Plum Island Beach Cleanup: Volunteers Needed
Newburyport, MA – Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge announce that the Coastsweep 2009 cleanup for Plum Island, including the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and Sandy Point State Reservation, will be held on Saturday, September 12, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. David Larson, Education Coordinator for Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats, is looking for 100+ volunteers willing to help clean up trash and debris from the roads, trails, and beaches. Those interested are encouraged to bring friends, family, teachers, or students.
Volunteers do not need to pre-register to help with the cleanup, and may show up at any time during the day. Check-in is at the Refuge’s parking lot #1, where supplies will be provided by Mass Audubon staff. People are advised to bring their own work gloves. Data about trash collected by volunteers will be entered into a database by the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington, D.C., for the purpose of tracking the sources of waste.
Coastsweep is the annual state-wide coastal cleanup sponsored by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and coordinated by the Urban Harbors Institute of UMass Boston. Coastsweep has helped thousands of volunteers clean hundreds of miles of shoreline and riverbanks over the past 19 years.
The Coastsweep cleanup will be held rain or shine. Background information on Coastsweep is at:http://www.coastsweep.umb.edu/
Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center, located at One Plum Island Turnpike in Newburyport, is a natural history education and visitor center that is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday and Monday holidays, 8:30 to 4. Call 978-462-9998 for information about additional programs and events, or visit our website at http://www.massaudubon.org/joppaflats.
