Thank you for the chance to tell you all about our club and the opportunities for leadership, education, personal growth, recreation, etc. it has provided to UCSB students for 20 years as well as our commitment to environmentally compatible and sensitive horse keeping, our education, our habitat restoration and our historic preservation goals and plans.

History of our club: Horses have lived at the stables for most of the last century which means we are a part of living history! Our club was founded in June 1978 when the UCSB Recreation Department Riding program was discontinued. The club was formed to provide a convenient, affordable place for UCSB students, faculty and staff to keep their horses.

Our club: We run our club as a cooperative --- everyone pitches in for feeding, corral and grounds maintenance, preventative medicine and horse care. An executive board of three student officers manages the day to day operations of the stables and the club. We have a constitution and rules and regulations which all members sign. We operate on a consensus basis for major decisions.

Educational Value: We provide unique opportunities for UCSB students to learn and develop skills in leadership, community outreach, financial planning, group communication and processes, as well as equine management and care. In 23 years, our members have included 5 undergraduates who went on to DVM degrees, 1 doctor, 1 lawyer, 3 Ph.D. students, and 4 Masters students, as well as numerous students who went on to graduate school in many other fields. We also provide basic horsemanship classes to local children and groups to educate young people about horses and help them understand the important role of horses in human history.

Sports for Women and Men: Equestrian sports are one of the very few sports where women and men compete as equals on up to international levels! Our club allows student equestrians to come to UCSB and continue to ride and compete on all levels.

History: We support the historical research on the Campbell Barn by Dr. Anita Guerrini and colleagues and are actively working towards its restoration and preservation as the oldest building left on the UCSB campus. On a day to day basis we oversee the security of this historic structure and work with campus facilities management to deal with problems that come up.

Environmental Education and Awareness: Our club has made numerous contributions and changes to improve the natural environment of the stables area and educate our members about the environment. These include:

1)Water quality: We have developed an extensive bioswale of willows in the North Finger and have allowed a large proportion of the original stables property to return to a natural wetland state. All manure and straw are removed monthly and are donated to local organic farms. These good management practices have resulted in very low nutrients reaching the slough in a recent study by Court, Page and Dugan at UCSB.

2) Member Education on Sensitive Resources: e.g. Snowy Plover orientations are required of all new members before they can go on trail rides. No dogs are allowed off leash at stables or on trails and the Wetland areas of the stables are protected from horse use.

3) Habitat Restoration: Many of the natural values associated with the stable area are due to our management and enhancement of natural recovery. We are restoring native riparian woodlands and shrublands in the stables area. We have encouraged willow trees to grow back in a large proportion of the original stables property to return the area to a natural state and provide habitat and shelter for birds and other wildlife. Last year, we planted native plant species grown from local genotypic stocks including sycamore, cottonwood, wild rose, elderberry and wild blackberry with funding from the UCSB Shoreline Preservation Fund. The plants are thriving and providing habitat for native birds already. We plan to plant more native plants later this year and oaks in the future.

Sign Our Online Petition to Save the Stables

Here is the web site for the Santa Barbara County/UCSB proposal which specifies the removal of the West Campus Stables from the North Finger of Devereux Slough. The web site is arranged with downloadable pdf files of the plan chapters. The West Campus Stables and North Finger area appears on several pages (pp 21, 39, 43, 63, 82 and 96) in the document. The clause that the stables will be removed appears on pages 39, 43, and 63.

http://www.countyofsb.org/plandev/comp/planareas/goleta/ellwood/index.html

Summer EB
Chairperson: Karinna Hurley
Co-Treasurers: Jenny Keatinge, Shaughn Ryan, Jenny Dugan
Secretary: Beth O'Connor