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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Volunteers taking part in the annual Coastal Cleanup Day removed thousands of pounds of trash in Lake County – far surpassing last year’s totals – and were part of a larger statewide effort that included tens of thousands of participants.
The 35th annual Coastal Cleanup Day took place Saturday, Sept. 21.
Begun by the California Coastal Commission in 1983, it isn’t limited to coastal areas, but also includes creeks, rivers and lakes.
This year, statewide there were 68,152 volunteers, 812,121 pounds of debris removed and 1,428 miles of shoreline cleaned, according to Eben Schwartz, a California Coastal Commission spokesperson.
That’s compared to more than 53,000 volunteers, 698,931 pounds of trash and an additional 35,674 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 734,606 pounds or 367 tons removed in 2018.
The Coastal Commission reported that, besides every day garbage and debris, including plastics, volunteers picked up a number of “unusual” items during this year’s cleanup.
The winners of the 2019 Most Unusual Item contest are a volunteer at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland who found a beautiful statue of Vishnu, and a volunteer at Swami’s State Beach in Encinitas who found a message in a bottle.
This year, volunteers in Lake County gathered at Keeling Park in Nice, Rodman Slough in Lakeport, the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff and Highlands Springs, and in Clearlake at the Clear Lake Campground, Austin Park and Borax Lake.
Angela De Palma-Dow, Lake County Water Resources’ invasive species coordinator and an organizer of the local event, said the local cleanup went really well.
This year, she said there were a total of 57 volunteers, compared to the 39 reported to have participated last year.
Those 57 volunteers collected 6,457 pounds of trash and 55 pounds of recyclables, filled 147 bags and cleaned 15.5 miles, De Palma-Dow said.
Of the total pounds of trash picked up, De Palma-Dow said 2,400 pounds came from the Austin Park area in Clearlake.
The amount of trash picked up this year was more than 10 times greater than the amount reported last year, when 500 pounds were removed.
De Palma-Dow said it was “not too shabby for a single morning!”
It also was a busy morning, with a number of other events going on around the county the same day.
DePalma-Dow offered thanks and recognition to C&S Waste Solutions and Lake County Public Services for sponsoring the event. “We could not have done this event without them and their dumpster donations.”
She said Lower Lake High School Upward Bound volunteers helped Barbara Christwitz and Citizens Caring for Clearlake pick up the 2,400 pounds of trash from the Austin Park area.
County Supervisors Eddie Crandall and Tina Scott picked up trash on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff, where Thomas Aceves and his adopt-a-road volunteer team regularly also meet to clean up the roadway.
DePalma-Dow said Edgar Ketchum and his volunteer team removed more than 3,000 pounds of trash from around Borax Lake off Sulfur Bank Drive in Clearlake.
Lisa Wilson and her dedicated kayakers and boaters at Clear Lake Campground also participated, as did Highland Springs caretaker James Davis and his volunteers, DePalma-Dow said.
On the Northshore, Water Resources staffers and site captains Marina Deligiannis and Yuliya Osetrova helped volunteers. In that area, DePalma-Dow said lots of tires were picked up.
In addition to the Coastal Cleanup Day volunteers, DePalma-Dow said there were a lot of volunteers on Highway 20 in the Upper Lake and Lucerne area that weren’t officially a part of Coastal Clean Up Day, but she thanked them for their efforts to keep Lake County Clean.
If anyone wants to sponsor this event or be a site captain for next year’s Coastal Clean Up Day, they can contact De Palma-Dow at Water Resources at 707-263-2344.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
