Marine Debris Program Staff Train Volunteers and Clean Up Beach in Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge

JULY 11, 2022 — On June 17, the Marine Debris Program's Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator Andrew Mason and Monitoring Coordinator Hillary Burgess met with partners from the Grassroots Garbage Gang and Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge on the Long Beach peninsula of Washington.

Two people on a beach.
Staff from the NOAA Marine Debris Program and the Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge clean up debris from a Long Beach Peninsula in Washington State.

Andrew and Hillary provided a training on updated Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project methods and helped with a beach cleanup. As part of the Grassroots Garbage Gang, Russ Lewis conducts marine debris removals along the Long Beach Peninsula multiple times per week. The Marine Debris Program supports this effort through partial funding of the hauling and exchange of a dumpster. Since October 2021, he has removed over 14,700 lbs of marine debris. 


The Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge encompasses the north end of the Long Beach Peninsula, and is incorporating Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project surveys into their long-term inventory and monitoring plan for the refuge.


For more information, please contact Andrew.Mason@noaa.gov or Hillary.Burgess@noaa.gov. 

Last updated Wednesday, August 14, 2024 10:48am PDT