elizabeth.hofius@noaa.gov