The Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program (PPBEP) in partnership with Santa Rosa County and UF/IFAS FL Sea Grant Extension is holding a creek cleanup event at Mayo Park, 6281 Hwy. 90 in Milton, on Oct. 9 in support of the program's Trash Free Waters Project. Sign in starts at 8:45 a.m., introductions and cleanup begins at 9 a.m.
Volunteers are needed on land and in the creek on kayaks, removing litter from Mayo Park and Pond Creek up and downstream of the bridge over Pond Creek. Sign up online to participate in this project.
At the event, Osprey Initiative is scheduled to install a floating litter capture boom, which will be monitored and maintained by PPBEP staff and volunteers during a single-year monitoring program.
The PPBEP is working to reduce water-borne litter through an early action Trash Free Waters project, which targets Carpenter Creek in Pensacola, Jones Creek in Escambia County and Pond Creek in Santa Rosa County. Using specialized data collection methods, the PPBEP will establish the source of water-borne litter in local creeks and use this data to inform reduction strategies and education efforts.
Trash-clogged creeks and streams pose serious health and safety risks such as increased risk of injury during recreational activities, physical harm to wildlife and accumulation of toxins in the food web.
The PPBEP received financial support for this Trash Free Waters project from the EPA under an assistance agreement. Visit www.ppbep.org to learn more about the Estuary Program and other opportunities to get involved.
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