Velella Velella washed ashore on Nye Beach. This hydrozoa is also known as a by-the-wind-sailor.
Earth Month is in full swing and spring is well underway! Chapters are ramping up with cleanups and stewardship events, as well as opportunities to get to know fellow volunteers and the work chapters are doing. I was up and down the coast last week, from Seaside to Port Orford, meeting with volunteers, community partners, and Surfrider supporters. It's always lovely to get together in-person, and I look forward to a spring full of impactful events!
-Kaia Hazard, Oregon Regional Manager
Oregon Restaurants on Track for Reusable Rulemaking
After over 4 years of advocacy to get Oregon's health and food code on track to curb single use plastics and build space for reuse, restaurants in Oregon will soon be enabled to accept reusable containers for to-go and take out. Oregon's Health Authority (OHA) will open up public comment next month on a draft rule which allows restaurants a pathway to enable customers to bring their own take out containers. The rules follow legislation that was put forth in 2023 (SB 545), directing the OHA to adopt rules by this summer.
On Saturday, April 6th, over 100 attendees gathered downtown Coos Bay for the 9th Annual Surfrider Gala. Each year, the Coos Bay Chapter hosts a fundraising Gala to raise money for chapter programs, events, and campaigns, so that they can continue work to steward our local beaches and waterways. These funds go directly toward water quality testing, our scholarship program, youth surf camps, our ongoing Save Lighthouse Beach Campaign, and more. Read more about the event below!
Volunteers Brave the Elements to Clean Up the Beach this Winter
The results are in for Newport's annual Winter Beach Cleanup Series! Each January, February, and March, the Newport Chapter partners with local surf shops to offer supplies for self-led beach cleanups across Lincoln County. Participants can choose to clean whichever beach they like, and are entered to win a prize when they bring the trash back to the surf shop. This cleanup series, in addition to an April highway cleanup, cleared over 1,000 lbs of trash this winter!
In February, a delegation of activists from Oregon participated in Coastal Recreation Hill Day, meeting with legislators to advocate on behalf of three federal priorities: to ban offshore oil drilling, increase funding for the BEACH Act, and ban the release of plastic nurdles into our waterways. To learn more about this last priority, join a webinar this Wednesday, hosted by the Surfrider Foundation and FIDRA, about the planet-wide problem of plastic pellet pollution and opportunities to prevent it, including through U.S. legislation and in the Global Plastics Treaty.
Newport Chapter volunteers mobilized over the weekend with the US Forest Service to help clean up Deer Creek, which had recently become an illegal dumping site. Debris cleared upstream makes for less trash in the ocean!
A small but mighty team in Portland partnered with the Realm Refillery for a Green Streets cleanup, collecting 29 lbs of trash and 859 cigarette butts!
Megan Hoff, Newport's Beach Cleanup Coordinator, was honored last month with an Activist Spotlight!Check out her full profile here. We are BEYOND lucky to have volunteers like Megan supporting Surfrider's work in Oregon!
Upcoming Events!
April 17, 7:00p– Portland: Wave Watch Wednesday–more info
April 17, 8:30a– Webinar: Stopping Plastic Pellets–more info
