Orange County Coastkeeper honored a Laguna Beach nonprofit and a San Juan Capistrano business at its recent Toast of the Coast for their work helping to keep the local shoreline a special place.
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At Thursday’s fundraising gala, Michael Beanan and Jinger Wallace of the Laguna Bluebelt Coalition received Coastkeeper’s Outstanding Activist Award — for nearly 20 years, the two have built support and traveled the coast to advocate for Marine Protected Areas, which, within their first decade in California, had already helped large swaths of the underwater world rebound. They co-founded the coalition in 2008.
Tim Marshall and Denise Haunert-Marshall of the San Juan Capistrano Equestrian Center received the Coastkeeper’s Business Leadership in Water Award.
Sarah Spinuzzi, Coastkeeper’s legal director, nominated the equestrian center for its commitment to sustainable stormwater management practices.
OC Coastkeeper, based in Costa Mesa, is a nonprofit clean water organization with a mission to protect and restore marine habitats, watersheds, and fresh- and saltwater ecosystems.
California created Marine Protected Areas up and down the state in 2012, with Laguna Beach’s MPA covering 70% of the city’s coast. To help highlight the benefits of the MPAs, Laguna Bluebelt hosts an annual photo contest that showcases pictures taken in the local MPA.
Its organizers say the images are more than something nice to look at, they are documenting the success of now 14 years of coastal protections.
Ray Hiemstra, Coastkeeper’s associate director of policy and projects, who nominated Beanan and Wallace, credits them for the attention on sealife the photo contest, which draws in photographers from across Southern California, creates.
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He also noted the coalition’s involvement in funding the Aliso Beach Berm Buddies Program. Together with Coastkeeper researchers, the berm program monitors wildlife, human activity, and the natural sand barrier at Aliso Beach and Treasure Island in Laguna Beach.
“Coastkeeper is proud to present them with our Toast the Coast award,” Hiemstra said. “We expect that this recognition will help with their continuing efforts to protect the marine environment for all Orange County residents.”
Beanan said, “OC Coastkeeper has been a great partner for decades, helping to elevate Laguna’s Marine Protected Areas as a statewide model of stewardship and community collaboration.”
Because Coastkeeper’s mission focuses on restoring fresh- and saltwater ecosystems, he said winning an award from the organization will help highlight the coalition’s various efforts, such as reducing and eliminating the discharge of urban runoff and secondary sewage to the ocean at Aliso Beach and creating awareness of the impacts of berm breaching at the mouth of the Aliso Creek.
Hiemstra said the Bluebelt’s recognition is not Coastkeeper’s first. He also selected Laguna Bluebelt for Coastkeeper’s “My Hero Project” award in 2017 and again this year. The award recognizes education efforts in watershed protection.
Toast of the Coast was held at the Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach. In its 27-year history, Coastkeeper has awarded numerous organizations, individuals, and businesses for their efforts to promote clean water.
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