Westborough Middle School brought over 70 students and parents to Pacifica Saturday, Feb. 18 to help our beaches and save fish.
In the end, under the direction of the Pacifica Beach Coalition, they cleaned the entire Pacifica State Beach (Linda Mar) and the four parking lots from Pedro Point Shopping Center to the Linda Mar north parking lot.
And if every piece of plastic, styrofoam, and assorted litter they collected saved a fish, then they did indeed save thousands of fish in the two hour work span. They probably saved thousands of birds and marine mammals, too. All together, they collected 200 lbs. of trash and 20 lbs. of recycling. When most of this is light weight plastic wrappers, straws, bottle tops and cigarette butts, you can imagine how many things they removed from the environment!
But this wasn't all they did. They split into two groups and while one group cleaned part of the beach and parking areas, the other half removed invasive weeds from a patch north of the Community Center near the Cypress tree by the bike path and planted over 200 native plants donated by Go Native, Inc. Most of the invasive's they removed were oxalis, mustard and wild radish. An hour later they switched roles.
The former weedy patch just north of the Cypress tree is now home to 200 native Coyote Bush, Coastal Sage, and Lizard Tail which we hope will grow into a rich resource for the Snowy Plover and other native insects, birds and mammals that rely on a healthy beach habitat. If you travel in this area, please stay on the bike path and help us give them time to root and mature into the beautiful coastal habitat we see along the bike trail closer to the parking area.
In the end, smiling faces and cheering volunteers celebrated doing something for the environment, fish, marine life and snowy plovers too. And hopefully, every student and parent went home with a new understanding and appreciation for ending litter on their school yard and near their homes to help our beaches here in Pacifica.
A special thank you to teacher Danny Yanow who has brought his students to Pacifica for a beach cleanup for the past four to five years and to Kathy Kellerman (and Go Native, Inc) who has dedicated so much of her time to growing the native plants and assisting at so many of the native plantings on the beach and at the Pedro Point Headlands. Also a big thank you to the Linda Mar Site Captains Jim, Ana and Michael who lead the cleanups and habitat restoration events each month and to PBC members who joined the cleanup to help teach these students all about litter and our special coastal beach habitat.
If you have a group and would like to help us clean up a beach or restore habitat, the Pacifica Beach Coalition hosts 3 cleanups and a Habitat Restoration day each month and your group could be just the one to make a huge difference. Please go to www.pacificabeachcoalition.org for more information or contact the Pacifica Beach Coalition at 650.355.1668
Our next Habitat Restoration at Linda Mar State Beach will be on Sunday, February 26th and March 25th from 10.00-12.00noon. Volunteers should meet at the Portola Statue and bring their favorite weeding/planting tools.
The next group beach cleanup at Linda Mar will be on March 17th from 9-11.00am. The beach cleanup schedule can be found at www.pacificabeachcoalition.org.
