Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission (SMBRC) and the Foundation (SMBRF)
The health of the Santa Monica Bay is vital to our regional economy, our local ecology as well as our collective well-being. In recognition of the need to restore and protect the Santa Monica Bay and its resources, the State of California and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project (SMBRP) as a National Estuary Program in December 1988. The Project was formed in order to develop a plan that would ensure the long-term health of the 266-square mile Bay and its 414-square mile watershed, located in the second most populous region in the United States. That plan, known as the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Plan, won State and Federal approval in 1995. Since then the SMBRP's primary mission has been to facilitate and oversee the implementation of the Plan.

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SMBRP became the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission (SMBRC), an independent state organization, on January 1, 2003. This transformation came about as the result of the passage of California State Senate Bill 1381, authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl, co-authored by Assembly Member Fran Pavley, and signed by Governor Gray Davis on September 15, 2002.

The SMBRC brings together local, state, and federal agencies, environmental groups, businesses, scientists, and members of the general public on its 37-member Governing Board, the Commission’s main policy-making body.  Watershed stakeholders are also represented on the SMBRC’s two main advisory bodies: the broader Watershed Advisory Council and the Technical Advisory Committee. The SMBRC also works closely with the Foundation to implement projects toward restoration and protection of the Bay and its watershed. For additional information on the SMBRC, visit its website at www.smbrc.ca.gov

The Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation (SMBRF) is the non-profit partner of the Bay Restoration Commission. Formed in 1991, the Foundation raises and expends funds for research, education, planning, cleanup efforts, and other priorities identified in the Commission's Bay Restoration Plan. The Foundation Board of Directors is diverse and comprised of community members, local government and agency representatives, and members of the Commission's Governing Board. This ensures that the Foundation's efforts complement the work of the overall Bay Restoration Commission in protecting and restoring Santa Monica Bay. Click here to view the memorandum of agreement between the SMBRC and the SMBRF regarding the Santa Monica Bay National Estuary Program.

The Center for Santa Monica Bay Studies (Center) was established as a program of the Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation (SMBRF) in December 2008. The mission of the Center is to engage in multidisciplinary research on environmental and social issues affecting Santa Monica Bay and its watersheds and to contribute to policies and actions that improve the environmental condition of the Bay.

The Center is a joint program of the two institutions, whose collaborative efforts provide a regional organizing body connecting research across disciplines, as well as a forum for the dissemination and discussion of results.

The Center’s accomplishments include applied research studies, student internships, an annual symposium to present Bay related research, and publishing Urban Coast, an annual peer-reviewed science and policy journal focused on urban coastal issues.