Starting the Year Clear of Debris

On Sunday, January 26 Care For Big Bear was joined by the Big Bear Alpine Zoo and the Southern California Mountains Foundation, Trails Program for a shoreline clean-up at the East Launch Ramp.

The event brought together our community's environmental and conservation leaders to shed light on the importance of responsible recreation and the impacts of leaving garbage and other litter such as fishing line and hooks along the ground or floating in the water.

Christy McGiveron, Assistant Curator of the Big Bear Alpine Zoo touched on the impacts they have seen when wildlife is brought to their facility with injuries or illness.

To address this, McGiveron explained,

"It's really helpful when you're done fishing to get all your line and all your hooks picked up. [Even a little piece] does effect the wildlife because they will see it and they will eat it and it gets lodged in their throats or [line] gets wrapped around their leg or their wing."

she continued that participating in the clean-up "helps benefit the Zoo. [As] we are a rehab facility, we do see a lot of wildlife that comes through and by picking up trash, it helps to keep the ducks and waterfowl out here where they belong."

Jordan Lowe, Manager for the Big Bear Trails Program also joined the effort with a few volunteers in tow to clear away litter like cigarette butts and fishing gear.

Lowe expressed,

"It's really important that when you do come out and recreate that you do follow best practices. Avoid littering - it can be really windy out here, like it is today, so you want to make sure you're securing your trash. If you're out here picnicking, you don't want to be losing plastic bags. Those things can get into the environment and really mess with the local ecosystem."

In total, about 5 pounds of trash were collected which is really a positive as it means these groups didn't find too much litter around the popular hangout. This was a pleasant change from the previous clean-up around July 4 from last summer when the shoreline from the East Launch Ramp to Juniper Point was strewn with discarded clothing, aluminum cans, Styrofoam, fishing line and more. We hope that sharing both of these positive and negative stories will help to drive Leave No Trace principles and inspire people to take pride in caring for our natural environment.