The morning sun rose over the golden hills of the Mattole Valley promising a beautiful day for the annual California Coastal Cleanup.

On Friday, September 16, the Mattole Restoration Council (MRC) teamed up with the Mattole and Honeydew schools to participate in the largest volunteer event in the state of California. This event was the 3rd consecutive year that the MRC has combined forces with the local schools to participate in the cleanup and, once again, it proved to be a success. With almost 60 volunteers, students and adults paired into teams to scour the beaches near McNutt Gulch and collected over 176 pounds of trash! Some particularly interesting items were discovered including a crab trap, some metal sheet roofing and some large plastic objects with Japanese writing on them.

The 2015 California Coastal Cleanup efforts resulted in the collection of 1,142,977 pounds of trash from beaches all over the state and in Humboldt County a total of 13,435 pounds of marine debris were removed from our local beaches. Keeping our beaches clean is not only important to preserve the natural beauty of our coastline but is also vital to prevent harm to marine wildlife. These animals (and even people!) can be harmed and sometimes killed by marine debris in various ways including entanglement, ingestion and the disruption of their natural habitat. Every piece of trash that is collected and removed from our beaches can potentially save an animal’s life. So hats off to each and every volunteer that participated in this year’s Coastal Cleanup and we look forward to seeing you out there again next year!

 

 

 

 

Spring 2016 course flier

Thank you to all of the students, teachers, parents, and volunteers who turned out for Coastal Cleanup Day!  On September 18, students from Mattole Triple Junction, Mattole School, Honeydew School, and Independent Study programs partnered with community members and the Mattole Restoration Council to clean an impressive 471 pounds of trash from 7 Mile Beach!

These 48 students and 21 adults filled 15 bags with trash and recycling, then returned to school to tally their collections as follows: 29 food wrappers, 1 cigarette butt, 6 fishing buoys/pots/traps, 76 meters of rope, 10 pieces of construction material, 2 tires, 81 plastic bottles, 22 glass bottles, 42 beverage cans, 11 plastic bags, 4 paper bags, 53 pieces of plastic or foam packaging, 30 plastic (non-beverage) bottles, 10 shoes, 5 metal stakes,  and ~1300 pieces of plastic micro trash.  Without the hard work of these students, this trash would have likely become marine debris, posing a risk to marine life and the health of our Ocean.

Coastal Cleanup Day is an annual event that started in Humboldt County 35 years ago by the Northcoast Environmental Center. This year, 400 Humboldt volunteers tackled 65 sites to collect 6-8 tons of debris.  Statewide, over 53,555 volunteers turned out on Coastal Clean-up Day to clean 307 tons of debris from 900 sites.

Great job students, and a special thank you to all the parents, teachers, MRC staff, and volunteers that turned out to help!