City gears up for Coastal Cleanup Day

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH - City officials are calling residents out to the

shoreline Saturday for the 15th annual Coastal Cleanup Day at Huntington

City Beach.

The city teams up with Simple Green cleaning products twice a year for

the event to promote environmental awareness and enlist volunteers to

pick up debris along the nearly 3 1/2 miles of Surf City shoreline.

“This is part of a nationwide, and even some foreign countries’,

effort to keep our beaches clean and safe,” said Tom Turner, beach

division crew leader for the city. “Saturday happens to be the state’s

day to show its appreciation for its beaches.”

During the summer months, city beach crews work hard to keep the

shoreline free of debris and ready for beachgoers, city officials said.

But the summer maintenance can miss smaller trash, such as Styrofoam

cups, straws and cigarette butts.

“These are the items that can can directly impact the community,”

Turner said. “They wash down to the high-tide line, and birds and other

animals eat them, and it kills them.”

The cleanup day also draws some of the same families each year, and

promotes citywide pollution awareness because residents see how much

trash can wash into the ocean from gutters, he added.

“We get so many people, we usually run out of space for them,” said

Marilyn Bohle, spokeswoman for the Amigos de Bolsa Chica ecological

reserve across from Bolsa Chica State Beach, which is also holding a

cleanup effort Saturday. “The clean up doesn’t just end at the beach, it

includes our wetlands as well.”

Bohle said that while parking and volunteer space is limited for the

wetlands cleanup, overflow volunteers often pitch in at the beach.

Last year, about 500 people joined the city’s cleanup effort, and

officials are hoping to match or surpass that this year.

Interested residents can call for more information -- (714) 536-5614

-- or show up on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier at 8:30 a.m.

to register as a volunteer.

Parking fees in the lot at 1st Street and Pacific Coast Highway will

be waived for volunteers, and bags and gloves will be provided.

Information about the Bolsa Chica wetlands cleanup can be directed to

project coordinator Jim Robins at (714) 840-1575.

“We have one of the most pristine beaches on the West Coast, in my

mind, and pride ourselves on it,” Turner said. “Even though this is one

day, the environmental idea is there throughout the year.”

There will be a raffle for all volunteers after the cleanup effort.