A day to heal the bay

Noaki Schwartz

UPPER NEWPORT BAY -- It’s time, once again, to get clean.

On Saturday, about 1,500 people will gather to celebrate the 10th

anniversary of the Upper Newport Bay Clean-Up Day by picking up trash.

Every year volunteers take advantage of a small pocket of time at the

end of summer, when the endangered birds around the bay are between

migrating and nesting seasons, to clean up the area.

The event is part of the larger California Coastal Cleanup Day, in

which volunteers pick up trash at more than 600 sites throughout the

state.

Wearing old clothes and shoes, residents will spend the morning

picking up all sorts of garbage that floats onto the watershed around the

bay. This includes common items like cigarette butts and Styrofoam cups

as well as more unusual items such as shopping carts and tires.

Every year, more than 40,000 pounds of this kind of trash is collected.

“A lot of strange things end up here,” said Grace Yics, an organizer

and park ranger. “There’s a misconception that people stand over the bay

and throw [this garbage] in.”

A lot of garbage that ends up littered around the bay drifts in

because of rain or even wind. For example, a Coke can dropped in a

parking lot could potentially float into the bay when it rains, Yics

said.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. at the event’s headquarters at the

Newport Dunes Resort. Volunteers will register, get supplies and be

shuttled down to different stations.

For the next few hours they will pick up trash and return to the

headquarters around noon for a free lunch, tote bags and T-shirts, Yics

said.

* WHAT: Upper Newport Bay Clean-Up Day

* WHEN: Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

* WHERE: Newport Dunes Resort at 1131 Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach

* CALL: (949) 640-6746