Fifty new & familiar faces showed up at Short Sands Beach this weekend for the Portland Chapter's Oswald West Action Day Beach Clean Up & Costume Contest! Shout out to our partners Friends of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve, Trailkeepers of Oregon, and Oregon State Parks for helping make this a successful event each year. We are so happy to finally return after cancelling the last three events due to the pandemic.
Trailkeepers of Oregon led a trail maintenance project while Surfrider led a beach clean up. Down the beach, volunteers discovered a washed up broken pier, which had loads of styrofoam breaking off and littering the wrack line. State Parks was notified and the dock will be removed soon! Volunteers also worked to improve the beach access to the beach by moving rocks to create a level, sandy trail.
Friends of Cape Falcon made sure everyone understood what makes the area so special. Oregon’s northernmost Marine Reserve – Cape Falcon – is a very important recreation area popular with surfers. The 12.4 sq. mi. Marine Reserve and two adjacent Marine Protected Areas (each with their own restrictions) are dominated by sandy habitats with some great tide pooling areas at the north and south ends of Shorty’s. The inland border of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve is Oswald West State Park – one of Oregon’s most popular coastal State Parks, hosting upwards of 1.2 million visitors every year.
Several volunteers participated in the costume contest and EVERYONE won the contest! We had so much fun getting in the Halloween spirit and enjoying the sun all while improving a very special place.
