Local environmentalist Dell Cullum shares a special message urging the Hamptons community to celebrate Earth Day and help clean our beaches at the ultimate South Fork beach cleanup—including CCOM’s Great Montauk Clean-Up, the third annual Shoreline Sweep and the Leap Frog Cleanup—from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. this Saturday, April 23. (Rain Date: Saturday, April 30)
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This Saturday April 23, is a very special Earth Day event. My third annual Shoreline Sweep has teamed up with CCOM’s Great Montauk Clean-Up for what has turned into a multiple group, super team up-cleanup. Folks participating in the Great Montauk Clean-Up are meeting at the Kirk Beach parking area [at 9 a.m.], and those who are joining the Shoreline Sweep can meet or start at any of the beachheads from Montauk Point to Town Line Beach.
East Hampton Town has graciously supplied the bags and gloves again this year. I also have a group that will be doing our famous Leap Frog Cleanup on Napeague Stretch. Folks are asked to park a tenth of a mile from the last car along the stretch, work your way east toward the next vehicle, then carefully cross the road and work back west to your vehicle—then continue on, if you wish.
All collected roadside trash should be left on the shoulder, and beach trash should be left at the trashcan areas of each beachhead. We presently have East Hampton’s entire southern shoreline covered, but folks can certainly join and help those folks out. The response has been overwhelming, and we will be covering many north shore areas as well. Lazy Point, Louse Point, Gerard Drive, Fresh Pond, Albert’s Landing, Sammy’s Beach, Maidstone Beach, Napeague Bay, Fort Pond Bay—and I’m still getting volunteers for other shoreline areas each day. This is the biggest volunteer litter cleanup I’ve ever been part of and the results should be mind blowing.
I’d start naming all the awesome participants, but I’m afraid I’d miss someone, so let me just say if you’re not already part of the event, you might be the only one. For those who just can’t get to a designated location, please help by removing any trash around your property or roadside. Those who have adopted roadways as part of East Hampton Town Highway Department’s outstanding program are urged to clean their mile or help a friend do theirs. If you haven’t adopted a road for litter removal, perhaps you can do so, by yourself or with your neighbors or friends.
Each year we are becoming more and more attentive to the problems related to trash and litter, whether it comes from human carelessness on land or the filth we created in our oceans. At the same time, more and more folks are getting involved and changing the problem, educating themselves and our youth. Even better is the youth finding the issue important and worth changing, believing it can be changed. We here on the end of Long Island CAN control the trash better than most folks because we are surrounded by water on three sides. All together we could eliminate the existing trash within the walls of our shores. Unfortunately, we cannot control what the shores deposit on our beaches daily. That’s a might larger issue that will take a much larger solution to fix—however, we can help by keeping trash and trash receptacles off our beaches to begin with. It’s really a no-brainer.
So, folks, I ask for your participation this Saturday, April 23. Not for me but, for Mother Earth, your home, your community, your quality of life and that of your neighbors and your neighborhood, your children and their future, and our beautiful wildlife and marine life as well. Your participation helps in so many ways, but the best feeling is felt within—I promise.
Thanks to everyone involved in this beautiful Earth Day gathering. Stay updated right up until the morning of the event through the “Imagination Nature” page on Facebook. Folks are also invited to meet at Atlantic Avenue beach at 2 p.m. for refreshments, supplied by our generous friends at Goldberg’s Bagels, who support us each year, and Hampton Beverage, who donated water for the event. We are thankful for both of their support.
Okay folks of Wainscott, East Hampton, Amagansett, Springs and Montauk—see you Saturday!
–Dell Cullum
We suggest you bring your own bags and gloves, but they will be available at several of the beach locations, or you can contact me via email at kachina35@gmail.com before Friday night and I’ll be happy to get you the proper supplies. Basic details below.
Great Montauk Clean-Up: Sat. 4/23/16, 9 a.m.–1 p.m., meets at Kirk Beach, Montauk
Shoreline Sweep: Sat. 4/23/16, 9 a.m.–1 p.m., begin at any beachhead from Montauk Point to Town Line Beach, Wainscott
Leap Frog Cleanup: Sat. 4/23/16, 9 a.m.–1 p.m., begin on Napeague Stretch, Amagansett
After Cleanup Gathering: Sat. 4/23/16, 2 p.m., at Atlantic Beach, Amagansett
Find more details at Dell Cullum’s Imagination Nature Facebook page.
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