You Can Help Keep the Coast Clean

If you spend time in, on, or near the ocean—heck, if you read the news, you know: we have a trash problem.

So much plastic is ending up in the ocean that in just a few years, the Ocean Conservancy predicts that we may end up with a pound of plastic for every three pounds of fish in the sea.

This reality hits home for Maine Coast Heritage Trust on the miles of conserved coastline we steward, and which we often find littered with plastic and other kinds of trash.

Keeping the coast clean is a challenge, especially on island preserves which are harder to get to. Between the costs for materials and disposal of trash, gas for the boat, and staff time to organize a clean-up event, it costs around $775 to clean up a beach on an island.

MCHT is all about protecting special places on the coast, opening them up to you, and caring for those lands so you can enjoy them (ideally, trash free).

Thankfully, MCHT has a team of eight stewards and seasonal staff working up and down the coast and lots of volunteers who pitch in to keep the coast clean.
 

On September 12, 2018, Maine Coast Heritage Trust ran a one-day fundraising effort on social media to raise $10,000 to help keep the coast clean. 

Generous donors gave $10,474 over the course of the day—that’s enough to clean more than 13 island beaches.

A big thanks to all who gave and supported this effort. 

One of our favorite stories of the day came from Nat Pulsifer, who said, “Today I have 50 eighth graders from Shore Country Day School in Beverly, Massachusetts coming to Yarmouth Island in Casco Bay. Their ‘thank you’ task during this, our thirtieth year hosting their three-day camping stay, is to police the shoreline. I pledge $1 per pound of trash collected or $100—whichever is greater—to Maine Coast Heritage Trust. I’ll include a Harpswell Recycle Center receipt with my check.”

“When it comes down to it, your support makes this work possible.”