On Friday, May 22, I organized an event with people on my floor of Rieber Terrace to clean up the visitor section of Will Rogers Beach Cleanup. We realized that a lot of organizations tend to target Santa Monica as a cleanup beach which is likely due to the proximity of Santa Monica. We felt that we should take it upon ourselves to initiate a cleanup of a beach that is not that target of attention. We arrived at the beach in the afternoon where there was little visitation by the public, this allowed us to easily scope out the beach and target areas of high trash density that would benefit from our cleanup. We picked out trash and recyclables and put them in the necessary bins. For the most part, the areas next to the shoreline were very clean, as visitors appeared to be very conscience about their trash. However, as we migrated back to the parking lot, we noticed an extensive amount of waste near plants adjacent to the parking lot and around the trashcans despite the trash cans being so close. When asked what were doing by visitors, we simply stated that we were Environmental Science UCLA students that decided to organize a beach cleanup. Most people who interacted with us were very happy to hear students taking initiatives like this. They applauded us for our contributions and volunteer work. We explained any questions they had regarding trash, pollution, etc, in hoping that they take that back home with them and practice methods that they learned from us. It was an inspiring event, as not only did we help clean a beach that we hear little of, but we also got to spread out knowledge to the community.
Andrew Guerra
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Community Service/Volunteer, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009, UCLA Sustainability
Amrit Otal
On May 25th, my fellow classmates and I went to Santa Monica beach to take part in a beach clean-up. As we began walking on the sand, we immediately began to see pieces of litter strewn all across the beach. As we picked up the trash and made our way toward the shore, we began to see more pieces of plastic in addition to aluminum cans. Plastic in particular was the most heavily present. This beach clean-up reinforced that it is imperative that everyone take an active role to clean and preserve the environment in order to ensure that wildlife and its diversity is preserved. Plastic (and other trash) that enters the ocean is difficult for fish to digest. It results in a decline in the fish population because the fish are unable to eat and digest substantial food sources properly due to the wastes that have entered the ocean and our causing their digestive systems to deteriorate or become impaired. Although picking up trash and wastes on the beach and near the shore keeps that trash from entering the ocean, it does not target the root of the problem and eliminate waste from entirely polluting oceans. In order to accomplish this, people need to take personal initiative and participate in eco-friendly activities and simply exercise their role as good citizens and clean up after themselves. This is beneficial not only for the variety of wildlife that is present in oceans but also for us so that our water supply is clean and free of contaminants. In addition, policies and laws aimed at controlling the dispense of waste need to be passed and enforced properly so that future generations can be guaranteed a safe and clean environment.
Jae Suh
Having our mind towards cleaner environment can exponentially fix our nature’s degradation. From critically thinking of ways to assist that goal from our opportunity, we figured that cleaning up the beach would be a great idea since the beach is a well known area for having pollutions. So we’ve decided to visit Santa Monica beach for our obligation on May 22, 2009. From trying to clean up the beach will not only formulate it cleaner, but it’ll induce the water quality, which eventually comes back to us indirectly. From the visit, we’ve realized that our beaches can furthermore be preserved to keep its beauty. Thus, we began picking up trash along the shore to put in our effort to help as much as possible.
Although we know our ability to clean up the beach is limited due to much needed help by others combined, it is always best to assist in increasing our possibility of better sustainability for the environment. As we know, oceans occupy approximately 70% of our planet’s plane, which coincide our idea of focusing the sustainability along the beaches. In having our beach clean will further improve our water quality because more than 97% of all our water resource contains in the ocean. In addition, preserving our biodiversity will correspond with increasing nature perseveration. Since more than 90 % of the habitats are within the oceanic surface, it is one of the best ideas to preserve the conditions of the beach, thus saving much wildlife. Saving our biodiversity will not only help the natural habitat, but also help us. Materials from marine plants and animals can provide medicine for human health issues and polluting our ocean environment will result in eliminating the species of which contains cures for human diseases. Besides these factors about the oceans, there are many other things the oceans effect upon. By studying ocean sediments, we can learn more about our historical climate and how it has changed throughout time, in which we can prosper our knowledge about present climate.
Policies from our bureaucrats and policy makers for protecting the ocean can strongly help to better our ocean conditions. With their help, pollutants can be decreased by tremendous amount. With a concept of our beach clean up activity as a foundation, we can further narrow down other actions that can be provided for the sustainable ocean (e.g., discontinue dirty fishing, harsh trawling, seafood contamination, protection for the sea turtles for species maintenance , further research on ocean conservation, and eliminate ship pollutions.) These policies can be great leading solutions for our future sustainability for the oceans.
Jae Suh
Filed under: 11505682, Community Service/Volunteer, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009, stone canyon creek, UCLA Sustainability, Watershed Restoration
This past Saturday I participated in the Stone Creek Canyon restoration project. It is an ongoing project organized by the Santa Monica Bay Keepers. As volunteers our main jobs are to remove invasive species (weeds) and do other clean-up jobs. Along with a small group of other students and volunteers, I first helped to move several piles of wood from the creek bank to the dumpster. We helped one another by having several people make small piles of wood for everyone else to carry and made a small path cutting across the bank. By moving the wood we were opening space on the bank for more native plants to be planted and just clearing the area. We moved both small pieces and larger trunk-sized pieces of wood. After finishing this task, the group I was working with moved to the other bank and joined the rest of the volunteers with weeding. Everyone was working to clear the bank of grasses and other weeds that are non-native to California. There were several native plants which had already been planted and were marked with small flags. We were all careful to not pull these plants, but to remove all invasive species from around them.
During the restoration I met several people from my class and also some people who did not go to UCLA. They were members of a local Key Club who participate in many of these projects. Making these social connections within the environmental community is one of the reasons I really like to participate in local projects. There is a sharing of information and an immediate connection about the project you’re are working on. Along with the actual restoration that is occurring, the creation of a community to continue the work is very valuable.
During this project we were applying conservation biology and ecology principles. We are trying to reestablish a native Californian ecosystem and create a natural place on campus. By removing invasive species we reduce competition for the wanted native species. After the native plants have been established, theoretically they will be superior competitors to the invasive species and be able to thrive without further human intervention. Also, I’m sure the native plants are planted in a way to help establish the correct succession. This is a very small area though, so it will be harder to create a stable ecosystem with strong populations when there exist so few individuals in the system. When populations are small, they are more easily affected and Stone Creek Canyon will probably always need a bit of human help to continue to thrive.
Filed under: 11505682, Community Service/Volunteer, Los Angeles, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009, Student Projects, UCLA Sustainability | Tags: IOE, Santa Monica Baykeepers, stone caynon creek, volunteer
Related Links
Restoration and Community Service,
UCLA’s Natural History : a PDF file that identifies the past and present Nature — Biology and Land use at UCLA.
Santa Monica Baykeepers Organization: Facilitators’ blog of the Stone Canyon Creek restoration project.
Bird of Westwood. See what activities birds are up to in Westwood
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Community Service/Volunteer, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009
A warm, sunny day, plus a beach, equals BEACH CLEAN-UP! On Saturday, May 16, 2009, I participated in Heal the Bay’s monthly beach clean up day. More specifically, the event took place at Toe’s Beach, in Playa del Rey. I woke up excited this day, because I had never participated in such an event. The thought was truly thrilling, for I knew I was going to do my part in helping our beach become a little cleaner. Once we arrived to Toe’s Beach, we found ourselves surrounded by a large amount of people who were willing to engage in the same activity. Young and old, we all managed to get past the sea of people and register for the event. The cleanup started promptly at 10 a.m.. A small group of us gathered and listened, as an official volunteer spoke about where our trash goes, why it is important to clean our beaches, as well as discuss the safety measures behind the beach cleanup. It is interesting, yet sad to see that most of the trash we leave behind ends up in a storm drain and into the oceans. This little lecture took about 10 minutes. Once we were done listening to the official volunteer, I collected my trash bag and gloves, and began my journey to PICK UP SOME TRASH!
As I began to walk around, I noticed right away the trash that lurked within the sand. Styrofoam here, Styrofoam there, Styrofoam EVERYWHERE! It was as if a Styrofoam bomb went off at the beach. Luckily, we were there to clean up most of it. As I continued my quest, I came across other items such as cigarette butts, cigarette filters, wrappers (candy), straws (mind you: Starbuck’s straws), corks, beads, bottle tops, and a Cup of Noodles Styrofoam cup. I went as far as to go through the seaweed, because more often than non, trash gets caught within these ocean plants.
As I was picking up trash, I managed to grab a black, sticky substance called TAR. I was so disgusted by this, because everything was just sticking to my gloves. As a result, I had a hard time getting the tar off my gloves. In the midst of all of this, I conjured a device: A Poking Stick. I made it my mission to retrieve as much tar as a could with the Poking Stick. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be tar. The more tar I collected, the more I began to think about what animals could get caught in this icky substance. But amongst all my thinking, I saw a fiddler crab emerge from the sand. I managed to take a picture of this little guy before we left to continue our work. Its almost ironic that despite my endless efforts to collect tar from the beach, I still managed to get pieces of it all over my flip flops.
After two hours and walking three-fourths of a mile, it was time to turn around and head back towards our group. I finished filling out the tally cards, and handed them in as well as our trash bag. At the end of this event, there was a raffle taking place in which all participants had the opportunity to win random prizes. I did not win at the raffle, but I did win the satisfaction of helping make this beach just a little cleaner.
The principle issue here is CONSERVATION. What we did at Toe’s Beach on the 16th, was just way of helping to restore and conserve the beach and its wildlife. The overall goal of this program is to preserve/conserve the natural habitats of the animals so that they may continue to flourish in a safe and clean environment. Preservation/conservation is key to understanding habitats as well the organisms that reside within. If they are destroyed, then we, as a society,will lose this valuable information in the long run. Heal the Bay offers individuals, young and old, the opportunity to see the trash that surrounds these beaches. By giving the young crowd the hands on experience of picking up the trash, they may later on continue the quest of keeping our beaches clean. Lastly, they also get the opportunity to understand that it is because of humans that trash gets out to the beach and its environment in the first place, and it is our job to clean up what we have started.
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009 | Tags: Heal the Bay
A warm, sunny day, plus a beach, equals BEACH CLEAN-UP! On Saturday, May 16, 2009, I participated in Heal the Bay’s monthly beach clean up day. More specifically, the event took place at Toe’s Beach, in Playa del Rey. I woke up excited this day, because I had never participated in such an event. The thought was truly thrilling, for I knew I was going to do my part in helping our beach become a little cleaner. Once we arrived to Toe’s Beach, we found ourselves surrounded by a large amount of people who were willing to engage in the same activity. Young and old, we all managed to get past the sea of people and register for the event.
The cleanup started promptly at 10 a.m.. A small group of us gathered and listened, as an official volunteer spoke about where our trash goes, why it is important to clean our beaches, as well as discuss the safety measures behind the beach cleanup.
It is interesting, yet sad to see that most of the trash we leave behind ends up in a storm drain
and into the oceans. This little lecture took about 10 minutes. Once we were done listening to the official volunteer, I collected my trash bag and gloves, and began my journey to PICK UP SOME TRASH!
As I began to walk around, I noticed right away the trash that lurked within the sand. Styrofoam here, Styrofoam there, Styrofoam EVERYWHERE! It was as if a Styrofoam bomb went off at the beach. Luckily, we were there to clean up most of it. As I continued my quest, I came across other items such as cigarette butts, cigarette filters, wrappers (candy), straws (mind you: Starbuck’s straws), corks, beads, bottle tops, and a Cup of Noodles Styrofoam cup. I went as far as to go through the seaweed, because more often than non, trash gets caught within these ocean plants.
As I was picking up trash, I managed to grab a black, sticky substance called TAR. I was so disgusted by this, because everything was just sticking to my gloves. As a result, I had a hard time getting the tar off my gloves. In the midst of all of this, I conjured a device: A Poking Stick. I made it my mission to retrieve as much tar as a could with the Poking Stick. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be tar. The more tar I collected, the more I began to think about what animals could get caught in this icky substance. But amongst all my thinking, I saw a fiddler crab emerge from the sand. I managed to take a picture of this little guy before we left to continue our work. Its almost ironic that despite my endless efforts to collect tar from the beach, I still managed to get pieces of it all over my flip flops.
After two hours and walking three-fourths of a mile, it was time to turn around and head back towards our group. I finished filling out the tally cards, and handed them in as well as our trash bag.
At the end of this event, there was a raffle taking place in which all participants had the opportunity to win random prizes. I did not win at the raffle, but I did win the satisfaction of helping make this beach just a little cleaner.
The principle issue here is CONSERVATION. What we did at Toe’s Beach on the 16th, was just way of helping to restore and conserve the beach and its wildlife. The overall goal of this program is to preserve/conserve the natural habitats of the animals so that they may continue to flourish in a safe and clean environment. Preservation/conservation is key to understanding habitats as well the organisms that reside within. If they are destroyed, then we, as a society,will lose this valuable information in the long run. Heal the Bay offers individuals, young and old, the opportunity to see the trash that surrounds these beaches. By giving the young crowd the hands on experience of picking up the trash, they may later on continue the quest of keeping our beaches clean. Lastly, they also get the opportunity to understand that it is because of humans that trash gets out to the beach and its environment in the first place, and it is our job to clean up what we have started.
On Saturday April 18 I participated in the Santa Monica Bay Keeper’s restoration of the Stone Canyon Creek behind the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. This was my second time volunteering and the progress that has been made on the restoration project is significant. I hope that the Santa Monica Bay Keeper’s continue this project and should introduce the project at local high schools to get more student volunteers who need more community service hours. The purpose of the project is to protect and restore the creek to a more natural habitat. This means the removal of non-native and invasive plants that have dominated the area.
My role in the project was to remove branches and pieces of wood that have been had been cut down from the project site and then for the majority of the time my role was to remove invasive grasses using gardening and working tools. When removing the invasive plants I had to make sure the vegetation was taken out from the root to ensure that the plant would not re-grow. This was difficult because some of the roots were deep and thin so it was easy for the root to break off when pulling it out. Certain areas of the project site had newly planted native plants that were marked by flags to inform volunteers not to pull out those plants.
Native vegetation is crucial to the restoration of the creek because it guarantees that the Stone Canyon Creek will be a natural ecosystem and not dominated by invasive plants that can cause harm and disrupt the habitat. Furthermore, native plants help with stability of the environment and with stability can the creek be functioning at its optimal capacity. One of the goals of the project is for the re-introduction of native plants as well as the survival and growth of this vegetation, because invasive species can affect creek flow in a negative way. Another reason for the rationale behind this project is since the 1970’s when environmental legislation started to get underway the Clean Water Act discussed the preservation of waterways, thus legally it is imperative that further destruction and losses of Stone Canyon Creek does not occur, and one way of ensuring this is by restoring the creek. The restoration project follows both the science and policy rationale because restoring the creek is ecologically most beneficial for the health of the creek and for the preservation of a waterway which by law are protected from further harm.
Filed under: Santa Monica Bay | Tags: invasive species, natives, Santa Monica Bay Watershed, stone canyon creek
Habitat restoration is more involved and difficult than a member of the general public will think and realize. I have had my mind decided for about a year now that, post graduation, I want to work in a field that focuses on habitat restoration. Working at stone canyon creek this past Saturday gave good insight as to what that would actually entail.
Stone Canyon Creek
The Problem: native species have been choked out by invasive species and a very small portion of the original creek is left running.
The Solution: Restoration of this area is far more labor intensive and time consuming than the readers’ digest version of the project which would say: We pulled non-native plants out of the area.
Upon arrival, the process seemed extremely chaotic and unorganized. People were everywhere, in no particular order, with pitchforks and shovels hacking away at the ground.
After about 45 minutes of pulling up stubborn roots, a bit of organization came into play and the actual steps involved in restoration became more clear. The plants must be pulled up by the root in order to ensure that they will not easily grow back. Once the area is fairly cleared, the soil must be sifted. This act consists of breaking up all the clods of dirt and removing all root pieces- a very tedious job; tedious but necessary. Once the area is completely cleared and root free, the soil can be revived and replanted with native plants, even further restoring the natural habitat.
This experience has given me a good look into what my future career choice may involve and I look forward to working more in the field. Hopefully Stone Canyon Creek will also be restored in the process!
Filed under: 11505682, Santa Monica Bay | Tags: E3, Kayaks, Marina Clean Up, Santa Monica Bay
It was the affordability of the E3 Kayak Clean-Up service project on Nov. 23rd that drew me to the event. The plan was simple: bus down to the UCLA-owned area of Marina Del Ray, pick up free UCLA ocean kayaks and troll along the shore picking up any trash that we came across. The organizers managed to keep costs low, and still create an entertaining, informative and useful event.
In the end, the only cost of the trip was the bus ride to and from the Marina. We were originally going to take the Big Blue Bus that charges $.25 for UCLA students, but it did not stop at the Ackerman Bus Turnaround (our meeting point) on Sundays; instead we boarded the $.75 bus that took us most of the way to the Marina. From the drop off point, we trekked the rest of the way around the Marina until we reached the UCLA section at the far end. For the return trip we were able to board the cheaper Big Blue Bus and transfer on 3rd street, effectively saving $.25.
During the actual Kayak Clean-Up, no personal costs were incurred. People saved money by bringing their own bagged lunches and renting UCLA Kayaks that were free to Bruins. The black plastic trash bags used to store the collected trash were responsible for all of the group costs; however, participants cut down on the overall bags used by emptying them into existing trash cans during the clean-up and reusing them instead of throwing them away and picking up new bags.
The total personal cost of the trip amounted to $1.25 (completely accounted for by the bus fare). If we had walked the extra block from the Ackerman Bus Turnaround to the Big Blue Bus stop near Le Conte, we could have saved $.25. Realistically speaking, this difference is trivial (except for those of us who came unprepared and ended up scrounging for quarters among group members). By taking public transportation and using resources (e.g. kayaks) that we already had free access to, we were able to minimize costs to an almost free sum. As strapped-for-cash college students, affordability is a major factor when considering trips, and this event is certainly a model that future events should mimic.
Reflecting, the experience surpassed the $1.25 that I paid. Kayaking in the Marina placed me face-to-face with the flora and fauna of the area, and directly exhibited the damage that uncontrolled trash and waste can do to an urban-marine environment. During the excursion I removed harmful fishing lines from sea anemones, and witnessed birds detrimentally tangled in plastic bags. These saddening images didn’t leave me without hope however, as the residents of the Marina showed genuine thankfulness for what we were doing. For example, a fisherman along the docks gave a participant a pair of pliers to cut out a particularly difficult piece of garbage. Afterward he told her to keep them. Another participant recalled a man who approached her, looked her somberly in the eyes and said simply “thank you.” Many a passerby would offer gloves and bags to those of us who didn’t have them. People showed a genuine thankfulness and concern that was quite uplifting. I believe that our actions indirectly raised awareness among the residents and forced them to confront the mess floating in the Marina. Hopefully the clean-up will prompt them to begin clean-ups of their own. Personally, the trip gave me experience to complement what we are learning in the classroom.
-David M
