Volunteers county-wide turned out for the annual Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, Sept. 15, pulling trash and recyclables from Santa Cruz County’s waterways and beaches as part of a statewide conservation effort.
According to data provided by Save Our Shores, in Santa Cruz County, 2,354 volunteers removed 9,947 pounds of pollution and debris – 2,204 of which was recyclable – over the course of the day.
Working in tandem with Save Our Shores, two San Lorenzo Valley-based organizations — the Valley Women’s Club and SLV Citizens Organized for Responsible Ecological Choices for Our Valley (SLV CORE) – hosted their own clean-up efforts at sites in Felton, Ben Lomond, Lompico, and Boulder Creek.
Between the two organizations, 124 volunteers pulled more than 2,000 pounds of trash and another 1,713 pounds of recyclable materials.
Sixty SLV CORE volunteers led the morning cleanup efforts at the Felton Covered Bridge Park, and reported bringing in more than 1,500 pounds of trash and 180 pounds of recyclables. Many of the volunteers were students from San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley schools.
As part of the Valley Women’s Club’s 26th annual River and Road Cleanup, 64 volunteers worked in Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, and Felton – removing 1,533 pounds of recyclables and another 644 pounds of trash.
Two of the top five cleanup sites county-wide were located within the San Lorenzo Valley, according to Save Our Shores, with 1,664 pounds of material pulled from theSan Lorenzo River at the Covered Bridge, and Lompico Creek with 1,425 pounds reported removed.
