Los Padres ForestWatch (LPFW) is an environmentalist organization located in Santa Barbara, California. LPFW’s area of focus is the central California coastline including the Los Padres National Forest, the Carrizo Plain National Monument, Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, and Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge. [1]
Legal Advocacy
Drilling
In 2005, Los Padres ForestWatch opposed a new drilling initiative that would expand the current drilling operations in the Los Padres National Forest. Jeff Kuyper, who currently serves as the executive director for LPFW, expressed concern that the new plan would have adverse ramifications on recreational activities in the park as well as threaten certain species. Former U.S. Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) also opposed the plan. [2] The case was pending until December 2016 when a federal court issued a stay on current litigation after the U.S. Forest Service halted the pending drilling plans indefinitely. The reason for the halt allegedly centered on a notice of intent to sue produced by LPFW and other environmentalists in October 2016. [3][4]
Logging
In 2011, federal Judge Lucy Haeran Koh of the Northern District of California granted an injunction requested by LPFW to stop a logging project in the Los Padres National Forest region. Koh allowed the project to continue under specified measures agreed upon by the opposing parties. [5]
In 2019, LPFW joined the Earth Island Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity in challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s “Tecuya Project” logging initiative. The environmentalist groups alleged that the logging project would destroy trees that are home to particular species such as the California condor and that the project violates standing forestry precedent. [6] However, the U.S. Forest Service argued that the project would advance thinning initiatives that would prevent insect and disease accumulation, and would also protect residence and commercial infrastructure from threats of fire. [7]
Target Shooting
In 2018, LPFW filed a complaint in Federal court against the U.S. Forest Service for allegedly failing to regulate target shooting in the Los Padres National Forest. The complaint centered on standards on target shooting set by the U.S. Forest Service that have supposedly gone unchecked since 2005 when the standards were adopted. The complaint requested the court to declare that the U.S. Forest Service had violated legal standards, among other alleged violations, and requested that the court order the U.S. Forest Service to implement the 2005 standards on designated target shooting areas, known as Standard 36. [8] On April 1, 2019, a stipulation to stay was submitted on behalf of both parties after mutual agreements were made that satisfied LPFW’s requests in their original complaint. [9]
Leadership
Jeff Kuyper is Los Padres ForestWatch’s executive director. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law. [10]
Public Advocacy
Los Padres ForestWatch has been publicly opposed to the Trump Administration’s plan to open federal land to oil drilling. In 2019 the Trump administration laid out a plan to open approximately 1 million acres in Federal land in California for companies to lease for drilling. [11] Jeff Kuyper responded to the initiative with opposition and urged locals to speak out against the Trump administration’s plan. [12]
Finances
2018[13]
Revenue: $493,054
Expenses: $538,316
Assets: $174,084