Help clean up Great Bay

Outdoor
Local organizations seek volunteers for cleanup effort next Tuesday

Soda bottles, tires, abandoned canoes and other large pieces of trash are littered around Great Bay. Several organizations are teaming up to do something about it, and they’re looking for volunteers to help.

The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP), the Gundalow Company, and the UNH Cooperative Extension’s Stewardship Network: New England are collaborating on the first ever Great Bay Clean Up Day. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, June 21, from 12:30-3:30 p.m.

The project’s inception came last month, when members of the local duck-hunting group Great Bay Gunners approached PREP after noticing several large pieces of trash while they were on the waters of Great Bay.

In response, PREP and the Stewardship Network trained volunteers to go out on kayaks and canoes to map and photograph the debris using an app on their smart phones. They determined that some of the debris was accessible by land, while some could be more easily reached by water.

A volunteer searches for debris in Great Bay in New Hampshire.

A volunteer searches for debris in Great Bay.

PREP and the Stewardship Network reached out to other organizations to help and recruited the nonprofit Gundalow Company. On the day of the cleanup, the gundalow Piscataqua will sail to Adam’s Point in Durham to help transport some of the debris out of the bay.

“This is an important collaboration that will give volunteers an opportunity to clean up the shores of Great Bay, while inspiring others to clean up other shorelines,” Gundalow Company executive director Molly Bolster said in a press release.

Volunteers will meet at the UNH Jackson Lab at Adam’s Point. From there, vehicle caravans will head to several shoreline areas to pick up trash.

Volunteers must have access to a car or truck (carpooling is welcome), and must be able to pick up garbage and debris along accessible shoreline areas of Great Bay. Gloves, bags, and volunteer T-shirts will be provided, as well as directions to cleanup areas. The first 20 volunteers to register will receive a free Great Bay Saver Card for discounts at local businesses.

Those interested in volunteering can get more information and register at newengland.stewardshipnetwork.org.