Beach Cleanups at Galveston Island’s Far East End – June and July
On Saturday June 21, about 30 enthusiastic participants took part in the Fort San Jacinto Historic Point Volunteer Cleanup. This site is at the far east end of Galveston Island, right at the very end of Seawall Blvd.
Getting Ready to Go by David Zambrano
Local hosts The Blue Heron, Owl Creek Landscaping and Design, Brandon Hall, Tamara Stroud-Hall, and David Zambrano (who had been the speaker at the June meeting of the Houston Canoe Club) had done a fine job of making advance preparations, including clearing overhanging vegetation from the trail that leads down to the beach. Thanks also to Galveston Bagel Company for providing goodies and Galveston Park Board for arranging to pick up the trash following the cleanup. There was a conveniently located tent with sign-in sheets, plenty of trash grabbers, gloves, bags, and cold water to refill our water bottles.
As we descended the trail to the beach, several people who had been fishing during the early morning greeted us as they headed back up to their cars. We were pleased when some of them thanked us for what we were doing. Crossing over a shallow drainage channel, some of us began cleaning up along the beach, which stretches for about a quarter mile behind a stone breakwater before tapering off into a jumble of boulders adjacent to a concrete building that is a vestige of the old fort. Others took an inland route to the fort, which held a huge amount of trash.
Descent to the Beach by Tom Douglas
Most of the trash along the beach appeared to have been left there by people using the beach, although some of it, such as pieces of hawser rope, must have come from offshore vessels. There were also a couple of suspect barrels, which will be reported to the appropriate agencies.
Hawser Rope by Tom Douglas
View from the Fort by Tom Douglas
Back up at the tent, we could see that we had collected quite a bit of trash. That’s only part of it that’s shown in the photo.
What a Haul! By Chrissy Kleberg
On our way out, we were greeted with thank-you gifts from Parks Project, HEB’s Trash Free Gulf campaign, Yeti, Texas Shoreline, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The Houston Canoe Club was represented by Fran Wilcox and Tom Douglas. Our club even got a shout out on the cleanup’s Facebook page.
The cleanup organizers plan to make this a recurring event. The next one will be on Saturday July 19. More details are available at https://www.facebook.com/owlcreeklandscapinganddesign/.