The Next Wave Campaign

This is Groundbreaking

Sea lion sitting on the rock

We’re excited to invite you to join us as we usher in a new era for our organization - The Next Wave expansion.

The Next Wave Campaign will include:

  • A water reclamation system that will save our community 15,000 gallons of water every day

  • Increasing the standards of animal care

  • Improving our research capacity

  • Providing more students with access to our educational programming

  • Laying the groundwork for powerful advocacy that will help us as we Build a Better Ocean - one with fewer plastics and less chemical pollution.

THE NEXT WAVE building a better ocean logo

FUNDRAISING

We invite you to ride the wave with us. PMMC’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release marine mammals, and to educate and inspire our community to become ocean stewards for the future. The better we can increase the quality of our animal care, educate the community, and contribute to research, the better we can reverse the effects humans have caused on our marine mammal population.

Please join us in this exciting project.

Sea lion sitting on a rock

  • $18,000,000

  • Our expansion is expected to be completed by Spring of 2025.

    • Philista & David Almquist

    • Anahata Foundation

    • Ed Batlle

    • Bauer Foundation

    • Carolyn Berndt

    • Jeff Brumett & Marc LaFont

    • Glenn Gray & Kathryn Burton

    • Jeff Byer

    • Cody & Deborah Engle

    • Bill & Debbie Finster

    • Marilyn & Terry Green

    • Sue Gross

    • Tom Hale

    • Diane & Clay Halvorsen

    • Cynthia & Doug Harmon

    • Bob & Nena Harrington

    • Dan Haspert

    • Highest Peak Foundation

    • Jerry C. Dearing Family Foundation

    • John Kinney

    • Lisa & Mark Locklear

    • Barbara & Greg MacGillivray

    • Teddy Blayne Martonen

    • Massen Greene

    • McBeth Foundation

    • Jeff & Carla Meberg

    • Scott & Sue Redsun

    • Sand Cloud

    • Kozo & Martha Shimano

    • Phil Shuluk & Holly Johnson

    • Rachel & John Stanaland

    • Stanley E. Hanson Foundation

    • Bob Barker

    • Donald Slavik Foundation

    • Tom Fueling

    • Pacific Life Foundation

    • Elizabeth and Lou Mastro

    • Roger Faubel

    • Fred & Sara Cook

    • The Sunshine Fund

    • Anonymous

Project Components

Water Reclamation

By reclaiming an estimated 5 million gallons of water per year, PMMC will be contributing to Laguna Beach’s longstanding title as the nation’s ‘Most Waterwise City’. The system will also be incorporated into our education curriculum related to water conservation.

Hospital Expansion

Additional patient units and pools will improve patient care and increase capacity, better preparing us for future UMEs (Unusual Mortality Events). The expansion will also add surgical suites, increasing care options for patients, as well as necropsy space, improving our research capacity, and facilitating improved collaboration.

Education

The expansion doubles the square footage allocated to our educational programs, which already serve more than 35,000 students per year. More space will allow PMMC to increase their impact in their community.

MeetING an Urgent Need

Water Reclamation

PMMC’s water system requires updates to:

  • Aid water conservation efforts

  • Improve water quality

  • Protect and enhance natural resources

  • Address flood management

The updated water system will allow us to improve areas in:

  • Conservation - Decreases water usage from an average of 18,000 gallons/day to approximately 1,500 gallons/day

  • Medical care - Improve the medical/husbandry care for our marine mammal patients by providing higher quality water

  • Education - Expand education programming with a greater focus on water conservation

Building Expansion

Structural improvements proposed:

  • Expand the first level of the building to include a 400 sq. ft. research and treatment room

  • Add and update solar panels, stormwater conveyances, retaining walls, and fencing

  • Expand educational multipurpose room additional 1,900 sq. ft. to match the quality content of our programming

  • Build one 5,000 gallon pre-release pool & two 2,900 gallon isolation pools

  • Build a 2 story 2,000 sq. ft. structure for office space, storage, and volunteer facilities

  • Add stormwater features, with a concrete-lined trapezoidal channel, energy dissipator, a concrete v-ditch, desk, and walkway drains, and bioretention planters that will improve water quality.

INFO + EVENTS

  • There still are naming opportunities left for pools and other parts of the expansion. Click below for more information and contact us to reserve your stake in our history.

    Learn More Contact Us

  • Dignitaries from across Orange County gathered at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center to celebrate the start of a $14,000,000 project that will revolutionize the facility’s ability to care for its seal and sea lion patients while saving 15,000 gallons of water every single day.

    Press release

  • Team PMMC and our community of supporters enjoyed a day of family-friendly activities as we kicked off the public launch of our campaign.

  • Architectural Drawings of our expanded hospital and new office building.

  • Architectural Drawings of the facility including our new water reclamation system, additional pools, new office building, and expanded hospital.

  • Architectural Drawing of our underwater viewing pool. This exciting addition offers visitors a closer look at rehabilitated patients.

  • PMMC staff celebrating the groundbreaking of our “Next Wave” campaign.

  • PMMC celebrates the “Catch the Wave” event where families from the community were invited to spend a fun and educational day at the center.

PMMC HAS ALWAYS INSPIRED ITS COMMUNITY TO STEP UP AND TAKE ACTION. IT'S TIME FOR OUR FACILITIES TO MATCH THE POWER OF OUR PASSION.