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CARING FOR OUR SHORES
Local Scouts Help Maintain Area Beaches
By Kim Fink
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| --Photo By Kim Fink Local Scouts recently did their part to keep area beaches clean. |
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As the warm weather quickly approaches, thoughts turn to lazy summer days spent at the Jersey Shore. Many area residents head down to the beach at the first glimpse of sunshine to enjoy all the beautiful scenery Ocean County has to offer.
But how many people stop to think about the work that goes into preserving and maintaining our area beaches each year?
One group that doesn't take the clean white sand for granted is Manchester's Cub Scout Pack 44, who spend the early part of the spring season getting down and dirty to give Mother Nature a hand.
"We head down to Island Beach State Park every year and volunteer our time by picking up trash and planting dune grass," said Co Leader/Outings Coordinator Michele Gunnell, who enlists her pack and family members to help out.
Island Beach State Park is a 10-mile preserved barrier island and is home to many animal species such as ospreys and foxes. The beach area has been maintained each year with the help of many corporate donations but was in jeopardy of not having the funding this year to take care of all its needs.
"We almost couldn't go because of lack of sponsorship for the dune grass project," Gunnell said.
Each year, grass needs to be planted on the dunes bordering the island to provide a natural barrier and prevent beach erosion. Due to its hardy nature, the dune grass can tolerate the ocean's sea spray and will continue to grow regardless of the sandy gusts of wind.
It's not an easy job though. The Scouts spent countless hours digging and planting despite the cold weather.
"I was on trash duty that day and it was cold but at least we got to fly kites," said Gunnell's 7-yearold son, Christopher, about his experience with beach clean up. He, along with many other Scout family members, gathered trash that was strewn along the beach area and recorded the type of debris found for later analysis.
"We were given a form to fill out that categorized the type of items we removed from the beach. The checklists are then fed into a database to help understand where the trash is coming from and how it can be avoided in the future," said Gunnell.
Following in their footsteps, Manchester Daisy Troop 50008, in conjunction with the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, will be participating in the annual Beach Sweep on April 26. Beach Sweep is a clean up program that uses volunteers to remove garbage and freshen up the beaches for the upcoming summer season.
Last year during Beach Sweep, a Manchester brownie troop found a baby seal washed ashore and was able to save it with the help of the Coast Guard.
The Beach Sweep is open to all volunteers and interested parties can contact Island Beach State Park for details and assignments.
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