A day to clean the harbor

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT HARBOR -- They’re just hoping to make a dent in the trash.

An army of concerned residents will fan out across Newport Harbor

today as participants in the 21st annual Clean Harbor Day.

Those who have volunteered for the event, numbering more than 200,

said they hope to clean up some of the Styrofoam cups, tennis balls,

plastic bags and other garbage that has washed down San Diego Creek into

the bay.

Organizers always schedule the event in the spring, following rains

that have washed a fresh load of refuse into the bay.

“Every time we get a good rain, the San Diego Creek flushes like a

toilet,” event participant Dennis Baker said. “It all settles [in the

bay].”

Baker will lead a group in kayaks into the Back Bay to a salt dyke,

about a half-mile south of the Jamboree Bridge, where large piles of

garbage collects as a result of urban runoff from a handful of upstream

cities.

The Newport Harbor Nautical Museum organizes the massive trash pickup

effort, which runs from 8 to 11 a.m. After the work is done, the trash

collectors are scheduled to gather at Malarky’s Irish Pub in Newport

Beach.

Marshall Steele, chairman of the event, has assigned different parts

of the harbor to the groups and individuals who signed up.

“We’ve taken a map of the area and marked it into zones,” Steele said.

“People come in and clean their area.”

Steele said he hopes groups adopt specific areas on a year-round basis

to continue cleanup efforts.

For many of those who will give up their Saturday, the event is a

wake-up call. Picking up trash caused by everyday actions -- tossing out

fast food containers, emptying an ashtray or dumping out car fluids --

teaches them to pick up after themselves.

“All of this is about education,” said Stephanie Barger, the executive

director of Costa Mesa-based Earth Resource Foundation. “For the

participants, they realize how dirty the beaches are.”