Boulder Beach cleanup a big success

Mother Nature often needs a helping hand these days, and thanks to a cleanup this past Friday, that’s exactly what happened.

A beach cleanup, organized by Dam Proud and the BC Climate Action, saw more than a dozen people lending that hand and in the end, according to the National Park Service, nearly 600 pounds of trash were removed from Boulder Beach.

“Honestly, when initially organizing this, I braced myself to arrive to an empty parking lot with just me and Anna, the National Park Service volunteer coordinator,” said Brynn deLorimier, a member of both organizing groups. “I am humbled and overwhelmed. There was a great turnout for our inaugural cleanup event, in the most brutally hot season, before sunrise, and on a weekday.”

Others who helped felt the same.

“It seriously was the best thing I’ve done all year,” said Devon Tilman.

George Rhee, a UNLV professor and founder of BC Climate Action group, added, “I was surprised at the amount of crap piling up on the beaches. I usually camp at out-of-the-way places where there is less mess. It was a real success.”

Dam Proud is a new group but its members unanimously agreed cleanup events such as this one are a huge priority.

“Our goal is to hold one monthly, in different places around our community, organized by different members of our group each month,” Brynn deLorimier said. “Many suggestions have been made already, so it sounds like we’ll have no shortage of future cleanup events.

“I spoke with the National Park Service about scheduling such an event and learned they don’t find many cleanup volunteers in summer, at the time of greatest need. Challenge accepted. We set our alarm clocks for 5 a.m. to meet down at the beach before sunrise.”

Those wishing to help during the next cleanup, which has been tentatively scheduled for September, can do so by emailing DamProudBC@gmail.com for more information.