In between travels across the country, blogging for Outside magazine as Readers of the Year for 2012, and promoting and raising awareness about the plight of America’s rivers and waterways, Below the Surface co-founders Kristian Gustavson and Jared Criscuolo made time to stop by Treehuggers International to talk about the ongoing evolution of the Riverview Project, and the basic principles of Below the Surface.

Kristian and Jared are working with the USGS on their Riverview mapping project.

When We Last Met

Shortly after the explosion and collapse of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform in April 2010, and the beginning of what would become the worst environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the largest maritime oil spill in history, Jared Criscuolo and Kristian Gustafson of Below the Surface paid a visit to the Gulf Coast to see for themselves the extent of the damage.

Veterans of a previous excursion to the Gulf Coast and the Atchafalaya River, the two made quick use of their established network of contacts in the region to take stock of the situation facing the environment and the livelihood of the Gulf’s fishing communities and tradition. The stories they brought back of devastated economies and ruined marshlands were tragic, as detailed by Jared in his August 2010 appearance on Treehuggers International.

Meanwhile, the long clean-up continues, along with the ongoing environmental and economic repercussions of the disaster. Sadly, little has been done to change drilling conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, and new oil leases are once again being issued for the Gulf of Mexico as U.S. domestic oil production reaches an all-time high.

Riverview and Outside

Since then, Jared and Kristian have continued growing Below the Surface, continuing their river expeditions and experimenting with alternative fuel development. The two have also been busy developing and applying new software applications which will help with better mapping and charting of waterways, as well as revealing new opportunities for river conservation and local involvement through Below the Surface’s Riverview Project.

To top it all off, Jared and Kristian were honored for their pioneering conservation approaches and adventurous spirit when they were named Outside magazine’s Readers of the Year. The two will continue to blog for Outside throughout 2012 as they further develop the Riverview Project, in conjunction with their partners at the U.S. Geological Survey, The Nature Conservancy and the Surfrider Foundation.

Paddleboarding on the Atchafalaya River.

Jared Criscuolo and Kristian Gustavson met while volunteering with the Surfrider Foundation, and upon forming Below the Surface began a number of high-profile expeditions of some of the wildest and most at-risk waterways in the nation, highlighting the need for clean and responsible water policies from the headwaters of creeks and streams to the mouths of the biggest rivers.

Kristian first explored the Gulf Coast region and the Mississippi River as part of Below the Surface’s Downstream Campaign, followed by the Gaining Ground expedition of the Atchafalaya River, one of Louisiana’s last wild waterways.

Kristian and Jared have also undertaken explorations of California’s Sacramento River as the basis of their Spring to Sandtrap expedition, which followed the length of the Sacramento River from its headwaters in the Mt. Shasta high country into the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Delta.

Jared also represented Below the Surface on the Coastal CODE expedition of the Alaskan panhandle, working on a weeklong beach clean-up effort with the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation and addressing the global impact of litter and debris accumulating in the world’s oceans.

Refilling the BTS Ford F-250 with New Leaf Biofuel's B99 vegetable oil blend.

More about this post at:

• Below the Surface
• Riverview Project
• Outside Magazine Readers of the Year 2012
• U.S. Geological Survey
• Surfrider Foundation
• The Nature Conservancy
• Take Me to the River (Without Leaving My Desk) (KQED; 2/14/12)
• A Street View for Rivers (New York Times; 2/13/12)
• S.D. River Rats Find National Voice for Project (San Diego Union-Tribune; 11/15/11)
• Source to See (Outside Magazine; 11/8/11)
• Below the Surface At the Gulf of Mexico (Treehuggers International; 8/13/10)
• Static Kill: Taking Stock of the BP Oil Spill (Treehuggers International; 8/12/10)
• Alabama Sues BP Over Gulf Oil Spill (New Orleans Times-Picayune; 8/12/10)
• BP Now Says Top Kill Mud Was Toxic (Tampa Bay Examiner; 7/27/10)
• Scientists Break Silence Warning of BP Dispersant (Tampa Bay Examiner; 7/25/10)
• Witness Cancellations Thwart Hearings On Oil Spill (New York Times; 7/20/10)
• Experts Double Estimate of BP Oil Spill Size (BBC; 6/11/10)
• River Keeper (Reader’s Digest; 6/1/10)
• Disaster Slowly Unfolds In the Gulf of Mexico (Boston Globe; 5/12/10)
• Gaining Ground Expedition Down Atchafalaya River is Complete (Current TV; 3/22/10)

Treehuggers International welcomes Below the Surface co-founder Jared Criscuolo, who talks about the organization he established with fellow Surfrider activist Kristian Gustavson.

From Kristian’s introduction to the Mississippi Delta during Below the Surface’s Downstream Campaign, to the duo attending a town hall meeting in Mississippi and a strange visit to Ship Island in the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the midst of the spill, Jared discusses how the BP oil disaster is inexorably affecting a region wholly dependent upon the sea, from oil and gas extraction to generations of deep-sea fishermen and wetlands shrimpers.

Below the Surface: Jared Criscuolo (L) and Kristian Gustavson (R).

More Than the Sea Can Bear

After an unprecedented three-month deluge of millions of barrels of crude oil into the sea, the immediate crisis of the BP oil spill has come to an end with the capping of the blown-out Macondo well on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, but the clean-up and recovery of the Gulf Coast and the vast, affected areas of the Gulf of Mexico will be going on for months, if not years.

The BP spill has already become the worst maritime oil disaster in history, far eclipsing the notorious 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, and the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel oil well blowout, which to this day continues to be the source of layers of sticky oil embedded in the sand of Santa Barbara beaches, and tarballs washing ashore along California’s Central Coast.

Cleaning a brown pelican in Ft. Jackson, Louisiana.

The economic impact of the BP oil spill on Gulf Coast communities became painfully clear in the weeks after the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon. Dozens of popular beaches and seaside communities in four states have been affected, with many locales off-limits since spring, spelling disaster for thousands of regional merchants which depend upon tourism to see them through the year.

The impact to Gulf Coast fishing may even be more long-lasting, as fishermen struggle to find available harvest in the midst of ruined oyster beds and shrimping grounds in the Gulf Coast’s oil-soaked wetlands, while deep sea fishing has been reduced to starvation, with over one-third of the Gulf of Mexico now closed to commercial fishing.

The final toll on wildlife has yet to be determined, but it may be more than we, or the sea, can bear. The total number of brown pelicans, sea turtles, crabs, otters, dolphins, and whales lost may never be known, and concrete numbers remain hard to come by, especially with hundreds of washed-up or oil-ridden corpses hidden or removed by BP or government officials, often in roped-off areas out of sight from journalists and the public. The calamitous impact on fish is simply too early to tell, as vast undersea plumes of oil, some stretching thousands of feet deep, lurk just beneath the surface polluting, contaminating, and killing. The effects of oil-dispersing chemicals on marine life, sprayed onto the surface of the Gulf of Mexico for months on end, also has yet to be fully determined.

Taking readings on a tainted beach.

Below the Surface

Jared Criscuolo and Kristian Gustavson recently returned from an emergency trip to the Gulf of Mexico as part of their work promoting water conservation and improving water quality in rivers and oceans with their non-profit organization, Below the Surface.

The two met while doing work for the Surfrider Foundation, and upon forming Below the Surface began a number of high-profile expeditions of some of the wildest and most at-risk waterways in the nation, to highlight the need for clean and responsible water policies from the headwaters of creeks and streams to the mouths of the biggest rivers.

Kristian first explored the Gulf Coast region and the Mississippi River as part of Below the Surface’s Downstream Campaign, followed by an expedition of the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi and one of Louisiana’s last wild waterways. The contacts Kristian, and later, Jared made during these expeditions paid dividends when they returned to the Gulf Coast to get a firsthand look at the damage wrought by the BP oil spill.

Kristian and Jared have also undertaken explorations of California’s Sacramento River as the basis of their Spring to Sandtrap expedition, following the length of the river from the headwaters in the Mt. Shasta high country into the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Delta, and Jared represented Below the Surface on the Coastal CODE expedition of the Alaskan panhandle, working on a weeklong beach clean-up effort with the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation and addressing the global impact of litter and debris accumulating in the world’s oceans.

Photos by kind courtesy of Pat Heidingsfelder, except where noted.

Kristian and Jared with another oil spill casualty, Gulf Islands National Seashore.

More about this post at:

• Below the Surface
• Not the Answer, Surfrider Foundation offshore oil drilling resource and blog
• Static Kill: Taking Stock of the BP Oil Spill, Treehuggers International op/ed
• Uncovering the Lies That Are Sinking the Oil (Truthout; 8/16/10)
• Alabama Sues BP Over Gulf Oil Spill (New Orleans Times-Picayune; 8/12/10)
• FDA Finds Low Risk of Dispersants On Seafood (Associated Press; 8/11/10)
• Burning and Flaring of Oil Draws Criticism (New Orleans Times-Picayune; 8/2/10)
• BP Now Says Top Kill Mud Was Toxic (Tampa Bay Examiner; 7/27/10)
• Scientists Break Silence Warning of BP Dispersant (Tampa Bay Examiner; 7/25/10)
• Witness Cancellations Thwart Hearings On Oil Spill (New York Times; 7/20/10)
• Better Safety Needed for Oil Spill Workers (Associated Press; 6/25/10)
• You Should Totally Apologize to BP (Grist; 6/18/10)
• Death By Fire In the Gulf (Los Angeles Times; 6/17/10)
• Experts Double Estimate of BP Oil Spill Size (BBC; 6/11/10)
• Deepwater Horizon Workers Describe Failures Which Led to Spill (Associated Press; 5/27/10)
• Memorial Service Honors 11 Dead Oil Rig Workers (USA Today; 5/25/10)
• Deepwater Horizon Survivor Describes Horrors of Blast (The Guardian; 5/20/10)
• Disaster Slowly Unfolds In the Gulf of Mexico (Boston Globe; 5/12/10)
• Blast Survivors Kept Isolated On Gulf for Hours (NPR; 5/10/10)
• BP Has A History of Safety Failures (Anchorage Daily News; 5/8/10)
• In Gulf of Mexico, Chemicals Under Scrutiny (New York Times; 5/5/10)
• Oil Spill Approaches Louisiana Coast (Boston Globe; 4/30/10)
• Oil Leak In Gulf Worse Than Estimated (ABC News; 4/29/10)

For more on Below the Surface, check out this “sizzle reel” of the duo’s cable TV project, River Warriors.

Hands Across the Sand is coming to a beach or park near you, Saturday June 26th.

A full listing of all coastal San Diego County Hands Across the Sand events, Saturday June 26th, compiled by Richard Miller and our friends at the San Diego and Imperial County Sierra Club chapter.

For additional information on Hands Across the Sand and other coastal conservation and clean-up events, check out the San Diego Surfrider chapter, along with our friends at San Diego Coastkeeper, Pro Peninsula, and Wildcoast / Costasalvaje.

What to do at a Hands Across the Sand event:

STEP 1 – Go to one of the gatherings listed below at 11:00 am for one hour, rain or shine.

STEP 2 – Join hands for 15 minutes at 12:00 noon forming lines in the sand against oil drilling in our coastal waters.

STEP 3 – Leave only your footprints.

Spring runoff along Big Rock Creek, San Gabriel Mountains.

With World Water Day coming up on Monday, March 22nd, it’s a good time to think about the myriad of directions water agencies tend to go, with some agencies charged with the task of bringing water to thirsty Southern California, while others are charged with the task of flood control, flushing any rainwater the region may receive into the ocean as quickly as possible.

It’s not counter-intuitive to take a step back and ask why these agencies’ goals aren’t more in tandem. When rainwater falls in Southern California or a similarly dry climate, it would make as much sense to keep more than just what winds up in reservoirs and use it, rather than expel the rainwater into the sea, only to pull it from the ocean again in the form of a desalination plant, thereby burning more fossil fuels to extract the same fresh water which was just flushed away.

Enter The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water, a new, animated film produced by a team of activists from different chapters of the Surfrider Foundation, with Surfrider San Diego member and Know Your H20 co-chair Belinda Smith at the helm as Executive Producer.

As part of Surfrider’s new Ocean Friendly Gardens campaign, The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water discusses how the current management of our water supply runs counter to grade-school lessons about the water cycle, highlights controversial problems and solutions related to water management, and serves as a practical, good sense-driven outline for individuals curious about water issues.

And from one cycle of insanity to another, there remains Governor Schwarzenegger’s ongoing scheme to remove California State Parks from the state’s general fund, and instead fund the operation of all 278 state parks (and several other starving state institutions, including the U.C. and Cal. State systems) from oil revenues collected from a long-delayed, highly-controversial, twice-rejected offshore drilling plan along the Tranquillon Ridge in the Santa Barbara Channel.

In conjunction with the California State Parks Foundation, Treehuggers International was recently in Sacramento for Parks Advocacy Day actively lobbying against such a move, and pressing state legislators for support of the Parks Access Pass initiative, currently in the signature-gathering stage and expected to be on the November ballot.  By adding an annual $18 surcharge to all California-registered vehicles, state parks will similarly be removed from the general fund and fully funded from a regular, annual source of support, with the added benefit of EVERY Californian enjoying free access into all state parks, year-round.

Stefanie Sekich is best-known for her work in helping defeat the proposed Orange County toll road through the backcountry of San Onofre State Beach as part of Surfrider’s coastal campaigns and Save Trestles initiatives, and along with Belinda Smith, she stops by Treehuggers International for an update on not only the possibility of expanded offshore oil drilling in California’s coastal waters, but also in federal waters beyond the three-mile offshore mark of the state. While President Obama has been instrumental in the resuscitation of federal regulatory agencies and the creation of new wilderness areas with last year’s omnibus bill, he’s been reluctant to remove the option of renewed offshore oil drilling off the California coast.

From The Cycle of Insanity film to the ongoing parks-for-oil cycle of insanity, we cover some extra ground on this edition of Treehuggers International.

The San Diego Surfrider chapter is hosting the premiere screening of The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water on March 22nd at 4:00, 6:00, and 7:30 pm at The Loft on the UCSD campus. The screenings are open and free to the public, with a Q & A session following the 4:00 and 6:00 screenings.

More about this post at:

• San Diego Surfrider Chapter
• Not the Answer, Surfrider anti-offshore oil drilling advocacy website
• World Water Day
• Know Your H2O
• Save Trestles, updates on Trestles and San Onofre State Beach
• California State Parks Foundation
• Ocean Waves Beaches
• Oil for Parks Plan Derided As Blackmail (San Diego Union-Tribune; 1/22/10)
• On the Money: Oil Drilling Controversy (KOVR-TV Sacramento; 1/15/10)
• Governor Seeks to Use Oil Money to Save State Parks (San Francisco Chronicle; 1/9/10)
• Initiative Seeks Long-Term Funding for Cash-Strapped State (San Diego Newsroom; 1/8/10)
• Enviros Blast Arnold’s Oil for Parks Plan (Contra Costa Times; 1/8/10)
• Schwarzenegger: Fund State Parks Via Offshore Oil Money (LAist; 1/8/10)

Headwaters: Scott Gomer Creek at treeline, Pike-Arapaho National Forest, Colorado.

High tide along Monterey Bay, near Pacific Grove.

Angela Howe was born and raised in Texas, but found her calling defending the beaches she enjoyed surfing in her adopted home of California. As a law student, Angela first came in contact with Surfrider in the foundation’s home waters in Malibu, and has since gone from volunteering on beach clean-ups and grassroots activism to becoming an integral component of Surfrider’s legal team, where she now serves as Legal Manager for the Surfrider Foundation’s national office in San Clemente.

While President Obama has thus far made conservationists happy passing expansive wilderness legislation, reinstating the EPA’s traditional watchdog role, and pledging to move forward on alternative energy initiatives, the young administration has also thrown environmentalists for a loop by not actively working to reinstate the Reagan-era moratorium on offshore oil drilling along the nation’s outer continental shelf, which President Bush removed by executive order last summer (ironically, it was President Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, who last imposed and upheld the moratorium in the early 1990s).

Angela talks with Tommy about the possibility of renewed offshore oil drilling along the California coast, and Surfrider’s push for alternative energy solutions and stance against offshore oil drilling via the Not the Answer initiative. She also discusses the history of the Surfrider Foundation, the current situation at Trestles, and Surfrider’s litigation campaigns, including the halting of Florida “dredge and fill” projects in Palm Beach County, a process which failed to go through proper permitting and was destroying marine habitats and ecosystems until Surfrider stepped in with a coalition of local activists and surfers to stop it.

More about this post at:

• Surfrider Foundation
• Not the Answer
• Hold On to Your Butt
• Rise Above Plastics
• Save Trestles
• Surfrider Legal
• Palm Beach Abandons State Permit Application (Palm Beach Post News; 3/27/09)
• Lake Worth Saved (Surfline; 3/12/09)
• Era of Oil Drilling Ban Draws to Close (Los Angeles Times; 9/24/08)
• Debate On Offshore Oil Drilling Heats Up (USA Today; 7/14/08)
• The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (Discover Magazine; 7/10/08)
• President Bush Proposes Offshore Oil Drilling (North County Times; 6/18/08)
• Surfrider Sues to Save Lake Worth Pier (Surfring Magazine; 3/14/08)

The Department of Commerce hearing regarding the proposed southern extension of the Foothill South 241 toll road at San Onofre State Beach and Trestles is Monday, September 22nd, from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm. The hearing will be held at the same place as the California Coastal Commission hearing in February: O’Brien Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Turnout is EXTREMELY important.

If you would like to speak at the hearing, you must submit a written request via U.S. mail or a commercial carrier to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration by THIS FRIDAY, September 12th. Requests after this date will be disqualified by the Commerce Department, and requests submitted by fax, e-mail or voicemail will, for whatever reason, not be accepted. Submit your written request NOW if you wish to speak.

While crucial issues include retaining the integrity of California State Parks and keeping a six-lane freeway out of the San Onofre State Beach and the intact San Mateo Creek watershed ~ which makes up the bulk of the San Onofre backcountry and empties onto Trestles Beach ~ the message is simple: SAVE TRESTLES.

Like Eddie Vedder says, "Save Trestles."

On September 22nd from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm at O’Brien Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the fight to save Trestles goes from being a state matter to a federal matter. The Orange County Transportation Corridors Agency has been appealing the state Coastal Commission’s denial of a permit to build the toll road through the park to the federal government, so this will be our only opportunity to tell the Commerce Department we want our state parks and intact watersheds to be left intact.

Send a brief, polite letter or postcard asking to speak at the Commerce Department public hearing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on September 22nd. Be sure to indicate you are speaking only for yourself, not an organization. Put a stamp on it and mail it to:

Mr. Thomas Street
NOAA Office of General Counsel for Ocean Services
1305 East-West Highway
Room 6111
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Even if you don’t want to speak at the hearing, take a vacation day or a personal day and come to the public hearing on Monday, September 22nd, from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm.  As was the case with the February hearing, turnout is EXTREMELY important.

Rogue Wave supports the Save Trestles campaign.

The proposed Foothill South 241 toll road through the San Onofre backcountry won’t just compromise the surfing quality, clean water, and wild character of Trestles, it will also throw into jeopardy long-protected Native American burial and cultural sites at Panhe, close miles of backcountry trails, force the closure of the San Mateo Campground, further dissect wildlife habitat area and corridors into ever-smaller pockets, and set a terrible precedent for the disposability of parks and protected places.

Interestingly, according to a July 15th article in the Orange County Register, toll road supporter Congressman Gary Miller of California’s 42nd District (Brea/Mission Viejo) has a financial stake in seeing the Foothill South 241 toll road built through San Onofre. Coincidence?

Also, a rebuttal from the Transportation Corridors Agency in the North County Times on July 27th seems to take the position whatever wild character the backcountry of San Onofre State Beach may still retain isn’t worthy of the protection it was originally granted. Why? Because it’s not 100% wilderness; therefore, by the TCA’s logic, it’s okay to build a six-lane toll road through it. Of course, who said San Onofre State Beach or Trestles was ever intended to be managed as wilderness? Not the point, fellas (but then you knew that anyway). Unfortunately, the original sin proposition of building a toll road through a state park in the first place is not addressed..

Click on the video below to see former Carmel mayor Clint Eastwood talk about why Trestles and San Onofre State Beach need to be saved and preserved, as was the case when the park was set aside by Governor Reagan in 1971.

More about this post at:

• NOAA to Hold Public Hearing on Foothill / Eastern TCA Federal Consistency Appeal, official NOAA site
• San Onofre State Beach, California State Parks
• Save Trestles / The Great Toll Road Swindle, Surfrider advocacy blog
• Save San Onofre, community advocacy page
• Friends of the Foothills, Sierra Club advocacy page
• Transportation Corridors Agency
• Del Mar Site Is Again Picked for Tollway Hearing (Los Angeles Times; 8/26/08)
• Speakers At Sept. 22 Toll-Road Hearing Must Apply Ahead (Orange County Register; 8/25/08)
• Want to Speak Out On O.C. Toll Road? Better Plan Ahead (Los Angeles Times; 8/25/08)
• Suit Accuses U.S. of Bias In Toll Road Study (Los Angeles Times; 8/15/08)
• Transportation Agency Rebuts Column (North County Times; 7/27/08)
• Cracking Open A Miller (O.C. Weekly; 7/17/08)
• Let the Public Speak (Los Angeles Times; 7/15/08)
• Congressman Has Financial Stake In O.C. Tollway (Orange County Register; 7/15/08)
• Suit Accuses U.S. of Bias In Toll Road Study (Los Angeles Times; 8/15/08)
• Should 241 Extension Be Built? (Orange County Register; 4/23/08)
• Toll Road Agency Wants Appeal to Be Quiet (Los Angeles Times; 4/5/08)
• ‘Terminator’ Fires Clint Eastwood, Shriver (USA Today; 3/20/08)
• Coastal Commission Rejects Toll Road Through San Onofre State Beach (San Diego Union-Tribune; 2/6/08)
• Panel Rejects Beach Toll Road (Los Angeles Times; 2/7/08)
• Report Nixes Toll Road Extension (Orange County Register; 9/28/07)
• O.C. Tollway Could Spoil Burial Site (Los Angeles Times; 8/20/07)
• Perilous Times for San Mateo Creek (San Diego Union-Tribune; 4/18/07)
• Campers Say Toll Road Will Ruin Campground Experience (North County Times; 1/29/06)
• Agency Picks Route for 241 Tollway Extension (Orange County Register; 12/7/05)
• Toll Road Opponents Get A Boost (Orange County Register; 11/12/05)