Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup 12th Annual Event
Plus Other Local Locations and Events
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Celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month
and Plastic Free July
Help clean up and take care of one of our most important natural resources in the Treasure Coast and Boca Raton areas this weekend! See below for activities that are planned in many South Florida coastal cities for July 27th, 2019.
It is so unfortunate over the years how much people don’t care about what they litter and how it affects our waterways and wildlife and how we have to work overtime now to bring it back to health.
The Marine Resources Council and many other organizations are producing studies as well as all the online and newspaper articles are now addressing the problems our Lagoons, waterways and Lake Okeechobee are facing after many years of neglect and putting the problems off to next year.
Marine Resources Council – I will add more information pages about these problems and how we all can help, but the Marine Resources Council website is a wealth of information and has reports available regarding these issues. Indian River Lagoon spans 4 counties – Martin, St Lucie, Indian River, and Brevard.
South Florida and Central Florida Water Problems
Water problems face all of South Florida and Central Florida. Rivers flowing from Orlando were re-routed years ago and fresh water flows re-routed east to the Indian River Lagoon and west on the Caloosahatchee River to the west coast, causing severe water shortages in the Everglades and Florida Bay.
Other contributors were agriculture runoff from fertilization, old and outdated septic systems, even personal use of fertilizers and how storm water flows to the Lagoon have all contributed to the problems.
It will cost multi-millions to correct these and produce filtering ponds for the polluted water. Trump and local politicians are attempting to push a $200 million plan through Congress and the Senate to start the major corrections that need to be completed.
I used to live in Boca Raton and was not aware of any of these issues, but Boca Raton and all the coastal areas should also follow better practices for fertilizing and storm runoff. What every person does individually affects our waterways too.
These additional Waterway cleanups are another big boost to the efforts to protect and help bring our natural resources back to health.
Plastic Free July
Plastic Free July is an international campaign to raise awareness about the abundance of single-use plastics in our everyday lives and to challenge individuals to make small changes to reduce their use of single-use plastics.
See more information in the section on Boca Raton below and visit the Plastic Free July website for more information and tips on how to reduce single-use plastic!
The 12th Annual Treasure Coast Waterway Cleanup
* Time: 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27th, 2019
* 24 different locations across the area. Volunteers meet up to clean up 125 miles of waterways across three counties. Since 2008, more than 9,500 volunteers, plus more than 2,700 boats, have removed more than 82 tons of trash from local waterways.
For more information, call 772-486-6460 or go to TREASURE COAST WATERWAY CLEANUP for complete details and map locations.
Here are the cleanup locations:
* Port St. Lucie: C-24 Canal Park Boat Ramp, 500 S.E. Oakridge Drive; River Park Marina, 500 E. Prima Vista Blvd.; Veterans Park at Rivergate, 2200 S.E. Veterans Memorial Parkway
* Fort Pierce: Causeway Cove Marina, 601 Seaway Drive; Fort Pierce Yacht Club, 700 N. Indian River Drive; Harbortown Marina, 1936 Harbortown Drive; Jaycee Park Boat Ramp, Melaleuca Drive; Manatee Center Boat Ramp, 480 N. Indian River Drive; Pelican Yacht Club, 1120 Seaway Drive; Smithsonian Marine Station, 420 Seaway Drive; Stan Blum Boat Ramp, 613 North Beach Causeway; White City Park, 2081 W. Midway Road
* Jensen Beach: Indian RiverSide Park Boat Ramp, 1707 N.E. Indian River Drive; Jensen Beach Causeway Boat Ramp, 889 N.E. Causeway Blvd.
* Stuart: Sandsprit Park Boat Ramp, 3443 S.E. St. Lucie Blvd.; Stuart Causeway Boat Ramp, Southeast Ocean Boulevard
* Palm City: Leighton Park Boat Ramp, 2701 S.W. Cornell Ave.
* Vero Beach: Riverside Park Boat Ramp, 350 Dahlia Lane; Vero Beach Municipal Marina, 3611 Rio Vista Blvd.
* Hobe Sound: Jimmy Graham Boat Ramp, 8555 S.E. Gomez Ave.; Johnathan Dickinson State Park, 16450 S.E. Federal Highway
* Wabasso: Wabasso Causeway Boat Ramp, State Road 510
* Sebastian: Sebastian Main Street Boat Ramp, Main Street and North Indian River Drive
* Micco: Sebastian Inlet Marina, 8685 U.S. 1
Other Locations Offering Fun Events:
* Walking Tree Brewery in Vero Beach is hosting the Environmental Learning Center’s MANGROVES & MALTS event from 5-8 p.m. Friday at 255 Live Oak Drive, Vero Beach. Walk through mangrove forests and learn about different types of mangroves. Stop along the way to sample and learn about local craft beer. The event also includes live music, cornhole and croquet. Admission is $20. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/discoverelc.
* The Paddle & Boat Beach Cleanup of the north end of the Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge is 8-10:30 a.m. Friday at the Jimmy Graham Boat Ramp, 8555 S.E. Gomez Ave., Hobe Sound. Volunteer to help remove trash accumulating near the Peck Lake area. People can bring their own paddleboards or kayaks to leave the boat ramp at 8 a.m.
Boca Raton Intracoastal Kayak & Canoe Cleanup
Celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month and Plastic Free July with an Intracoastal Kayak/Canoe Cleanup on Saturday, July 27 from 9am-12pm at the Spanish River Park Canoe Launch. Join the City of Boca Raton and clean up plastic from the intracoastal side of the barrier island. You can bring your own canoe/kayak, borrow one (supply is limited, RSVP), or join on land for a beach cleanup. Space is limited, so register online at Gumbo Limbo.
Each year the City promotes Plastic Free July — an international campaign to raise awareness about the abundance of single-use plastics in our everyday lives and to challenge individuals to make small changes to reduce their use of single-use plastics. Visit our Plastic Free July 2019 page to learn more, listen to our new podcast episode and take the Plastic Free Pledge & Action Picker to choose what you will do!
For questions, contact Lindsey Roland Nieratka, Sustainability Manager, at [email protected] or 561-393-7997.
