Gateway National Recreation Area: Sandy Hook (29-Jan-2017)

Taking a break from clean-ups in Pennsylvania. I decided it would be fun to go pick up some beach trash in our neighboring state, New Jersey. I was joined by fellow trash picker-upper Leigh Ann Stratakos of 3 Moons Studio. We set out to explore and clean up a portion of Sandy Hook, a part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. This area was chosen for two reasons, it was one of the closer beaches and because it is part of our National Park Service. All Americans should help keep our National Parks clean for both wildlife and our future generations to enjoy!   

Walking out to the beach, a Northern Harrier passed by, as it was hunting over the dunes. I have only visited Sandy Hook three times and on each visit I have been amazed at the wildlife that can be seen so close to New York City. 

Just beyond the dunes we ran into a long debris line full of trash and we got to work right away. Thousands of small plastic items mixed in with natural debris. We knew right away that we couldn't pick up everything, but we were going to do our best to at least remove a good portion of what was on this tiny stretch of beach.  

Every tiny piece is a potential hazard for wildlife and we all have to do more to not only clean up what we have already put in the environment, but work towards reducing our waste that gets there. 

Syringes may be the last thing that you think of on your vacation to the beach. Sadly they are something you should be watching out for. In the small section we were picking up in, we removed four syringes. One of which was uncapped with the needle still intact.   

Here Leigh Ann is picking through the debris and getting the plastics removed! Far in the background  you can see the New York City skyline. It was a windy and cold day, but at least the sun was shinning nice and bright down on us as we picked our way down the beach. 

The view of the city from Sandy Hook. 

These are just some of the interesting plastic toys that we found. The two above look like they might be older items. You never really can tell though. Fred looked as though some sort of critter had been chewing on him a little. I wonder if these items spent time out at sea or if they just came down the river.

My favorite trash finds are those in the shape of reptiles and amphibians. Here I found multiple turtles and the much rarer plastic frog.

Leigh Ann got the trophy for her clean-up efforts. Seriously, she found one! 

After taking our bags of trash back to the car we returned to the beach for a short walk to enjoy the sun and see what kinds of birds were around. In this photo a male Long-tailed Duck is coming in for a landing. I believe the Gull in the background is just a Ring-Billed.  

I wasn't sure what this shorebird was when we came across it. It turned out to be a Black-bellied Plover and it was a new bird for me to check off of my life list! 

We made a couple more stops before calling it a day with the clean-up and came close to filling up the back of my car. In a later post you will be able to see all of the trash we collected sorted out. The sort of all of this took about just as long as the clean-up itself.  

In addition to the clean-up, we also took the tour of the Sandy Hook Light, the oldest light house still in operation in the United States. I would highly recommend that if you visit Sandy Hook you stop by the light house for the tour. It is free, but there is limited space and the tours only run at certain times. 

Thank you very much to Leigh Ann for joining me on this beach clean-up! You can check out her Facebook at: 3 Moons Studio. Hopefully we can make another beach visit when it is a little warmer out.   
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