Save Our Shores will lead California Coastal Cleanup for the county

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.

Families, community groups, and volunteers of all ages are welcome to join site captains on the bay, creeks, parks and beaches.  Coastal Cleanup Day provides an opportunity for residents to become stewards of their neighborhoods. “As part of our 2005 Stewardship Series, it is within our mission to lead community stewardship efforts that encourage restoration around shorelines, raise awareness about the connection between inland neighborhood non-point source pollution and the ocean, and make a positive difference for our coast and waterways,” said Jane De Lay, executive director of Save Our Shores. 

Last year, more than 50,737 volunteers throughout the state collected 909,853 pounds of trash from 1,951 miles in California. In addition to coordinating San Mateo county sites in 2005, Save Our Shores will also serve as site captain at Francis State Beach in Half Moon Bay. “For more than eight years, Save Our Shores has captained one of the most popular sites on the coast during Coastal Cleanup Day, and we’ll again welcome volunteers there this year,” adds De Lay. Volunteers should wear sunscreen, sturdy shoes, layered clothing, and a hat.  Participants are encouraged to bring their own work gloves. Trash bags, pencils, and a special data card to tally the items collected will be provided.

Save Our Shores has a longstanding history of instilling stewardship along central California’s beaches and coastal watersheds.   In 1981, the grassroots organization championed what was the first known organized beach clean up event in the state originating out of Santa Cruz.  Throughout the years, their citizen action activities have extended beyond Coastal Cleanup Day through regular interpretive beach clean ups with school and community groups; the successful restoration of Pilarcitos Creek removing more than 7,000 pounds in Half Moon Bay; annual Earth Day events; and participation in a five-year study with The Ocean Conservancy’s National Marine Debris Monitoring Program.

Save Our Shores is a nonprofit, grassroots organization operating throughout the central coast region including San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties.  Founded in 1978 as a citizen action campaign to prevent offshore oil development, Save Our Shores implements programs that protect and conserve the marine ecosystems of California’s central coast for all generations. Through education, policy, and citizen action, the organization addresses the issues important to central coast communities such as maintaining clean beaches, improving water quality, establishing marine protected areas, and promoting marine education.  
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.