Our first Oswald West Action day of 2015 was a smashing success! We had 25 volunteers from Portland, the surrounding coastal communities and from our sponsors ReRack come out to help show a little love for this special, but heavily used place.
Volunteers learn about the benefits and construction of new the drain field
The day began with a tour of the newly constructed and much larger drain field, built to address the e over-taxed and failing old system, which was contributing to water quality issues discovered back in 2013. Volunteers then split into two groups and either planted native trees in the old drain field site or collected marine debris down on Short Sands beach.
Volunteers showing of their loot!
The rest of the afternoon was filled with burgers, beer (thanks Ninkasi!) and surf. Our goal for these Oswald West Action Days is to rally the surf and recreation communities around not only enjoying this amazing place, but creating an ethic of stewardship and action. As the population in Oregon grows and more and more people head to Oswald West State Park to hit the beach, hike the trails or paddle out for some tasty waves, making sure we don't degrade the resource we all love so much will be come more and more important.
Thanks to everyone who joined us and an especially HUGE thanks to ReRack for providing the all the food, rallying people out in their vans and making a donation to the chapter to help procure supplies for future stewardship activities at Oswald West State Park! This is one of 3 Surfrider BWTF projects in Oregon that would not be possible without the additional support from Oregon Community Foundation - check out some of our other BWTF projects also supported on the Newport Chapter and Coos Bay Chapter's websites.
