The Shaw Institute and Blue Hill Heritage Trust invite you to join them Saturday, September 15 for their 3rd Annual Beach Cleanup Day at Carter Nature Preserve on the Cross Road in Surry. Be a part of the Ocean Conservancy’s Global Trash Free Seas day, and Maine Coastal Cleanup Day, by helping to clean this beautiful property which is under conservation with BHHT. Carter Nature Preserve is a public wildlife sanctuary that offers several hiking trails, as well as providing water access along its expansive shoreline to Morgan Bay.
Participants should arrive at the parking area closest to the bridge at 9:00am. We will assign volunteers specific areas and pass out necessary materials. We are looking for volunteers to work in groups to coordinate with data recorders from the Shaw Institute and BHHT . All data from the cleanup will be shared with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal CleanUp Program. Participants will receive coupons for Pugnuts Ice Cream Shop as a special reward for a job well done. There will also be prizes awarded for the biggest, the smallest, and the weirdest finds.
This is the 3rd annual beach cleanup collaboration between the two Blue Hill based organizations. Every September, the Shaw Institute participates in this worldwide event that draws attention to the terrible plight of our oceans and in particular the impact of plastic pollution. The infamous North Pacific and North Atlantic Gyres claim a lot of attention but equally disturbing are the trillions of tiny plastic pieces found in all the oceans and washed up or dumped onto our own shoreline. In 2017, volunteers retrieved 1,457 pieces of trash across just 1 mile of coastline. 94% of the trash was plastic debris. Of the plastic collected, most was unidentifiable, but 21% was from known single use plastic items like candy wrappers and shopping bags
This is a family friendly event and there are several lovely tidepools on the beach for younger participants to explore. We will provide garbage bags and have a water re-fill and first aid station. Please bring water bottles, wear durable work gloves, sunscreen and sturdy shoes.
For further information or to sign up to participate, please contact Chrissy Allen at Blue Hill Heritage Trust (chrissy@bluehillheritagetrust.org 374-5118) or Madelyn Woods (mwoods@shawinstitute.org 374-2135) at The Shaw Institute.
