Save Our Shores will be hosting a creek cleanup along Branciforte Creek on February 13th from 9am to noon. We will have a check-in table at the intersection of Market Street and Avalon Street. SOS will have heavy duty gloves, rubber boots, buckets and bags but feel free to bring your own garden gloves or tools. We will be cleaning along Branciforte Creek down to where it meets San Lorenzo River.

Families are welcome and will be able to clean stretches along the bike path which are safe for smaller children. All children must be accompanied by an adult. All participants must sign a waiver form at the check-in table prior to participating or you can download the waiver below and bring it with you to speed up your check-in process.

Click here to see the data of what was collected on Annual Coastal Cleanup Day in Santa Cruz County.

The 25th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day marked the largest community wide cleanup effort in Santa Cruz County to date. 3,802 volunteers removed 9,012 pounds of trash and 3,903.5 pounds of recycle from our local beaches, rivers, sloughs, and kelp beds.

Save Our Shores offered 50 cleanup sites throughout the County including beach, river, slough, kayak, SCUBA, and paddle boarding sites. By far our river sites yielded the most trash in pounds, while volunteers down on the beach collected thousands of smaller pieces of debris such as cigarette butts, plastic pieces, and Styrofoam pieces.

Thanks to over 1,200 students in Santa Cruz, our volunteer capacity has grown significantly. We are proud of our local students and commend them on their hard work and dedication to keeping our ocean healthy. Additionally, we had many more local businesses get involved this year by sending employees down to our cleanup sites.

Come join us for the Save Our Shores Annual Coastal Cleanup Day Rally at ONE LOVE Reggae Thursdays at Cypress Lounge
Enter to win for SOS Raffles and Prizes!
When: 9pm to midnight  (21 and over)
Where: Cypress Lounge 120 Union Street, Santa Cruz
Cost: FREE!

Featuring DJs Spleece (Reality Sound International) and DJ Rudi B. (Selecta 7 Sound)

For more information on ONE LOVE Regge Thursdays go to:
www.myspace.com/831massive

Save Our Shores, along with Oceana and others, organized a Sanctuary Mayor's Ocean Summit meeting with the aim of gathering all Mayor’s from along the Monterey Bay Sanctuary and further to discuss the threat that plastic poses to our communities and ways to combat single-use plastic items. 13 Mayor’s signed a Pledge to “work together and in our communities reduce and eliminate polystyrene and single-use plastic bags."

Mayor’s, City Managers, and representatives from environmental nonprofits attended the Summit on August 28th in Watsonville. Attendees included Walter Rob, co-president of the Whole Foods, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, Assemblyman Bill Monning and former Assemblyman John Laird. Cynthia Mathews, Mayor of Santa Cruz, was also in attendance. Click here for the official website from the summit.

The San Jose Sharks have adopted Cowell Beach by the Boardwalk through Save Our Shores' Adopt-A-Beach Program.  Here is a link to the story on the Shark's website
The Shark's mascot Sharkie and about 15 Sharks employees came to the beach on Friday, August 28th and picked up 50 pounds of trash and recycling!
Sharkie also got to meet the Save Our Shores anemone! They were fast friends since sharks have no interest in a stinging invertebrate.
Thanks so much to the San Jose Sharks who have taken a step towards involving San Jose in beach cleanups and ocean awareness.  We are looking forward to more Sharks cleanups in the near future.

Save Our Shores is excited to announce that our July 4th “Pollution Prevention is Patriotic” efforts dramatically decreased the amount of trash left behind on Santa Cruz County beaches after the fun and often rowdy July 4th celebrations.  SOS staff and volunteers launched a widespread awareness and pollution prevention campaign leading up to this year’s Independence Day holiday that helped celebrators at the beach ensure that their party didn’t leave a big mess. 

Approximately 1,200 garbage and recycle bags were distributed to beach goers on July 4th through education and pollution prevention efforts in the Aptos parade (where SOS won Grand Prize! Check back for our July 4th and 5th YouTube video)  and at our local beaches.  Volunteers walked the beaches, approaching groups of celebrators to offer extra garbage and recycle bags and share information about where to dispose of your trash and what items are recyclable in Santa Cruz County.

The governor has proposed closing 220 of 279 State Parks and Beaches in California, including each and every one in Santa Cruz County!

Santa Cruz County Beaches that will be effected include: Big Basin Redwoods State Park (SP), Castle Rock State Park, Castro Adobe State Historic Park (SHP), Coast Dairies State Park, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Lighthouse Field State Beach (SB), Manresa SB, Manresa Uplands SP, Natural Bridges SB, New Brighton SB, Palm SB, Rio Del Mar SB, Santa Cruz Mission SHP, Seabright SB, Seacliff SB, Sunset SB,The Forest of Nisene Marks, Twin Lakes SB, Wilder Ranch SP

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. COME TO THE RALLY - Monday, June 1, 5:30 PM, at Natural Bridges State Beach, in the parking lot before the entrance station. Rally participants will be able to use a mobile computing station, supported by a beach-area wi-fi hotspot, to send messages to Governor Schwarzenegger and legislators. We hope for good media coverage, so please come and bring your friends and family.  Express your love for the parks by bringing signs, wearing your favorite park t-shirt or docent-wear.

"Turning the Tide on Plastics" June 7th 3pm-5pm Cypress Lounge

Save Our Shores and Surfrider Foundation-Santa Cruz bring you “Turning the Tide on Plastic,” an afternoon with Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen of Algalita Marine Research Foundation. This event is part of JUNKride, the third phase of AMRF’s Message in a Bottle Project. Cummins and Eriksen will share stories of their research in the North Pacific Gyre and give local leaders samples of surface seawater from the Gyre that illustrate the urgency of the plastics issue. The event is from 3-5 pm on Sunday June 7th at Cypress Lounge, 120 Union Street in downtown Santa Cruz. It will include a multi-media presentation from Algalita, local issues updates and ways to get involved from Save Our Shores and Surfrider, a raffle and time to talk with Cummins and Eriksen. The event is FREE to the public and all ages can attend. Food and drink are available for purchase, but are not required to attend the event.