COAST CITIES — Online volunteer registration is now open for Coastal Cleanup Day2012, a single-day volunteer event dedicated to protecting and preserving our local environment. The event, scheduled for Sept. 15, welcomes volunteers from 9 a.m. to noon at several North County coastal and inland sites. Volunteer registration is now open online at cleanupday.org. I Love A Clean San Diego focuses on reducing waste at the event by encouraging volunteers to bring their own reusable cleanup supplies such as reusable water bottles, gardening gloves and buckets to collect trash.
Clean-up sites include:
— Oceanside Pier
— Oceanside – Buccaneer Beach
— Carlsbad – South Ponto
— Carlsbad – North Ponto
— Carlsbad – Tamarack
— Carlsbad – Frazee Beach
— Encinitas – Beacons Beach
— Encinitas – Swamis Beach
— Del Mar – Powerhouse Park
— San Dieguito Lagoon
— San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve
— San Elijo Lagoon trailhead at Rios
— San Elijo State Beach
— Solana Beach – Fletcher Cove
— Torrey Pines State Beach
Coordinated locally by environmental nonprofit I Love A Clean San Diego, Coastal Cleanup Day is part of the statewide California Coastal Cleanup Day and International Coastal Cleanup. Each year, hundreds of tons of garbage end up on the beaches and in our waterways after traveling through San Diego’s vast watershed system. Coastal Cleanup Day reaches far beyond the beach with 62 percent of sites located along the rivers, creeks, canyons and bays that feed into the oceans of San Diego County. Cleaning up these inland sites prevents trash from ever reaching the coast, stopping pollution at the source.
The removal of trash is not the only focus of this annual event; other activities include storm drain stenciling, invasive plant removal, native planting and graffiti removal. Register at cleanupday.org.
