What if the boulders and debris that obliterated whole neighborhoods in Montecito on Jan. 9, 2018 could have been captured in the creeks?
Partners in Community Renewal, a new nonprofit group in Montecito, called RenewSB for short, is on a mission to accomplish that seemingly impossible task. Drawing on experts here and beyond California, the group has embarked on a $4 million, four-year study of the geology, hydrology, topography, and violent history of debris flows in Montecito.
“This is my home; it’s our home,” said Curtis Skene, the executive director, a debris flow survivor and a co-founder of RenewSB with his partner, Kris Kirkelie. “I just feel that when you have a place that’s your home, you have to defend it; you have to rebuild it; you have to fix it. When I got out after 1/9, I kept saying to myself, ‘What’s the opportunity in this big problem?’”