This collection was donated to the UCSB Library in 2012 by the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District. The collection consists of imagery from a variety of sources, including Horizon Surveys, Mark Hurd, Pacific Western Aerial Surveys (PW), and the Bureau of Reclamation. Most of the collection has been cataloged with the suffix “SBFlood” added to each flight ID. Some of the SBFlood photography duplicates imagery held in other collections, particularly imagery sourced from Pacific Western (PW).
The SBFlood photography covers the Santa Maria and Santa Ynez rivers as well as other flood-prone areas in Santa Barbara County. This collection is also a great source for imagery showing the aftermath of wildfires, including the Piru, Romero, Coyote, Sycamore Canyon, Eagle Canyon, Gap, Painted Cave, and Tea fires. The SBFlood collection consists of more than 150 flights, dating from as early as 1938 and up to 2008. The scale of photography varies, but is typically larger than 1:20,000.
