Volunteers will fan out on North Olympic Peninsula beaches to pick up debris swept in by winter storms Saturday during the annual Washington Coast Cleanup on Saturday.
Volunteers can sign up to clean specific beaches — more than 50 beaches will be cleaned along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and 157 miles of the outer coast of Washington from Cape Flattery to Cape Disappointment — and get more information, at www.coast savers.org.
It’s fine to just show up at a beach and offer a hand.
At most of the beaches, the cleanup will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
More details, including the specific time, are available at www.coastsavers.org.
Plastics recycling stations will be at Kalaloch and Hobuck beaches. Cleaned plastic will be sent to Million Waves to be made into 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for children who need them.
Volunteers will complete debris data cards that document the types and amount of debris collected during the cleanups.
Barbecues are planned at Kalaloch, Three Rivers, Hobuck, Clallam Bay and Griffiths-Priday State Park, Roubal said.
Camping in the coastal campgrounds of Olympic National Park — at Kalaloch, Mora, Hobuck and Ozette — will be free for volunteers tonight and Saturday during the beach cleanup weekend. Backcountry camping fees also will be waived for volunteers staying overnight on wilderness beaches of Olympic National Park.
Port Townsend
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center will stage a citizen science BioBlitz and serve as a launching point for the annual beach cleanup on Saturday.
Beach-cleaning volunteers will check in at 9:30 a.m. at the marine science center museum portico in Fort Worden. Then they will head out to clean area beaches at Fort Worden State Park, Fort Flagler State Park, Fort Townsend State Park, Chetzemoka Park and North Beach. The debris receiving station will close at 1:30 p.m.
Port Townsend volunteers can register at tinyurl.com/PDN-PTbeachcleanup.
Starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, citizen science fans will check in at the museum classroom to undertake a BioBlitz — documenting as many living species as possible within a 24-hour period around the marine science center and Fort Worden State Park.
To participate, volunteers must download the free iNaturalist app onto their smartphone and create an account. A guide to getting started with iNaturalist is available at www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started.
More details about the BioBlitz are at tinyurl.com/PDN-BioBlitz.
For more information, contact James Roubal, Washington CoastSavers program coordinator, at 440-539-4212 or coordinator@coastsavers.org or see www.coastsavers.org.
