Won't you join us?

Each of us has our reason. For me personally it's the photos. Not the ones I created but the ones I see on environmental websites. I'm sure you've seen them.

The turtle wearing a plastic six-pack ring that is girdling it's shell.

The dead bird - starved to death because it mistook colorful plastic bits as food.

Yeah, you know the photos.

I started volunteering with the Olympic Coast Cleanup back in 2000. Over the years I've gone to pick up marine debris by myself, with family, with friends (one all the way from Oklahoma) and other volunteers (one couple who was visiting from France and decided to join).

I collected trash from easy beaches to access to others requiring an overnight stay.

And I watched as more volunteers joined, more beaches were added and the coordinating group Washington CoastSavers develop from a small group of like-minded folks to an internationally recognized group with high ambitions to keeping our oceans and beaches clean of debris. They have reached beyond the one spring clean-up a year to three cleanups - Earth Day, July 5th and the International Coastal Cleanup.

It's not just the core group of committee members who have this dedication, but the army of volunteers who devote a day or two or three to pull debris off the beaches - our friends and family. Just last year, 1200 volunteers carried 19 tons of marine debris off Washington's beaches during the Earth Day cleanup.

We're about to do it again.

On April 23rd this year, 1000+ volunteers will again spend the day cleaning our states beaches. Will you join us?

Even before the 23rd cleanup, there is an opportunity to help CoastSavers by attending and Evening of Music, Art and Adventure on April 9th. There will be a surf rock band - The Echo Devils - providing the music, live and silent auctions and refreshments. I would love to see you there.

What will be your reason for helping?

Washington Coastal Clean-up 2013

It's a soul-sucking mud. The type of mud that grabs hold and pulls every ounce of willpower to move away from you. It pulls at you, drags you. And if you are able to free yourself from its clenches, it will still pull something from you - like a boot.

This is the trail to one of the most beautiful wilderness beaches on the Washington Coast - Shi Shi Beach. Just south of Cape Flattery, the most northwesterly point of the contiguous United States. Two miles of beach (and more at low tide), sea stacks, sea stars and quiet encircled by thickly forested hills await the traveler.

But first you must get through the mud.

To be honest, the beauty of this pristine wilderness beach far outweighs the mud. Oh wait, did I say pristine? The only real drawback to the beach and many other beaches along Washington's coast is the marine debris. Tons of it washes up on the Washington coast every year, coming from different sources mostly marine industries, and not all of it intentionally dumped.

And every year just as the tides rise and deposit the debris in the driftwood, thousands of volunteers with Washington CoastSavers come to pull it of the beaches and away from causing harm. Volunteers have pulled off crab pots, rope, footballs, tires, even a jeep buried in the sand had been pulled off the beach. The worst is plastics and styrofoam. These break down into small bits and appear to be tasty morsels to birds and fish. They gorge themselves on these tasty looking treats only to starve when they can't digest it and are unable to eat real food.

It's a tough job. But one that volunteers, year after year come to haul trash off the beach. It's a job we never tire of as we know the debris will continue to wash ashore.

Our mission: to clean the beaches, save a few animals, become a part of the solution.

As we fill our sacks and haul them off the beaches we have a satisfied heart that we did SOMETHING.

And for those of us on Shi Shi, we must return with the bags back through that mud. That soul sucking mud, that we refuse to allow to tear us down.

The above image of False-Lily-of-the-Valley and Sword Fern was taken on the forested slopes encircling Shi Shi Beach.

Our Little Corner of the Planet

Washington Coastal Clean-up, 4/18/09

Another Earth Day and another beach clean-up. This year a few more of my co-workers joined us at Kalaloch for a fun day of taking care of our little corner of the planet. A couple of years ago Discover Your Northwest teamed up with Olympia National Park and a few other organizations to create the Washington Clean Coast Alliance to rid Washington's beaches of the marine debris that washes ashore every year.

It only takes everyone making small contributions to do our parts to take care of our little corners of the world.

To learn more go to the Alliance's website: http://www.coastsavers.org/index.html

Cleaning Up

Washington Beach Clean-up, 4/26/08

1,200 volunteers picking up 21 tons of trash and marine debris. That is what Earth Day means to me. A tradition I started 6 years ago saw this year a change in organizational leadership. Jan Klippert who had started the Beach Clean-up 10 years ago passed the torch to Northwest Interpretive Association and the other partnering organizations. As he passed his leadership flame on his own flame died out. We gave our respects to the man and his mission as we made our way along the beaches searching the driftwood for debris.

This year I was again joined by familiar faces - Michael, Kristi, Diane and Randy. And we added some new ones too - Kyle, Amanda, Chris, Jenny and their two little girls. South Beach in the Olympic National Park was our territory as it had been for the past couple of years and we casually walked down the beach before working through the maze of driftwood back to our cars.

Amanda was the first to score garbage gold as she called for help to pull out a 4'X3' piece of styrofoam wedged between some logs. The rest of the morning was filled with ropes and plastic, more styrofoam, a couple of shoes, a Japanese float, tire, life jacket, and the ubiquitous crabpot. Little Briana & Kaylee really got into the fun and ran from piece of trash to the next as if in a race to find the most garbage.

The morning was cloudless and it seemed to warm up quite a bit as we made our way back up the beach, but it was a day worth spending with friends and family. Jan died just a month prior to this latest incarnation of his dream. But his spirit seemed to be with us as so many volunteers gathered to make our home planet just a little bit cleaner.