Volunteers make a ‘SPLASH’ in the wetlands

Some 270 volunteers grabbed rubber gloves and oversized garbage bags and headed by boat last Saturday to the archipelago of tiny islands and mudflats south of Bay County Park in East Rockaway to clean up more than 18 tons of rubber tires, Styrofoam buoys, aluminum cans and plastic bottles trapped amid the reeds and rushes.

The massive undertaking, which took place from 9 a.m. to noon, was hosted by Operation SPLASH (Stop Polluting Littering and Save Harbors), a Freeport-based, nonprofit environmental group. Volunteers came from across the South Shore, from Franklin Square to Bellmore-Merrick.

SPLASH hosts the annual spring cleanup not only to remove the trash that accumulates in the wetlands, but also to raise awareness of the human impact on the South Shore’s fragile environment. Many first-time volunteers said they were astounded by the amount of refuse that collects in the wetlands, which serve as breeding grounds for numerous sea birds and aquatic creatures.

Much of the garbage washes ashore from the Atlantic Ocean, but the bulk of it finds its way to the wetlands via the network of storm drains that stretch across the South Shore. Careless motorists hurl their trash from their cars, and eventually it all winds up in the wetlands, said Don Harris, SPLASH’s vice president and its education director.

Getting out and cleaning up the wetlands by hand, Harris said, “is an inexpensive solution to waterfront pollution through community involvement and individual participation.”

For more on SPLASH, check out operationsplash.org.