Get involved and become part of the solution.

2020 Summer Season Beach Ambassador Results

804.5
Hours Volunteered

 

303.25 5-gallon buckets of trash removed from the tidal zone

Beach Ambassador program.

The Beach Ambassadors program fills an important need for daily beach clean-ups during the busy summer season.

With more than 700,000 overnight visitors annually to Amelia Island, and more than 88,000 Nassau County residents, the beaches attract a lot of people.

Beach Ambassadors are local volunteers dedicated to eliminating the litter on Amelia Island beaches to protect beach habitat and to safeguard marine life.

Volunteers commit to adopt a section of beach and to clean-up one evening a week anytime between 5:30-8:00PM. They focus is on the tidal zone as we want to get the trash before it is washed into the sea by the night high tide.

Current sites include: North Beach, Main Beach, Seaside/Sadler Road, Peter's Point, and American Beach/Burney Road.

We welcome you to become a Beach Ambassador and help preserve Amelia Island ocean and beaches.

IMG_20200614_195410.jpg

Let’s talk litter.

From whales to shorebirds, our trash is killing them.

Commonly found items: beach toys, goggles, tanning products, sandals, plastic bottles and bottle caps, plastic utensils, food wrappers, tent stakes, cigarette butts, beer cans, fishing line, netting, disposable diapers, balloons, string, styrofoam cups and food containers, broken chairs and tents, etc.

How long does it take to decompose?

  • Cardboard = 2 months

  • Cigarettes = 1-5 years

  • Plastic bags = 10-20 years

  • Drink cans = 200 years

  • Plastic utensils = 100-1,000 years

  • Diapers = 450 years

  • Fish hooks = 600 years

  • Glass = 4,000 years

IMG_20200517_200316.jpg

Protection and reclamation.

We support science and advocate for strong conservation and policies through a variety of means including:

  • Establishing appropriate setbacks

  • Placing coastal lands in public trust

  • Working with the community and city to preserve Amelia Island’s ocean and coastline

To learn more, please contact us.

Additional best practices.

Fill in holes dug in the sand. Nesting turtles and hatchlings can get stuck in them. Humans strolling the beach can fall in and suffer sprains or broken bones.

Don’t chase shorebirds. Many have flown over a thousand miles; they need to rest and regain their strength.

Keep off the sand dunes. They are nesting grounds for turtles and shorebirds. They also protect the island from flooding by hurricanes.

 

Amelia Island is an environmentally sensitive interface between land and sea.
Here, two “worlds” collide.