Here's What We Did In July

We teamed up with Surfrider - Anticipating that the beaches would be extra trashed after the 4th of July celebration, Surfrider initiated a special "morning after the mess" cleanup. Bright and early on the 5th (no easy task after a night of celebration but hey, it's for the environment right?) Vernon and I met up with Surfrider buddy Mike Epeneter on the beach by the pier. We handed out cleanup supplies to approximately 20 people who were happy to help out. Just look at those smiles!

We got some extra help from the City - While there was plenty of small stuff remaining - cig butts, balloon pieces, and (curses!) styrofoam - we were all pleasantly surprised to see that the beaches were looking pretty good. Not your typically morning after the 4th! Apparently the city staff had been working all through the night and into the early morning to make that happen. I heard several positive comments from beach goers and even got some inquiries from adopt a beach team members. Kudos to Dennis Reed and all the workers for an awesome job.

We had another amazing month of Adopt a Beach team activity. Now for the 4th month running we have managed to get every section of the beach cleaned at least twice. You guys continue to raise the bar - for July every beach was cleaned no less than 3 times and one section was cleaned 14 times! There has never been anything like this in the history of the Adopt a Beach program. This month we had 18 teams (4 more than last month!)who contributed their time and energy to the community. I'll include a link at the end of this posting so you can see who they are.

There is a special place in my heart for those teams that consistently go out and do the cleanups every month and get their data sheets sent in to me like clockwork. Joe Zoller and his buddies come to mind, although there are others. Mark Aubrey (the Beach Master) once again deserves special recognition for going above and beyond. He is the reason why all of the beaches are getting the minimum cleanup. This month I counted 11 sections that would have had zero activity if not for Mark.

Here is a summary of what we accomplished this month:

Volunteer Stats:
18 teams were active and 22 sections were cleaned. A total of 135 cleanings were completed in July. There were 111 bags and 38 buckets used in the cleanup. There were 116 volunteers, logging in 92 hours.

Items Collected in June:
2185+ pieces of plastic counted, 240 glass, 174 cans, 4188+ cigarette butts, 10 animal waste, 1530 straws, 1741+ pieces of Styrofoam, 1558+ pieces of paper, and 724balloons.

Catch of the Month: I had a bit of a struggle reading the handwriting, but if I interpreted it correctly the San Clemente Green Team reported finding 3 action heroes in the sand! They didn't note which ones... I wonder if the heroes were there to help counteract some of the more dangerous things that were reported this month. Here's what I am talking about - The Zoller team reported finding and removing broken whiskey bottles in the tide line and a hypodermic needle and syringe (!)in the North Beach area. Another needle and syringe and 18 alcohol bottles were removed by the Miller/Wood team in the area of Lower Linda Lane Park. The Hikawa team reported finding several nails near the railroad tracks on the beach side of the North Beach Train Station to North Beach Burger section. I think these guys are the real super action heroes in disguise (don't worry we won't make you wear funny costumes)for getting these hazards out of our environment. Nice work!

The Party is on! By now you should have all received the invitation to the Adopt a Beach Team Social. They were sent out by Mary Vondrak in the Environmental Programs Department. Please mark the date on your calendars and be sure to send Mary your RSVP so we can plan accordingly. Thanks to Mary for handling the invitations and to Nanci Mavar for securing the location and funding for the event.

That's all the news I have for now. As always,I encourage you to post your comments and suggestions. Oh, and be sure and check out the Monthly report.
For the full report click here:

June Gloom or ...

VICTORY!! And what better way to start off this blog entry than with a picture of two of our adopt a beach teams members - Brenda and canine companion Foxy of the Miller/Woods team.


WE DID IT AGAIN. For the 3rd month in a row now, EVERY section of the beach was cleaned at least twice. There were teams that even went way beyond the minimum commitment. Sections 19 - 22 were cleaned 9 times in June. Again, much of the credit here goes to the Beach Master. I counted a total of 12 sections that would not have gotten any coverage at all if he had not ventured out of his assigned area to help out. Thanks Mark! And thanks to all the other teams that were out there in June.

Here's a quick summary of your efforts:

Volunteer Stats:
14 teams were active and 22 sections were cleaned. A total of 91 cleanings were completed in June. There were 55.5 bags and 20 buckets used in the cleanup. There were 70 volunteers, logging in 50 hours.

Items Collected in June:
1221+ pieces of plastic counted, 149 glass, 175 cans, 2091+ cigarette butts, 2 animal waste, 725 straws, 1052+ pieces of Styrofoam, 178+ pieces of paper, and 430 balloons.

Catch of the Month: the most unusual item was reported by the Bonigut Family who found a mostly buried shopping cart in section 2 (North Beach Burger to 204) They contacted the City's beach contractor who later came to dig it up and remove it. Hmmm, I wonder how that got there. Maybe King Neptune was out shopping for a new wig (that was the catch of the month for May reported by the Headrick Family)!

Click here to see the full report.

You should know that the members of the Watershed Task force are pleased and excited about what you are doing. The Adopt a Beach Program is one of the first items on the agenda and there is always a lot of great discussion when I share what you are doing and the observations and suggestions that you pass on to me. In fact the Task force is so stoked that there is even some talk about us arranging a little team get together/celebration some time soon....

Stay tuned. I'm working with task force member and Adopt a Beach champion Nanci Mavar to nail down a venue and a date and other details. I'll send out more info as the plan evolves. In the meantime, thanks for giving us all reason to celebrate.

Monthly Updates for April and May

Thought I'd kick things off for this post with a GREAT shot of the Lasuens Boardrider Club sent in by Team Captain Bo Burick. Looks like a fun group don't you think? Along with the Weller family, they are committed to keeping section #14 looking good.

Now, for the fun stuff - I have finished compiling all the data so you can see our collective accomplishments for the past two months. WOW WOW WOW! For the first time ever in the history of this program every single section of the beach/trail (all 22 sections!)has been cleaned. And if that weren't amazing enough, each section has been cleaned at least three times each month. If we keep this up we will have our beaches upgraded from a C to a B class rating for sure. You guys are unbelievable. Especially the Beach Master...

The Beach Master (Mark "Awesome" Aubrey) is a one person team who deserves special recognition for the work that he is doing. Although his "official" adopted area is section #21 (along with Jack and Ryan Baker and the Eads and Others teams), he frequently walks the entire length of the beach trail cleaning and meticulously recording data as he goes. It is largely due to his efforts that we can report consistent clean up coverage for ALL 22 Sections. I think you will all agree with me, after viewing the monthly summary reports that there is no upgrade required - The Beach Master is already a "Class A" adopter! Next time you are out at the beach and notice a long haired, deeply tanned man walking the beach/trail with a bag of "collectibles", a handful of data collection sheets, and a big smile on his face chances are it's the BeachMaster himself! Be sure to walk over and say hello.

Great Team Effort - Great Work
Litter is such a huge issue. It is common to feel overwhelmed and wonder just how much of a difference our efforts really make. Keep at it anyway. Every plastic bag bottle cap, silicon bait bit, piece of balloon, cigarette butt that you pick up is one vote for a beautiful clean environment and one less hazard to marine life. Collectively it all adds up. Picture this - last month your combined efforts removed 43 buckets and 68 bags of trash from our beaches and trails. Thanks to you, over 1,811 pieces of plastic, 906 straws, 872 balloons, 3,175 cigarette butts, and well over 1,947 pieces of Styrofoam were removed from San Clemente beaches/trail and kept out of the ocean. And that is just from one month of reported activity!

Summary Reports for April and May
As you can imagine, there is a lot of data coming in to me from the various teams so it takes a significant chunk of time to interpret, calculate and compile it. I get data sheets from different sources (faxed, email attachment, US mail and even hand delivered at events and WSTF meetings) so although I do my best to make sure that I have all the info represented it is possible that I may have missed a data sheet or two. If, after viewing the reports, you feel that is the case - just let me know and we will make the adjustments.

Also, please note that an absence of activity by a team name does not necessarily mean that the team is "slacking". Some of these teams are recent sign ups and are just starting to get into the routine. June data sheets are already coming in for many of them.

Click on the links below to see our adopt a beach progress for the past 2 months!

Monthly update for April

Monthly update for May

The Latest and Greatest...Keeping You Updated

Adopt a Beach in the News Again!

Thanks to Laura Ferguson, Public Information Officer for the City of San Clemente, Adopt a Beach was in the news yet again! This time the article appeared in the City Magazine and it included a photo of one of our Adopt a Beach teams! To read the article and see a fun photo of San Clemente Green's Clean Team in action, click here.

We even made the Mayor's Column ("Keeping a Clean, Green City") in the April 3-9 edition of the San Clemente Times http://www.sanclementetimes.com/uploads/SCT_20080403.pdf

Another one of our Adopt a Beach teams, the San Clemente Sunrise Rotary Club, also got some local press. Check out the May 8-14 edition of the San Clemente Times (pg 4).

http://www.sanclementetimes.com/
What a fun group! Vernon & I had the opportunity to spend the morning with them and further promote the Adopt a Beach program last week when we presented "Trouble in Paradise - Taking Action Against the Trashing of Our Oceans" during the club's early morning breakfast meeting.

What a Mess!

Speaking of taking action against the trashing of our oceans, here is a photo sent in by the Miller/Woods team. It shows the results of team member Isobel Pelham's clean up efforts on April 19. This hodge-podge of plastics, paper, cigarette butts, clothing, and other yucky things came from Section #6 (Mariposa ramp to Linda Lane Underpass).

Keeping this stuff off the beach and trail and out of the ocean is so important. To all of you adopt a Beach teams who are keeping your commitments and actively out there making a difference twice a month (and some of you even more frequently!) THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU!

Totals for April Still Out

Believe it or not, I am still getting completed Data Sheets sent in from April so I don't have the totals ready to share with you all just yet. If anyone still has data for April - please fax it to me ASAP (before end of day Wednesday 5/14) to make sure your team's info gets added. If all goes as planned I will have the April Report ready for distribution by the end of this week.

Comments Welcome

It's fun to read your comments & I appreciate the ones that are starting to come in. They not only confirm for me that the comment feature is working, they also confirm that the blog is getting read! Keep em coming...

That's all I have for now...have a great week! - Sherry

San Clemente Earth Day Celebration 2008!

Don't let the picture fool you - this was probably the only time we sat down all day! The Earth Day Event was a whirlwind of activity - team members stopping by to say hello, dropping off forms and picking up supplies. To all of you who dropped by - thank you! I hope you enjoyed the event as much as we did. (By the way, the handsome man in this photo is my husband Vernon. From working the "front lines" handing out information and t-shirts to providing "behind-the-scenes" technical expertise, he is a great champion for the Adopt a Beach program!)

More Appreciation
I also want to recognize the following individuals who helped out at the Watershed Task Force tent through out the day:

• Briana Denney
• Andrea Toscano De Souza
• Nanci Mavar
• Bill Hart
• Ron & Melisa Perugini

TWELVE (12) MORE TEAMS SIGN UP!
By the end of the day we had 12 more teams signed up:
Our newest adopters include:

• Roderiguez Family
• Team Austin
• Boatright Family
• Riley Girls
• Ogden Bunch
• Jefferson Family
• Eco Systers or Team Mar-Brillo (final name to be determined)
• Ollie's Klean Kooks
• Fresh Ocean
• Zeweski Girls
• Cole Surfboards

Team Name Change

The Hoffman Family team name has been changed to Revenge of the Ronanites

Nine (9) Sections Are Now MAXED OUT!
Nine of the 22 sections of beach have reached the 3 team limit and are closed to further adoption.

List of Locations and Teams
To see an updated list of teams by location click here

Data Collection Totals for March
To see a summary report of activity and items collected during the month of March, click here


Coordination of Schedules between Teams
Now that we are doubling and tripling up on teams per section, it has become clear that there needs to be a centralized way for teams to connect with each other and coordinate clean up schedules. It is also clear that my plate is already too full to take on this additional level of coordination. Fortunately, Briana Denney, another Adopt a Beach volunteer, is stepping up to take this on. Yeah! So please be patient a little while longer, hold off on sending me your email requests for contact information, and expect to hear from Briana in the very near future.


Supply Pick Up

For any team leaders who did not make it to the Earth Day and still need to get their supplies, the next opportunity will be Tuesday May 15th, 6:30pm - immediately following the Watershed Task Force Meeting - in front of the Community Development Building at 910 Calle Negocio. I'll plan on sticking around for a few minutes after the meeting. Just look for the blue Prius filled with Adopt a Beach t-shirts, buckets and calipers!

CALL FOR COMMENTS

What do you think of the Blog so far? Do you have an idea or suggestion that you feel like sharing with me and the other Adopt a Beach Team Leaders? Then please, let your voice be heard!

To post a comment:

• Navigate to the end of the post that you wish to comment on.
• Click on the "# comments" or "post a comment" link
• Type in your comment in the Leave Your Comment section
• Choose your appropriate identity from the Choose An Identity Section (see hint below) *
• Click on the Publish Your Comment field (important step - don't forget!) **

* HINT: Most people will want to choose the Name/URL identity where you can leave your nickname or favorite internet handle. There's no need to sign up for anything.

**NOTE: You won't see the comment posted right away - it will first come to me as the Blog Moderator. This is to keep unwanted spam out of our blog space. Once I review & approve it will post.

New Record Set for Beach Adoptions & More Exciting News

RECORD BREAKING NUMBER OF BEACH ADOPTIONS!
Great News! As of this week, ALL 22 sections of the beach/trail have been adopted! The interest has been so great that some sections now have 2 or even 3 teams assigned, with a total of 32 teams to date. According to Bill Hart, President of the Watershed Task Force, this is the greatest number of sign ups in the history of the program. Thank you all for helping to make this happen! I will continue to take requests until each section is "maxed out" at 3 per team. Our goal is to someday have enough coverage that the beaches are cleaned on a weekly basis. This is a big step in that direction.

SPECIAL RECOGNITION
In addition to all of the teams who signed up, there are a few other people who played a big part in making all this happen. Gold Sea Stars go out to...

- Norb Garrett and Fred Swegles for providing great press in our local media. The front page article and photo on the front page of the Sun Post News really got things rolling! I estimate that it was responsible for 90% of the recent inquiries and subsequent adoptions.

- Ken Nielsen for providing the photo from the Kick Off event that accompanied the articles.

- Nanci Mavar for organizing the Kick Off, ordering the clean up supplies, and being the overall champion of the program since its inception.

- Eric Norton for taking all those phone calls from potential adopters and forwarding the contact information to me for follow-up.

REQUEST FOR PHOTOS
Speaking of press, I'm collaborating with Laura Fergeson on an upcoming article for the City Magazine. We'd like to include a photo of a volunteer team in action cleaning up their section of the beach/trail. This is another opportunity to promote the program and showcase the great work that you are doing. So don't be shy! Team Captains, take your camera and your creativity to "your" beach with you this weekend and send me your best stuff (by email attachment of course!) The deadline for the article is April 14th so I will need your photos ASAP. Although only one photo will be selected for the article, I plan to post the other photos on this blog.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION (Saturday 4/19)
The Watershed Task Force will be sponsoring a booth at the upcoming Earth Day Celebration at Parque Del Mar. I will be at the booth promoting the Adopt a Beach program from 10:00am to 2:00pm. I am thinking that this will also be a perfect opportunity for those teams who have signed up since the kick off to pick up cleaning supplies and t-shirts (one set per team). Please stop by to say hello and pick up your bucket of goodies!

More Teams Sign Up! / EARTH HOUR celebration

Hi there!

Just checking in to say hello and to give you an update on our Adopt a Beach program.

TEN (10) MORE TEAMS
The front page write up in the Sun Post Times really got people's attention. The phones have been ringing off the hook. It seems that there are many many people out there like us who care about the environment and want to pitch in to keep the trails and beaches clean. We now have ten new team members joining us in our efforts, and I still have several more people to call back. Exciting!


Wicks Team is ON IT!
I received the first data collection sheet this week from the Wicks team. In addition to the usual trash of cigarette butts (139 of them!) styrofoam (230 little pieces) etc., they also found treasure! In this case the treasure was the people they encountered. One of them (Mark) was so inspired by what they were doing that he rushed home to contact me and adopted his own stretch of sand. A gold sea star to the Wicks team for great follow through and positive PR.

EARTH Hour
This Saturday (March 29th) we all have an opportunity to participate in an exciting global event on a local level. Gary and Laurie Headrick, founders of San Clemente Green, are the organizers. I'm happy to say that they are also part of the Watershed Taskforce and leaders of two Adopt a Beach teams! Put on a green sweater or hoodie and join us on Del Mar tomorrow night from 8:00 - 9:00pm. For more information check out the articles in the San Clemente Times and the San Clemente Sun Post News:
www.sanclementetimes.com www.ocregister.com/community/sun_post_news

That's all the news for now. Thanks for all that you do! - Sherry