Volunteers can come out to the beach and help clean up coastal debris Saturday.
Only 120 volunteers have signed up online for Washington CoastSavers’ inaugural fall West End beach cleanup, set to coincide with the day of the International Coastal Cleanup, said Jon Schmidt, CoastSaver coordinator based in Sequim.
But people are welcome to just show up Saturday.
Twenty-five beaches on the Pacific coastline of Clallam and Jefferson counties — from Hobuck and Shi Shi near Neah Bay to beaches at and around the Kalaloch Lodge — are listed for cleanup and rated as easy or challenging on the Washington CoastSavers’ website at www.coastsavers.org.
Eleven more beaches are south of these, with the most southern being Cape Disappointment.
“The greatest need is the beaches around Ozette, but really, we could use folks almost anywhere,” Schmidt said.
Online registration is closed, but anyone who wants to show up Saturday can check in at five locations that day between 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Participation is free.
CoastSavers representatives will provide trash bags and basic information about the cleanup and the beach. Volunteer agreement forms, available on the website and at the check-in sites, must be filled out.
Cleanup volunteers who also want to camp in Olympic National Park tonight or Saturday night can do so for free.
Camping free in park
Backcountry and frontcountry camping fees will be waived for coastal cleanup participants those two nights, said Rainey McKenna, park spokeswoman.
An entrance fee generally is charged at Ozette, but this fee will be waived for coastal cleanup volunteers during the time they are working and camping, she said.
The rest of the park’s coastal areas do not have entrance fees.
Entrance fees will apply for all other areas of the park.
Camping permits are available at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, 3002 Mount Angeles Road in Port Angeles, or the Forks Transit Center, 551 S. Forks Ave.
The Port Angeles center will be open from 7:30 a.m. through 5 p.m.
Saturday’s low tide is expected to be at about 8:13 a.m. and high tide at about 2:16 p.m., according to CoastSavers’ website.
Where to check in
Check-in points for volunteers the day of the cleanup are:
■ Hobuck Beach west of Neah Bay. The Makah tribe has offered free camping and use of restroom facilities at the Makah tribal headquarters near Hobuck Beach, a free Makah recreation permit and free entry to the Makah Cultural & Research Center in Neah Bay the day of the event.
For more information about this location, email Jacqueline.Laverdure@noaa.gov.
■ Lake Ozette, near the northern tip of Olympic National Park. Access is from the Ozette Ranger Station on the north side of the lake, where volunteers can check in before 7 tonight or between 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Saturday.
For more information about this location, email able@olypen.com.
■ Forks Transit Center on the corner of Forks Avenue and E Street. In addition to providing camping permits, this site also can help day-only volunteers with materials and directions. It is open longer than the other sites Saturday: from 7 a.m. to noon.
■ Three Rivers Fire Station, across the road from the Three Rivers Resort. Both the station and resort are on state Highway 110, aka LaPush Road, between Forks and LaPush.
For more information about this location, phone Tim Saskowski at 360-640-9911.
■ Kalaloch Campground, on U.S. Highway 101 just north of the Kalaloch Lodge. For more information about volunteering at this location, email Heather_Stephens@nps.gov.
Volunteers who aren’t physically able to carry filled bags off the beach are also welcome, Schmidt said.
They can serve as registration station beach captains, assisting with registering volunteers and ensuring they fill out the proper paperwork and follow protocol.
Since 2007, Washington CoastSavers’ efforts have been concentrated on the Washington Coast Cleanup, which occurs in April every Earth Day weekend.
Those cleanups have been organized by Washington State Parks and the Pacific Northwest 4 Wheel Drive Association on the third weekend of April since 1971, Schmidt said.
The number of volunteers who have registered so far for this fall cleanup is greatly down from the more than 1,000 who participated in April, Schmidt said.
But he added that the September effort is no less important.
Before storms hit
“We really want to remove as much debris off the beach now, before the winter storms come,” Schmidt said.
“The storms break up the debris and carry it to more remote areas where wildlife congregates.
“Prevention is the name of the game for this International Coastal Cleanup on the Washington Coast.”
The expansion of CoastSavers efforts into this fall cleanup largely are due to support from Ocean Conservancy, Schmidt said.
“Last year, Ocean Conservancy reported 15 miles of Washington beaches were cleaned,” Schmidt said.
“We are hoping to at least triple that distance — even with 120 volunteers.”
Concern about marine debris has been raised by the litter, ranging from small floats to large docks, that has washed onto West Coast beaches after the March 2011 tsunami.
“The Japanese government has estimated that the tsunami swept about 5 million tons of debris into the ocean but that 70 percent sank offshore, leaving 1.5 million tons floating,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program.
Schmidt said he has had reports from the Long Beach Peninsula of an uptick in long-range debris coming ashore.
“This isn’t necessarily typical for this time of year,” he said, “but if we see more south-southwest winds, we will see more debris, some possibly tsunami-related.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
