CommentsBE GREEN--Nationally, our coasts and estuaries offer irreplaceable environmental benefits, and are worth nearly $1 trillion annually to the American economy.
To support these resources, The Bay Foundation (TBF) will host three events in mid-September. On Saturday the 15th, from 9:00am-12:00pm, TBF will hold its 14th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day (CCD) event. TBF and Friends of LAX Dunes continue their partnership to restore the LAX Dunes, Southern California’s largest remaining contiguous coastal dune system. Last year, TBF’s LAX Dunes CCD event drew 43 volunteers who collected over 550 pounds of invasive vegetation. TBF recently released an Ecological Monitoring Report summarizing the successful restoration efforts for the last five years across six acres of the site.
TBF’s event is part of the greater annual CCD, which draws over 20,000 volunteers to events across L.A. County, and began in California in 1985 to combat the increasing marine debris along our shorelines. CCD is an international event with over 90 countries around the world participating, making it one of the largest volunteer efforts on the planet.
Following Coastal Cleanup Day, TBF will highlight the 30th anniversary of National Estuaries Week, with events (Sept. 19 and 22) focused on restoration of the Ballona Wetlands. Again, teams of volunteers and professional biologists will remove invasive plants to benefit native plants and wildlife. Wetlands like Ballona are the place where the land and the sea truly connect creating a rich tapestry of life and water. Wetlands help clean water, reduce flood risk, and store carbon, helping lessen the impacts of climate change. TBF supports the coastline of Los Angeles through a diversity of programs and coordinates nationally with 27 other National Estuary Programs. This 30-year national effort, supported by the US EPA, continues to engage and educate people about the benefits of a thriving coastal ecosystem and economy.
“Everyone’s efforts this week will help build awareness for and restore our coasts. Our coastal waters provide us with a great quality of life. Contributing to these efforts is worthwhile, fun for all, and you get to meet some really cool people,” says Tom Ford, TBF Executive Director. “The view from the Dunes is spectacular and the work is very rewarding. Thousands of people have supported these efforts in the past year. During CCD and National Estuaries Week make sure you join us and go home feeling great!”
To extend the impact of this work, post your photos with #EstuariesWeek when at a Coastal Cleanup Day Event or helping out TBF in the Wetlands
National Estuaries Week is the nation’s largest volunteer event for estuaries in our country which began on National Estuaries Day in 1988. Three decades later, we have even more evidence that estuarine ecosystems
- serve as natural barriers to buffer against storms and floods, absorb and store carbon, and provide critical habitat for commercial and recreational fisheries; and
- bring tangible value to our national economy. Nationally, our coasts and estuaries are worth nearly $1 trillion annually to the American economy. Coastal waters add more than $800 billion in trade and commerce and tens of billions in recreational dollars. 43 percent of us live in coastal areas, accounting for 40 percent of all employment nationally—69 million jobs in all—and a whopping 43 percent of our overall economic output.
For CCD, coffee, water and snacks will be provided with a raffle concluding the CCD event (must be present). CCD volunteers will also receive a Chipotle food voucher at the end of the event.
Funding, in part, provided by the State Coastal Conservancy as part of an Explore the Coast grant TBF received in 2016 (Coastal Dune Community Stewardship Project).
To volunteer, please visit http://www.santamonicabay.org/events/. For questions, please contact [email protected].
-cw
