ADOPT a BEACH
Salem
Sound Coastwatch's NEWEST program is unique
in many ways:
- It
creates teams of individuals to become "beachkeepers"
at their favorite beach.
- It
is year-round which makes it more productive and responsive
than seasonal activities such as a single coastal cleanup.
- It
is comprehensive. Volunteers will be trained and asked to
identify issues of concern for public health and environmental
quality in order to provide timely information to the beach
owners whether they be private or municipalities.
- It
expands local stewardship of the environment.
- It
provides a sustainable mechanism to protect and improve beaches
and marine resources.
__________________________________________________________
Contact
SSCW to Adopt a Beach!
Be
one of the first beachkeepers.
Volunteer
sign-up form (114 KB Word
Doc)
Program
Description (62 KB PDF)
SSCW
will train volunteers and then will work with each team to conduct
a beach survey at their adopted beach.
Monday,
March 22 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm - Beverly Library
Sunday,
April 11 from 2– 4:00 pm - Tower School
75 West Shore Drive, Marblehead
RSVP
required!
info@salemsound.org or 978-741-7900
If
you are unable to attend this training, there will be additional
sessions.
Teams
will then:
- Visually
monitor for sources of pollution, signs of erosion and evidence
of invasive species such as the new invasive plant, pepperweed
- Collect
samples from stormwater outfall pipes and coastal streams
for testing for bacterial contamination
(where appropriate)
- Conduct
regular coastal clean-ups, especially after storm events when
debris is washed ashore
- Identify
other problems and issues affecting the beach
Understanding
long-term stresses on our beaches is very important. Team members
will help establish
benchmarks to enable us to evaluate erosion rate, storm damage
and sea level rise over time.
An
important goal of the Adopt a Beach program is its sustainability
through the underwriting or sponsorships of the program and/or
individual beaches. Team members may be able to assist in fundraising
to assure the program's sustainability.
Be
one of the first to help us form a team. We are currently developing
this program under a grant from the Massachusetts Environmental
Trust (MET),
which receives funding from the sales of environmental license
plates.
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