Darin Bovile

Click on the image to see the full-size version.

Montara-based photographer Darin Boville sent us this beautiful image taken from just above Farallone View Elementary in Montara on Sunday night. Darin says, “We don’t get as many of them here as in other parts of the country--not enough dust blowing up due to the ocean, I suppose.”

Be sure to click on the image to see the full-size version. You’ll be glad you did.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service has announced its new designated critical habitat for the western snowy plover, and they have reduced the area by 40% [USFWS Plover website]. None of the critical habitat in Half Moon Bay has been eliminated.

The reductions were taken primarily as a result of an economic analysis of the impact of the designation

Some 2,859 acres of proposed critical habitat in six units were deleted based on the projected cost of designating critical habitat. An economic analysis prepared by Industrial Economics Inc. projected that critical habitat could cost between $273 million and $645 million, with the biggest costs due to beach recreation losses. More than three-quarters of the loss was found to occur in five proposed California critical habitat units, located on Coronado’s Silver Strand, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, and two on Monterey Bay.

In addition, 615 acres were deleted because of management plans and commitments—such as Habitat Conservation Plans—and 1,621 acres were deleted because they are covered by military land management plans or national security needs.

The Service also is conducting a status review of the Pacific Coast population of the western snowy plover, to comply with two petitions to de-list the species and also to comply with the requirement that species status be reviewed in five-year intervals. The Service expects to complete that review next spring.

The rule is scheduled to be published Thursday in the Federal Register, and will take effect 30 days after publication.

All across America, it is Saturday, and most of the population is either sleeping in or watching TV. Well, on the Coastside, life is a little different. Many on the coast woke up early to go to the beach. Why? Because it is beach cleanup day! Today, the people of the coast got together and collected trash hidden away on the beach, so when people come, they don’t think it is all about just bringing your stuff and leaving it wherever you please.

You have to admit there has been one time where you or a friend has been to the beach, and just left something there. Well, it’s not safe for a number of reasons. By leaving stuff on the beach, you are leaving stuff that is harmful to other people, and even creatures of the ocean. For example, if you were a smoker, and you just dropped your cigarettes wherever you darn well pleased on the beach, a child could have picked it up and eaten it.

When my family and I went to Montara beach to clean part of it up, we found some of the most disgusting stuff all over it. The first thing I found was a ton of bottle caps, food wrappers, and popsicle sticks. My mom found about three large liquor bottles and many cups lodged into a crack in the rocks. Although, when it came to finding disgusting things, my dad won. He found a condom, a used condom. Listen, we’re glad that you’re using protection, but please pick it up--for the sake of all things right.

After we were all done cleaning our part of the beach, we went back to the meeting place, and turned in our bags. I learned from the people working there that 200 pounds of trash had already been turned in--all just one beach. Think about it, if 200 pounds came from one beach, how many pounds would come from the whole coast? A lot of people would shudder just thinking about it. Keep in mind also, that most of the trash you find on the beach is little bottle caps and plastic bottles. It takes a lot of small pieces of trash to come up with a big number like that.

Anyone can pick up trash! I saw a wide variety of people down on the beach today. Couples, dog walkers, and even little kids all joined together to help out. No one was in a bad mood, and everyone wanted to help. It shows that if my little sister, who’s 3, can help out, then so can you. It never hurts to show you care.

Here is the way that I think about it: If you are going to take the time to try to hide the trash that you brought down to the beach, it would probably take just as much energy to carry it up off the beach to throw it away. If you love the coast, and you love going down to visit the beach for a day, then you should care enough to pick up your trash and throw it away. It also wouldn’t take up a lot of room to bring a trash bag, so you could put your trash in there and then just carry that up. Maybe you pick out more then you came with, just to be helpful too.

No matter how big or how small the trash is your leaving on the beach, it is still trash, and still needs to be thrown away.

Here’s the final count of material collected from Montara State Beach this morning, from Kevin Stokes of MontaraBeach.com, who led the cleanup at that beach.

Number of volunteers: 24

Weight of Trash collected: 200lbs

Weight of recyclable materials: 60lbs

Trash collected included:

• 8 condoms
• 150 plastic lids
• 424 cigarette butts
• 241 plastic bags
• 72 glass bottles
• 70 plastic bags

Meanwhile, the Mercury News reports that statewide, “More than 40,000 volunteers collected an excess of 715,000 pounds of trash, of which about 62,000 pounds are recyclable, said Eben Schwartz, who runs the event for the state coastal commission. And those are just the early projections, he said.”

Click “read more” to see the grossest things we found on the beach. Remember, you were warned!

Five people were swept off the breakwater at Pillar Point Harbor this weekend.  Powerful waves driven by a storm in the southern hemisphere have been hitting south-facing beaches.  The breakwater faces the south. At 10am Sunday, the National Weather Service said these waves have reduced in strength, but could continue for a couple of days:

Southerly swells will continue to impact the California coast through today. Although swell heights have decreased to 3 to 4 feet with 16 second swell periods they are still capable of producing powerful breakers in the 6 to 8 foot range along south facing beaches. These waves will break against rocks with greater force than normal...providing a hazard for unsuspecting beachgoers.

The southerly swell is expected to slowly taper off through the first part of next week.

Save Our Shores has released location and contact informaiton for California Coastal Cleanup Day 2005 in San Mateo County this Saturday, September 17, from 9am to noon.

Contact Site Cleanup Captains directly to inquire about specific meeting spots, or visit [url=http://www.saveourshores.org]http://www.saveourshores.org[/url] for more details on participating in Coastal Cleanup Day in San Mateo county.

Coastal Cleanup Day provides a stewardship opportunity for communities to clean up their neighborhoods, encouraging beautification around shorelines and creek corridors, creating pride in their surroundings, and having a positive impact on our coastal and marine resources. Coastal Cleanup day is a part of International Coastal Cleanup Day organized by The Ocean Conservancy.  More than 50,000 Californians participated in last year’s event, collecting 909,853 pounds of trash from 1,951 miles in California.

Volunteers help to remove trash and debris from the natural environment, and to collect data on the sources of debris.  Volunteers should wear closed- toe shoes, layered clothing, hat and sunscreen for protection from the sun.  All participants are encouraged to bring their ownwork gloves.  Cleanup Captains provide all other supplies (bags, data collection cards).

• Daly City: Thornton Beach (Contact )
• Pacifica: Linda Mar Beach, Rockaway Beach, Sharp Park Beach (Contact Pacifica Beach Coalition at )
• Montara: Montara State Beach (Contact Montara Beach Coalition at )
• Pillar Point Harbor (Contact Pillar Point Harbormaster’s office at )
• Francis State Beach (Contact Save Our Shores at )
• Poplar/Redondo Beach (Contact )
• Roosevelt/Dunes/Venice State Beach (Contact State Parks at )
• Mirada Surf/Surfer’s Beach in El Granada (Contact or )
• Fitzgerald Marine Reserve (Contact Ranger Sarah Lenz at )
• San Gregorio State Beach (Contact )
• Pomponio State Beach (Contact State Parks at )
• San Gregorio Creek (Contact , or )
• Ano Nuevo State Reserve, Gazos Creek (Contact )
• Pescadero State Beach (SOUTH @ Highway 1 and Pescadero Road) (Contact Gregory Barr at San Joaquin School of Outdoor Education 650-747-0139)
• Pigeon Point (Contact )

As the fog begins to break up Coastsiders are in for an unusual astronomical treat. Appearing just after sunset two dazzling lights now decorate the southwestern sky. These star-like beacons might at first be mistaken for approaching passenger airplanes due to their brightness but they are Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, which outshine every star in the night sky.

Cloud-wrapped Venus, to the left in this image, bounces back out into space an impressive 72% of the light that strikes it from the Sun-- but due to a greenhouse effect gone wild temperatures still reach over 800 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface. The beautiful Evening Star is a hellish place.

Jupiter is the largest planet--about 1300 Earths could fit inside of it (and Venus is about the same size as Earth)--but is much more distant from us than Venus. For reasons unknown its famous Great Red Spot--a monster hurricane 15,000 miles across--has been fading in recent years.

As the weeks go on Venus and Jupiter will drift apart in the night sky (they were closest on Sept 1 ) so enjoy the view while it lasts.

Save Our Shores has been selected as the San Mateo Countywide Coordinator for Coastal Cleanup Day to manage community clean ups throughout San Mateo county’s coast and Peninsula during the 21st annual event on Saturday, September 17 from 9 am to 12 noon.

For more information on joining Coastal Cleanup Day at specific site locations in San Mateo county, visit [url=http://www.saveourshores.org]http://www.saveourshores.org,[/url] or call (831) 462-5660. 

Click “read more” to see the rest of the press release.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) is undertaking a revegetation project to restore native plants and wildlife habitat on POST’s 119-acre Pillar Point Bluff property, near Moss Beach.  Approximately 15 acres of the southern portion of the popular property, has become increasingly crowded with highly aggressive, invasive exotic pampas grass plants.  POST’s restoration work will remove the pampas grass and enhance the growing conditions for native plants to flourish.

Click “read more” to see the press release, which describes the involvement of Go Native Nursery of Montara in the project.

Apparently, a whale died in Half Moon Bay recently. The Chronicle is the latest to poke the body with a media stick. They cover the stinking whale-corpse from a tee of the Half Moon Bay Golf Links.

But Coastsider still gets the last word. Darin Boville braved the “No Trespassing” signs at Strawberry Ranch to get us a picture of the dead whale in its current state of decomposition. After which, he was escorted off the premises.

I’m not going to make you look at it, but you can click “read more” if you want to see the picture.

The deflated, stinking carcass of a dead humpback whale, which lay on a Half Moon Bay beach for nearly a week before being carted off to deeper water, is now in a rocky alcove just north of the Ritz, according to the Mercury News.