Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Volunteers from Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Watershed Brigade and Ventura County Chapter Surfrider will work together on March 12th to remove trash from a few miles of the South Coast. By joining forces, both organizations hope to cover more ground with a larger corps of volunteers, and ultimately have a greater positive impact on the coastal environment.
“We’re pleased to partner with the Ventura County Chapter Surfrider to clean up this stretch of the coastline, said Channelkeeper science and policy associate Molly Troup. “Unfortunately, a whopping 80% of the trash that enters the Pacific Ocean comes from land-based sources, such as direct littering, overflow from trashcans and dumpsters, and illegal dumping. Our organizations plan to clean up trash at the land-ocean interface to prevent coastal litter from becoming ocean pollution.”
Volunteers with Channelkeeper’s Watershed Brigade will meet at La Conchita Beach at 9:00 am to clean the area from La Conchita Beach to Mussel Shoals. Volunteers with Ventura County Chapter Surfrider will gather to remove trash from Oil Piers Beach north to Punta Gorda. Together, the two groups aim to clean up approximately three miles of coastal area.
“The COVID-19 pandemic underscored our interdependence with each other. Communities suffered from the lack of support services and many municipal maintenance tasks like trash pick-up and removing tagging along our beaches and seawalls were left undone. The opportunity is ripe for non-profit grassroots activists and clean water and ocean advocates to join together to build back our marine environments for equal and safe access,” said Ventura County Chapter Surfrider volunteer Joy Downing Riley.
Members of the community are invited to meet at 9:00 on March 12th at La Conchita Beach or at Oil Piers Beach to join the cleanup effort. The event is co-sponsored by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and Ventura County Chapter Surfrider and conducted through their respective programs, Watershed Brigade and Respect the Rincon Parkway.
For more information and to sign up, visit: https://www.sbck.org/brigade/watershed-brigade-event/
