Everyone who lives at or visits Roads End loves our long, beautiful beach. It’s especially popular for celebrating July 4, but that has often unfortunately meant hundreds of pounds of trash and debris are left on the beach, including:
· Spent fireworks containers and debris, some of it toxic
· Plastic beach toys, shoes, bags, clothing
· Picnic leftovers--food wrappers, plastic bags and bottles, aluminum cans, glass bottles, broken glass
All of this trash is not only ugly but a disaster for the environment. Plastic bottles can take 450 years to break down, glass bottles 1000 years. Plastic bags, which hang around for ten to twenty years, are being found in the bodies of dead sea creatures and birds. But help is on the way!
Beach Heroes are volunteers who fan out across the Roads End beach the morning of July 5 to collect July 4 debris and trash. Last year, for the third year in a row, 64 Beach Heroes of all ages, with the help of the Oregon State Parks staff and Lincoln City Police, picked up 854 pounds of that noxious stuff.
The Beach Heroes brigade will be out there again this year on Thursday July 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and they’d love to have you join them. You can register by clicking on the SOLVE website to register or just show up that morning at Roads End State Park. The Roads End Improvement Association will be there to sign you up, give you gloves and bags, and offer some refreshments. And every volunteer will get a Beach Heroes badge! If you have questions, email janet.knipe@gmail.com.
See you on the beach on July 5!