CITY NEWS
Beach Stewardship is Alive & Well in San Clemente
Lori Donchak, Mayor N
atural beauty is everywhere in San Clemente – from our scenic foothills and open space to our
picturesque blue ocean. If not for our vol- unteers, working in tandem with the City of San Clemente, and taking pride in main- taining our beaches, coastal wildlife and canyons, these amenities would not be available for our enjoyment. By no means is it glamorous volunteer service picking up others’ trash. This level of dedication is huge and I applaud and thank everyone who participates in beach clean ups and coastal canyon clean up activities year- round. Together, we keep the beaches clean and safe for people to enjoy, but also for the creatures who live along our shores. It’s a continuous effort to keep our
beaches cleaned of refuse, and we accom- plish this both manually by volunteer cleanups and mechanically by using a sand-grooming device called a Marina, which serves as one component of beach cleaning. The unit consists of a small cab and a hopper, which holds the debris and is able to pick up pebbles, seaweed, trash and rocks embedded as far as three inches into the sand. The latest manual volunteer beach cleanup in San Clemente was held on Coastal Cleanup Day in September and amassed 210 local volunteers. Coastal Cleanup Day is celebrated annually throughout the state as a coordinated ef- fort to clean up beaches and inland water- ways. The event encourages people to join together to bring attention to our fragile marine environment and show community support for our shared natural resources. And, we all know the important role our beaches play in keeping our local eco- nomic engine running. In San Clemente alone, our volunteers
removed 244 pounds of trash and 19 pounds of recyclable material from our beaches. The greatest pollutant collected was cigarette butts in which nearly 1,000 were collected. Second to cigarettes were
food wrappers and containers with 425 pieces collected and properly disposed of. Please remember to take your trash with you when you leave the beach and dispose of it in the City trashcans on higher ground. Special thanks to City staff mem- ber Mary Vondrak for coordinating this event and to the community volunteers’ for their beach cleaning efforts, who on foot spanned 3.5 miles! In addition to this annual event, local
volunteer efforts take place year-round to maintain the vitality and quality of our nat- ural resources. The Watershed Task Force works in concert with the City to bring more understanding, support and re- sources to the efforts aimed at reducing lit- ter and pollutants ending up in our streets, open space, storm drains and beaches. These goals include: (1) educating the community about the watershed impacts caused by our daily activities, (2) fostering a sense of ownership and involvement in protecting our ocean, and (3) generating a level of awareness and involvement amongst all stakeholders. One way this is accomplished is through the “Adopt-A- Beach” program. Individuals, families, busi- nesses, organizations and clubs select an area of beach that they are responsible for cleaning up at least twice a month. There is no fee to join and volunteers are pro- vided a large litter and debris collection bucket, calipers (litter grabbers) and a data recording sheet. Currently there are over 30 Adopt-A-
Beach teams who clean up trash from North Beach to Cotton’s Point. The teams record the amounts and types of trash they collect, and then report this data to the Wa- tershed Task Force and, ultimately, to the City. The work of Adopt-A-Beach members aided the City in implementing a Styro- foam ban from food establishments in 2010. Adopt-A-Beach also regularly hosts public beach cleanups at the San Clemente Pier. If you are interested in joining Adopt- A-Beach, contact Colleen Canfield at
At this year’s Coastal Clean-up Day, 210 Volunteers collected 244 lbs of garbage and over 1,000 cigarette butts.
colleen@scwatersheds.com or call (949) 36-OCEAN. So, you might wonder if all this hard
work is paying off? It sure is as evidenced by our recent report card. Heal the Bay, a non-profit environmental group, issues a beach report card each year, and in 2011 gave San Clemente’s beaches “A” and “A+” grades, except for Poche Beach. San Clemente continues to push to improve water quality improvements at the county- owned Poche Beach. In addition to volunteer efforts, much
of this success can be attributed to the Clean Ocean Program that residents voted to implement in January 2003 and re- newed again in 2007. Environmentally con- scientious San Clementians have proven they value ocean water quality and clean beaches. Similarly, they have proven their understanding of urban runoff pollutants and have vowed to do something about it. The Clean Ocean Program helps us
protect and preserve public health and the environment. It allows for a dedicated funding source to implement educational outreach activities to reduce urban runoff and storm water pollution and to promote waste reduction and recycling from industrial, commercial, municipal, new development/construction and resi- dential areas. Its goals are extensive and the staff of five small, but effective. Here’s a look at their most recent accomplish- ments: • Conducted an intensive bacteria source identification study in the Poche Beach watershed.
• Made over three million impressions annually through public outreach and advertising activities.
• Annually remove on average 400 tons of debris from street sweeping activi- ties.
• Annually remove on average 26 tons of debris from 2,205 catch basins.
• Funded the design of a diversion sys- tem for the Linda Lane storm drain
pipe.
• Partnered with the City’s Utilities Di- vision to educate the community on landscape runoff reduction strate- gies and funding for a turf removal rebate program for residents.
• Redesigned storm drain stencils and applied them to 2,205 catch basins around the City. This entailed chang- ing the blue writing above each storm drain that used to say “no dumping, drains to ocean”. The mes- sages are now personalized to indi- cate which local beach debris will drain to (Pier, T-street, Poche, etc.).
Even our local youth are playing a
role. The City and the Watershed Task Force are excited to have recently part- nered with San Clemente High School (SCHS) in protecting our local watershed. The high school students will “Adopt the Canyons” which includes the areas adja- cent to the school, and they will remove debris and trash during regularly sched- uled clean-up days. I appreciate the stu- dents for their volunteer stewardship. Their efforts will make quite a difference in the canyons and in the general water- shed. These community-wide efforts are
amazing and the impacts they have on our community’s quality of life is clearly evident. It takes a concerted effort to maintain the beauty of our town and it’s inspiring to see our residents have no problem doing their part to ensure the preservation of our beaches and this charming town we call home. My door is always open if you have
any concerns you would like to share with me. Send your e-mail to Don-
chakL@san-clemente.org or call me at (949) 361-8322. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season in San Clemente! Hope to see you downtown at the Down- town Business Association’s Puttin’ on the Glitz event on November 26. b
SANCLEMENTEJOURNAL 23
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