Thanks to the 15 community members who helped clean South Beach, San Juan Island on Sunday, April 19.

About 340 pounds of garbage was picked up as part of the annual Earth Day Beach Cleanup event co-sponsored by the National Park and Friends of the San Juans.

Tire floats (eight total) and one long 1-inch poly rope made up the majority of the weight and Styrofoam contributed to the majority of volume. These broken-up floats are a persistent problem, so please take care of your floats and docks to make sure they are not going to become a source of garbage on our beaches.

It was commented that the east end of the beach, toward the lighthouse, needs more friends to regularly pick up as it seems to be a catch basin and most people don’t get down so far to pick up casually. Also noted was the need for consciously picking up the many smaller pieces of flotsam and jetsam, mostly smaller plastic bits.

Please, to all you beach walkers, pick up one, two or more items each time you go to the beach and we can, together, began to make a difference. Let’s see our beaches clean by our actions.

Jana Marks
Friends of the San Juans