Join your friends at VCS this winter for the always fun and informative Winter Walks series. Each will feature an interpretive component drawing on a theme of "flora and fauna."
All walks start at 1:00 and are FREE to the public. Better than free, actually, as cider and cookies will be served.
SAVE THE DATE:
THE 20th ANNUAL EARTH DAY BEACH CLEAN-UP
. . . will be Saturday April 21, 2012, starting at 10:00 am! This year we expect to clean over 20 of our beaches. This is a great family event, and as usual, we will be having our after-party at SBS from 12:00 - 3:00. Look for a list of beaches on our website by March and reminders in our Conservation Almanac.
If you would like to volunteer, please give us a call at the office (508-693-9588), or email info@vineyardconservation.org.
THE 19th ANNUAL EARTH DAY BEACH CLEAN-UP
by DAVID NASH The 19th annual Earth Day Beach clean-up can now be put to rest as a complete success. Although skies were sunny, temperatures didn’t make it out of the 40's and winds in the 20's and 30's made it feel much colder. Nevertheless, hundreds of individual volunteers showed up to clean beaches of accumulated trash. The effort this year officially covered 23 beaches but many other smaller beaches were also included by people just out for the day trying to make a difference. Over 25 organizations participated as well as many individuals who served as beach coordinators. This year could perhaps best be described as the year of the “scouts” as we had extensive participation by various scout troops all over the island. VCS board members and staff served as beach coordinators, roaming photographers and trouble shooters generally trying to help out where ever possible. Other organizations such as the Trial Court Community Services Program, the Lagoon Pond Association and Tisbury Waterways, Inc. covered multiple beaches throughout the day. TWI and the various groups which they work with provide this service for many Tisbury beaches throughout the year. Board
member Ginny Jones reported on the Lobsterville Beach clean-up as
follows. “My grandsons ages 6 and 8 plus a 5 year old friend picked up
much of Lobsterville Beach with the assistance of three volunteers
(seasonal residents of Aquinnah) this morning. Although the wind was
out of the east and reputed to be "only" blowing 25 with gusts in the
30's with the full fetch of Vineyard Sound behind, the breeze felt more
like a gale. Tide was high but at least we didn't have rain. It still
felt like an Outward Bound Expedition. Fortunately the boys are old
enough to work unsupervised because I stayed by the truck in the hopes
of snagging anyone who drove by. We left when my pick up was full and
overflowing -- mostly pieces of netting but also a pillow (rare in
winter), fishing tackle (4 lures), a lot of the usual trash, one horse
shoe crab shell (haven't seen one of them recently).”
| Many of our larger beaches and some smaller ones too reported 20 to 30 bags of trash picked up. Close to 300 bags of trash were collected. Pick-up trucks and dump trucks provided by local highway departments were filled to overflowing. The more common pieces of trash still seem to be the small liquor bottles (“nips”), beverage containers, water bottles and balloons. Certainly some of those balloons drift in from off-island but we would hope that anyone living on the island of Martha’s Vineyard would be sensitive enough to the potential impacts on marine life to avoid using balloons for advertising or celebrations and if they simply have to have them at least make sure they don’t “escape”. The involved scout troops were especially concerned about the balloons and are planning some follow-up discussions on what could be done about it. The more unusual list of items included television sets, a copy machine, propane tanks (especially large numbers of these!), a microwave oven, gasoline cans, bicycles, tires of all sizes, a couple of computer monitors (one smashed), a demolished air conditioner, a completely rusted hulk of a window fan, a smashed-up dinghy, plastic fishing line and net, a Christmas tree, and plywood. Those who were up for a party headed over to SBS where a barbeque was provided for all. The food was wonderful and there was plenty of it. Many people and businesses contributed to the success of the 19th annual Earth Day Beach Clean-up. We of course need to thank SBS for once again hosting the after event barbeque but our less obvious supporters also help to make this a successful community project. These include our major sponsors; the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, Farm Neck Golf Club, Allied Waste Services and Riley’s Reads. Lastly, we need to thank the highway departments of the towns of Oak Bluffs, Edgartown and Tisbury for providing trucks and hauling away collected materials and the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District for providing free disposal of beach debris. Thanks again and we hope to see all of you again next year! |