Mission Statement: The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's waves, oceans and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.
122 S. El Camino Real Suite 67
San Clemente, CA 92672
Phone: 949-492-8170, 800-743-SURF
Fax: 949-492-8142
E-mail: mailto:info@surfrider.org
Web site: www.surfrider.org
Formed: 1984
Membership Cost: student, $15; regular, $25; family $40
Chapters: 49 USA (4 international affiliates)
Executive Director: Christopher J. Evans, Esq.
From the Beach: 87% of total revenue from membership and contributions
To the Beach: 83% of total expenses used for programs and issues
Roots | Past Victories | Present Battles
Roots
Go back. Back before being green was hip, back when the surfing world was ablaze in neon, spiky haircuts and dollar bills, back to sprawling Southern California in 1985. Lifelong surfer and history teacher Glen Hening was inspired by the optimistic brotherhood of the 1984 Olympics and had a vision to found the Surfrider Foundation. He saw the need for an organization that allowed surfers to take an active role in shaping their future. Sixteen years and countless battles later, Hening's saltwatery arrow has wavered, but never truly lost its course.
As Hening recalls, "I saw the Surfrider Foundation as a Cousteau Society for surfers -- an organization not only concerned with environmental degradation, but also with the sport itself." He did not envision the present green army of volunteers, many of whom don't surf, or, as he puts it, "haven't been inside the logo." Hening, along with Harvard law student and waterman Tom Pratte, started Surfrider with the idea that the surfing industry would embrace the vision of safeguarding and enhancing our aquatic playground and kick down with some serious cash.
Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia stepped up to the plate with a $10,000 donation straight away and a promise to donate 1 percent of net (or 10 percent of gross) profits every year -- a good sign of things to come. But when Hening started going to trade shows, other industry bigwigs didn't seem to have the time. After 15 years of experience and some serious research on the philanthropic practices of the surf industry, Hening says now: "The surf industry treats Surfrider like a charity of convenience. The problems are basically because the original model for the organization depended on people in SIMA [Surf Industry Manufacturers Association] behaving like Yvon Chouinard."
But rather than continue paddling into the surf industry closeout, Surfrider started stroking for the channel. In 1991, Dr. Gordon Labedz, a lifelong surfer who'd been deeply involved with the Sierra Club, saw the lack of funding from the surf industry as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. There are two kinds of environmental groups -- volunteer, grassroots-based groups and staff-driven groups that rely on outside funding. Staff-funded groups, says Labedz, are not very successful since they tend to have to go around begging for money. So Labedz took the Sierra Club's cue and helped organize regional chapters at Surfrider.
While the formation of chapters and the decentralization of power in 1990-'91 may have gone against Hening's original vision, Surfrider became unquestionably more visible on both local and national levels. And in environmentalist terms, visibility equals power. It didn't hurt that, at the same time this internal shift was happening, Surfrider was in the process of suing the bejesus out of two Humboldt County pulp mills to the tune of $5.8 million, winning the second largest settlement under the federal Clean Water Act ever.
The Humboldt victory was not all roses, however. Surfrider almost crashed down when it was revealed that Mark Massara, the attorney representing them at the lawsuits, disagreed vehemently with Surfrider's decision to impound all the legal fees. The question of who should get the leftover money threw Surfrider into a split. After a fairly ugly series of passionate allegations on all sides, executive director Jake Grubb moved forward, and with Pierce Flynn's help, set the whole chapter program in motion.
Ten years later, most folks believe that the chapter-based structure is Surfrider's most valuable asset. " I think the biggest victories are the unseen victories," says Mark Babski, SF's web site keeper. "In these beach communities, you now have a non-profit, grassroots organization that is civically involved for the protection of the coast."
Pierce Flynn, executive director from 1991-'95 agrees. He saw that the formation of chapters -- going from five to 45 during his five-year reign -- "activated the surfing public and gave the surfing public an arm for activism."
Vice President Al Gore told Flynn that Surfrider had become the symbol of the "new environmentalism." Michelle Kremer, deputy executive director and legal director, says this army of eco-warriors "isn't like the blue-hairs watching birds at the Sierra Club. Surfrider is sexy. When you think of Surfrider, you think of cool, young, hip surfers."
The formation of these young, hip chapters allowed Surfrider to expand on its original mission and get to work on creating programs that could be shared or given out rather than attempting to do everything at its tiny national office. From the early '80s ragged Baja Relief runs (where surfers from California would bring down gifts for the less-fortunate Baja locals) to the late '90s technical Beachscape Program (a hyper-detailed data-set mapping of the California coast, including storm-drain outfalls), Surfrider's power has always been at the grassroots chapter level.
The Blue Water Task Force, set up in the early '90s to test water quality (local governments weren't), now tests the water more than 6,000 times a year all over the world. Respect the Beach, Surfrider's educational program started in 1991, is in 500 schools nationwide. Local chapters clean more than 250 beaches. Surfrider members testified more than 1,250 times before judicial legislative groups last year. What began as an idea for a Cousteau Society for surfers has become the world's largest grassroots environmental group that deals with the aquatic playground.
As the fearlessly optimistic new Executive Director Chris Evans says, "Surfrider's never gonna go away as long as there's people surfing. All of us could croak here at the national office or commit an abuse on the organization and I guarantee you that members would rise up and take our places."
He also sees Surfrider's relationship with the surf industry in a more optimistic light than Hening. "SIMA has kept our doors open more than once," he says, "and it's gonna get a whole lot better." The annual Waterman's Ball -- a fundraiser created back in 1990 by SIMA to donate money to ocean-related environmental causes -- raises somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000 a year for Surfrider and other environmental groups, and this year, it donated $50,000 specifically earmarked for Surfrider's new Beachscape program. Not a bad chunk of change for an industry that's been criticized by many environmentalists.
"What Surfrider does for the sport of surfing and the environment is more important than me, more important than my puny staff, more important than the surf industry," continues Evans. "It's bigger than us, and we have a responsibility to make this work."
Past Victories
(1989) Helped prevent oil drilling off the Outer Banks in North Carolina
Worked with Hatteras Defense Fund and other organizations against oil drilling; spoke with Mineral's Management Service in Washington, D.C. in 1994 and helped organize grassroots activism and defeated Mobil and Chevron in their attempts to drill offshore. At present there is no oil drilling off North Carolina.
(1991) Defeated Louisiana-Pacific and Simpson Paper pulp mills in Humboldt County in the second largest Clean Water Act suit in United States history
Pulp mills paid $5.8 million in fines; Simpson Paper shut down and moved; Louisiana-Pacific now use secondary treatment, removed chlorine from bleaching process and built beach showers, campground and environmental conference center.
(1995) Helped win the Kailua Bay lawsuit against the city of Honolulu for 13,792 violations of the Clean Water Act
City began using ultraviolet disinfection facility and figured out source of pollution for Kailua Bay.
(1984-2000) Succeeded in acquiring $300,000 from Chevron to build a sandbag surfing reef in El Segundo where a Chevron-built jetty had destroyed the surf
The surf-destroying jetty was built in 1984 and was monitored for 10 years. After proving that it destroyed the preexisting surf, Surfrider hired coastal engineer David Skelly to design what is now known as Pratte's reef. After six years of bureaucracy, Surfrider got the money in April 2000 and plans to build the reef in early fall 2000.
(1989-2000) Succeeded in gaining or restoring access at many beaches nationwide
Point Reyes, California (1994); Hammonds, California (1989); parts of Vandenberg AFB, California (1991); Sunset Beach, California (1992) Deal, New Jersey (1995); Ortely Beach, New Jersey (1996); Robert Moses State Park, New York (1996); Dover, New Jersey (1996) and more.
Present Battles
(1984-) Worked on educating the public about the different sources of pollution and what they can do to help Through chapter outreach and programs such as the Blue Water Task Force, Respect the Beach, Beachscape and the first annual State of the Beach Report, Surfrider is succeeding in educating the public that the main source of ocean pollution is urban runoff.
(1985-) Committed to preserving the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach, California, from development
Began reporting extensively and testifying against proposed breakwater, harbor and oceanfront luxury home development in spring 1985; contributed to defeat of proposed development in summer 1989; joined the Bolsa Chica Land Trust to buy the land in 1992; defeated wetlands development in summer 1996 (again); alongside Sierra Club and others, 1,300 (of 1,700) acres saved (i.e. bought) by spring 2000 and 300 acres on the mesa above the wetlands still threatened.
(1990-) Joined with local groups to stop the proposed harbor development at Maalaea on Maui's South Shore and the Obayashi development on the North Shore of Oahu
Began reporting on and criticizing proposed harbor in spring 1990 and the Obayashi development in winter 1991. Though neither project has been built, Surfrider and local groups are still fighting the battle.
(1991-) Participating in the ongoing struggle to clean the water at the U.S.-Mexico border
Sued the EPA in 1995 to force it to look at ponding as an alternative secondary treatment to the 50 million plus gallons of sewage per day flowing out at the U.S.-Mexico border. Four and a half years (and two lawsuits) later, the federal government agrees and the filtering ponds could be built in the next few years.
(1999-) Helped write and promote the BEACH Bill, the most comprehensive ocean-related piece of legislation to date
The BEACH Bill establishes a nationwide program of consistent standards for beach water quality monitoring, testing and notification. It passed unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives on Earth Day 1999 and passed Senate committee April 13, 2000. The president signed it into law in early October 2000. --Marcus Sanders
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
;)
;)
