Ring Nets Support: Help Keep the Ring Nets in for the Next Five

Our hearts sank when on the 5th year anniversary of the 1/9/2018 Debris Flow, we had another event. And I know we were all concerned about the level of rain potentially coming down in Montecito with tropical storm Hilary. Studies have shown the debris flow events in our community can occur much more frequently than previously thought.

We are grateful for the community who rallied together to help us install debris flow nets into our canyons to act as a new mitigation. This was a novel idea, and we were allowed to test the concept and it has proven effective. But our original permits are set to expire this year and we need to have them extended.

On behalf of The Project for Resilient Communities we are, once again, reaching out to you for support. We are attempting to extend our permits for the six debris nets installed in the canyons of Montecito after the 1/9/2018 Debris Flow. Without this extension, we will be forced to remove the nets by the beginning of this year’s rainy season, which is predicted to be a heavy El Niño year. We are also asking Santa Barbara County to assume the maintenance and management of this debris flow mitigation system.

In the immediate wake of the 1/9 Debris Flow of 2018, we formed a private nonprofit and began looking at what we could do, as private citizens, to help to mitigate such a disaster in the future. We were supplied seed money by many generous local community leaders to research how other communities around the globe, who had experienced debris flows, had responded. We knew that local government was extremely stretched by back-to-back catastrophes in the Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow. 

We tried to do what we could, as private citizens, to fill the gap. After much research, we decided that we would pursue the possibility of installing Geobrugg debris nets in the canyon impacted by the 1/9 Debris Flow. This system is found around the world in areas with consistent debris flows such as Switzerland, Japan, and the Philippines, as well as other areas in California and many of parts of the United States. Engineers and geologists envision a debris flow mitigation system that combines nets high up in the canyons to help slow down debris flows in their incipient phase and debris basin that collect the large debris deposits. 

We raised six million dollars from private citizens and foundations – and permitted, constructed, and maintained the net system with all the conditions imposed on the only such installation in an Endangered Species Habitat in the United States for five years. We filled the gap during a time of crisis. It is time for this to be the responsibility of local government, not a small, private nonprofit.

We are asking you to raise your voice in support of this permit extension and ask the County to take over the maintenance of this system that augments the exiting County Flood Control Operation. We have a very short window to accomplish this critical goal and we cannot do it without your help.

We have made this as simple as possible. With two clicks on the link found on tprcsb.org you can send an email to all five of Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors. It is that easy. 

We also ask that you consider donating to support this cause by clicking on the donation button on the website. 

On the website are four short films that tell our story as well. Also, on the site there is an award-winning study done by Engineering Geologists Larry Gurrola and J. David Rogers that details the debris flow history of Southern Santa Barbara County. As you may recall in the wake of the 2018 Debris Flow, we were told that such an event was not likely again for another 500 or 1,000 years. This study shows that there have been 41 such events since 1820 and that does not count the floods of 1/9/2023 that occurred five years to the day after the tragedy of 2018.

In addition, there is a copy of the Annual Report, done by Storrer Environmental which we have submitted every year, detailing the environmental conditions in the canyons, for the County of Santa Barbara and California Department of Fish and Wildlife. We have had no environmental violations during the period of the installation.

As you may be aware, our net is upper San Ysidro Canyon, filled on 1/9. All our contractors have been signed up and we are prepared to empty the net once we have final approval of the regulatory agencies. 

Thanks to the support of Congressman Salud Carbajal, we have qualified for FEMA reimbursement for the cleanout. If a small, private nonprofit can qualify, it is certain that the same courtesy would be applied to local government if a future need arises. Especially in Santa Barbara County, which regularly deals with FEMA disaster-related funding.

All the nets are on private lands. We have secured the permission of the landowners for five more years of the nets being in place. We have also provided them with insurance until 2029. Additionally, we have started the permitting process with Santa Barbara County and the regulatory agencies for this extension. What we need now is your support.

The events of the past week, as well as Santa Barbara County’s well-documented history with natural disasters, shows us that we need to be prepared for the next event. It is said that for each dollar spent on disaster preparedness, we can save up to 15 dollars in response costs. We believe that the debris nets are an innovative mitigation that helps prepare our community to be better prepared for the inevitability of the next flooding or debris flow event.

As the Gurrola-Rogers study shows, it is not a question of if we will be hit again by a debris flow event, it is when. We feel very strongly that our nets will enhance our safety during such an occurrence. Removing the nets at this time would be a massive step backwards. We need your voices to be heard to save this community-funded project. Please add your name and voice to keep this critical system in place.

Once again, go to tprcsb.org and with a few clicks add your name to our cause. You can make a real difference. We are counting on you.