July 2010 Beach Clean up Wrap-up  

First, a HUGE thank-you to all of those who participated in this cleanup – WOW!

Not sure if we should celebrate or be a bit horrified that the dumpsters weighed in close to 20 tons and over a record number of 750 volunteers were all needed to help turn our beach back to its natural state, or as much as we could make it.

So many volunteers at the July 5^th beach cleanup reported they finally just got down on their hands and knees to pick up all the small pieces, unless they had one of the nifty tools that David Stephenson made.  Like many of our active volunteers who pitch in, he saw a need and filled it – thanks David!

Plastics were the usual content of much of the debris found. This proliferation, mostly of fireworks remnants, becomes so evident when viewing the beach landscape on the morning of July 5^th.    Everyone reveled in the enjoyment and satisfaction of seeing the beach after the big sweep – even knowing  walks along the high tide for weeks/months to come will have us still collecting the ones that got away from someone, by air or by the tide or buried by the wind and sand.  Many people have contacted us about their frustration with all the plastic left in the fireworks.  This new web site was suggested to us to check out http://www.plasticsinfireworks.org/

 Kudos to our wonderfully committed Adopt-a-Beach groups and those individuals who walked on to help (locals and visitors alike), a great truck force who transported filled bags, the ham radio operators who continued to help coordinate needs with resources, the Beach Approach Coordinators at every major beach approach, and a handful of general coordinators making it happen. Our sincere thanks to ALL !!!

Many noticed the number of young people cleaning in family groups at this year’s post-celebration, at the annual July 5th sweep-the-beach-clean event.  “We had a lot of three generations eating lunch together after a morning on the beach cleaning. One family had a very young son pushing his Tonka Truck down the beach, collecting as they went. That’s one version of a truck brigade,”  commented Ellen Anderson, one of the originators of the GrassRoots Garbage Gang and long-time writer for the group, as well as the group’s major historian.  Ellen often interviews volunteers at the thank-you soup feed and uncovers some interesting stories from these visits.  She notes,  “Sometimes these families do find treasures. Take the Mead and Nation families from Long Beach and Rochester, Minnesota, for example. Young Dustin Mead found some unlit flashing fountains, a working lighter and a small sand shovel. His young cousin, Evin Nation, was pleased to report he found a hotdog fork as well as some unlit firecrackers. But his dad, Jacob, topped the two boys. He found a matching pair of sandals which just fit niece, Nika Mead, who promptly put them on. Even their aunt got involved, using her metal detector. But that was soon forgotten when she got busy collecting rope and driftwood to create her own treasure. Connie West’s grandkids, Erin (3) and Owen (6), found ‘shell coins’ (cardboard rounds from fireworks) and rocks and sand, while Grandma netted the most unusual – a bag of popcorn.  

 Ellen observed several Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts doing their good deeds. And, get this – they STARTED cleaning from 189th to 203rd, then moved to  Cranberry approach, and finally finished their efforts at Bolstad. The mess became worse as they moved closer to Long Beach, with “an amazing amount of  stuff near Long Beach.”  Everyone agreed that this was a great group of kids. Their number one find: plastic bottles. Sadly, the scoutmaster’s wife also reported finding a “number of latrine pits” in the sand with plastic bags, filled. This remains a problematic issue for the community.

One visiting Olympian had this observation of her first cleanup, “It is dirty, dirty, dirty. I’m grossed out by what people left. It is discouraging that, in the midst of the celebration of this country we love, we trash it.”

Others commented that this remains the typical ‘hands and knees’ cleanup, as it still seems to be the best way to get all of the little pieces of spent  fireworks plastic and paper litter. The good news:  many reported there were fewer large pieces of trash (such as sofas) left on the beach and in the dunes this year.

Several Bald Eagles stopped traffic, while standing in the tide line, while other Bald Eagles observed from trees or a favorite post. Does and fawns were seen heading over the first dune, only to stop short when they discovered that their usually quiet beach was crowded with humans.  Many beat a fast retreat back they way they had come. These serve as nice reminders of why the effort is worth the work involved!

This event weighed in at a record 20 tons and a record 750 volunteers working to clean up the mess.  Many attributed the enormous volume to a growing community-wide approach to keeping the beaches clean.  Efforts to reach out to the community ranged from displaying positive messages on event posters (such as ‘Beaches are a Treasure’) in store windows, to merchants distributing garbage bags at the major approaches for several hours on the 4th. Many lodging establishments also handed out bags to guests and some even offered candy bars to children in exchange for each bag brought back to the hotel; still another offered raffle tickets for free nights to guests for each bag returned.

Over the years, the cleanup effort has slowly expanded, as community members stepped in to organize more marketing by contacting businesses with reader boards, utilizing the talents of ham operators who offered their communications capabilities and distributing written information on the rules and regulations for the 4th of July holiday use of beaches, fires and fireworks. A team of trucks and cranes was organized to ease the burden of volunteers dragging their bags back to approaches, and more volunteers brought more varieties of soup to feed the hard-working volunteers.

These are just some examples of how this local effort has grown, purely by individuals seeing how they can help and joining in.  It is very heartening to see how it now involves multi-generations in families – truly a community effort which shows that we treasure our beaches.

 THANKS, EVERYONE!  GLAD TO BE A PART OF SUCH AN AMAZING COMMUNITY!