Organization starts regular cleanups at abused beach
For over 10 years, SOS has been doing beach cleanups at Panther beach. In 2013, beach cleanup volunteers collected over 1,000 pounds of trash. Panther Beach is one of SOS’ Top 10 Hotspots for 2014 because of the immense amount of trash. Starting January 26, 2014, SOS began monthly beach cleanups at Panther Beach the 4th Sunday of each month from 9 -11 am.
SOS also installed a sign at the beach along with a box of trash bags to make it easier for people to pack out their trash with the lack of trashcans at the beach. The second beach cleanup on February 23 yielded 150 pounds of trash! Then the day after the cleanup, the sign was stolen along with the trash bags. SOS is trying to work with State Parks and Caltrans to place a dumpster in the parking lot but until that happens, trash bags were to be available.
“This is a new approach for SOS to focus on Hotspots as our goal for 2014 instead of just aiming to increase the total number of cleanups we do overall. We led 280 cleanups in 2013 and after analyzing our data to see which were the dirtiest places, we decided to give those 10 locations extra attention this year,” said Laura Kasa, Executive Director of SOS.
If you are interested in helping to keep Panther Beach clean, please join SOS on the 4th Sunday of each month from 9 -11 am. The sign that was stolen is being re-installed in the next month and hopefully will survive to help keep this beach clean.
For more information, please contact Laura Kasa, Executive Director at Save Our Shores at (917) 664-7066 or lkasa@saveourshores.org. You can always find us on the web at www.saveourshores.org SOS 345 Lake Avenue, Suite Al Santa Cruz l California l 95062