Health & Fitness
TN High School Students Serve Beach and Creeks
San Pedro Creek is a lot cleaner today as is Linda Mar Beach, which also has more native plants thanks to the help of students from Terra Nova High School and their Terra Nova science teachers Belway, Gerughty and Gutierrez.
On January 20th, 38 Terra Nova students arrived at Linda Mar Beach to join about 100 other community volunteers for this year’s MLK Day of Service. With great enthusiasm they helped collect almost 100 pounds of garbage, plant over 1500 native plants in the dunes, and remove nearly a ton of weeds from along the bike path.
More recently, 35 students came out for a special TNHS clean-up on February 15th. Students labored energetically at three San Pedro Creek sites – LM Beach/Pedro Point Shopping Center, Park Mall and at the bike path next to the LM Rehabilitation Center. Even though students were prohibited from entering the creek or creek bed itself (to protect steelhead), they retrieved over 300 pounds of trash at the three sites, including many large pieces of dump-worthy junk.
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"We had a good turn-out at Park Mall and I feel better that most of the garbage has been removed," said Jane Gerughty. "I am sad about the amount of garbage in the creek that was not able to be removed. Maybe we can find a month that works for the fish. My own daughter says she feels good to pick up in her community. Other teenagers have told me the same."
According to Perrin Belway, these clean-ups are always an eye-opener for students, and they are often shocked at the amount of litter they find in their community. Tom Whitaker, a volunteer with the Pacifica Beach Coalition, had this to say: “Park Mall is one of the top dumping grounds in the city for all kinds of trash, and I would not have believed that it could be cleaned so nicely in only two hours. What a great bunch of kids. San Pedro Creek is the real winner here. The kids are real heroes.”
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If you or your group would like to help keep the beaches, creeks and streets of Pacifica beautiful, consider partnering with the Pacifica Beach Coalition. We host clean-ups every weekend, and we can also arrange for special volunteer events. Please visit us at www.pacificabeachcoalition.org or contact us at pickituppacifica@gmail.com.
Article by Margo Meiman, Pacifica Beach Coalition volunteer and coordinator of the TN San Pedro Creek cleanup project!
