While we celebrate the earth and ocean every day, Oregon chapters went crazy for Earth Month this year, with a full lineup of events celebrating and caring for our favorite places. With PNW chapters coming out of hibernation, we were eager to get outside and enjoy the spring weather.
Starting off strong with stewardship, Oregon chapters hosted 9 cleanups during the month of April, during which 180 volunteers collected 1,018 lbs of trash from our shores! Highlights included:
- A beach cleanup/marine debris art/shark dissection field trip in Seaside with students from Sunnyside Environmental School (some of these students also recently joined us at our Ocean Lobby Day this year!), in partnership with Oregon Shores and the Seaside Aquarium
- Highway 101 cleanup in Newport which garnered over 50% of the total cleanup poundage for the month!
- Portland’s bi-annual Oswald West Action Day at their adopted beach - Shorties, for which we were blessed with great weather and good surf
- Earth Day beach cleanups at Bastendorff, Nye, Agate, and Beverly Beaches and Yaquina Bay State Park
- And a cute cleanup hosted by former Oregon Field Staffer Bri Goodwin in Port Orford with a class from Driftwood Elementary School
We didn’t stop there though! Oregon chapters also hosted a menagerie of other fun events throughout the month, bringing folks together in and out of the water to learn, win fun prizes, and support our mission.
The Coos Bay chapter brought back the Paddling Film Festival, sponsored by our friends at the Oregon Coast Visitors Association. Thanks to the generous support of our community and local donors to our silent auction, the chapter was able to raise over $2,000! The funds raised will cover water quality testing, replacing broken beach cleanup equipment, youth surf camps, and hosting community events. Thank you for the support!
The following weekend, the chapter partnered with the Curry County Aquatic Safety Program to host a SALT Training (Surfers Awareness in Lifesaving Techniques). This training teaches basic lifesaving awareness and hazard recognition geared toward surfers and was led by an Aquatic Safety Officer/Lifeguard II. After starting off in the classroom, the group of 20 then moved to Sunset Bay to practice lifesaving techniques on the beach and in the water. The impetus for this training came about after a beloved community member tragically passed away while surfing. We hope that the techniques learned at this training help our local surfing community feel confident and capable to help themselves and others in that situation.
The Newport chapter kicked off their new Blue Drinks series, a lowkey monthly get together. For April, the owners and operators of Thompson Sanitary joined to give us the lowdown on Oregon’s new Recycling Modernization Act (otherwise known as Extended Producer Responsibility) and their efforts to vet new recycling programs and divert as much waste as possible to the landfill. Stay tuned for the next Blue Drinks event on May 14 with special guests from the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s animal care team!
The Portland chapter hosted their monthly Wave Watch Wednesday with a surf flick and pizza at Up North Surf Club, as well as Drag Bingo with the queen Nicole Onoscopi at Breakside Brewing, where a portion of their proceeds from the night were generously donated to the chapter (and folks won big $$ at bingo!).
If you want to see what our chapters are doing next, visit volunteer.surfrider.org and plug in your zip code to see events near you!
Upcoming events:
- May 12: Portland Chapter Social: Reading the Surf Forecast & Oregon Beaches Forever campaign update - RSVP
- May 14: Newport Blue Drinks ft Oregon Coast Aquarium animal care team - RSVP
- May 20: Portland Wave Watch Wednesday - RSVP
- June 11: Newport Blue Drinks ft Siletz Tribe & Elakha Alliance - RSVP
- June 20: Otter Rock and Roll Youth Surf Competition - surfer registration & volunteer registration