Event

Biscayne Beach Cleanups 2023-2024

Biscayne National Park

Fee:

Free.

Repeating Event

Days:

Every week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

Dates:

December 01, 2022 to April 30, 2024

Time:

8:00 AM

Duration:

7 hours

Type of Event

Volunteer Event

Description

Join us most weekdays this winter and spring at Biscayne National Park to help preserve our beautiful park. With a preservation area of 95% water, we take ocean pollution as a serious issue, not just for our marine life, but for our community of South Florida as well. Accumulating debris on our beaches can hinder successful nesting by threatened and endangered sea turtles and cause entanglement hazards to many other animals. We need YOU to help us protect and conserve our local environment. Last year, volunteers removed over 30,000 pounds of marine debris from park beaches. When you realize that a majority of this debris is actually plastic, the volume of trash removed is staggering.
  • PRE-ORGANIZED GROUPS of 4-12 VOLUNTEERS ONLY.
  • Individual registrations NOT accepted.
  • Please email Bisc_Beach_Cleanup@nps.gov with any questions or to sign up.

SPECIAL NOTES:

  • Participants must be 16 years of age or older. Participants under the age of 18 must provide a waiver signed by parent/guardian in order to participate.
  • All volunteers must provide a signed waiver, which can be done beforehand or during the morning orientation meeting.
  • Group size must be between 4 and 12 people. 
  • We may cancel or reschedule an event due to low participant turnout or unsafe weather conditions.
  • Participants are asked to wear face coverings over the nose and mouth while indoors. Hand sanitizer will be provided and should be used often. Please remain home if not feeling well. 
DUTIES

Participants should meet in the Breezeway of the Dante Fascell Visitor Center at 8am and will be escorted by park staff to a meeting room for a quick introduction and safety briefing. We will then travel by park boats across Biscayne Bay to a beach on the oceanside of an island to conduct a cleanup on a sea turtle nesting beach. After a lunch break around noon, we will weigh and transport bagged debris from the beach to the boats. We will return to park headquarters at ~2pm and unload the trash from the boats. Participants can expect to be done by 3pm. If weather is poor and we cannot go out on a boat, an alternate work site either bayside or on the mainland may be visited instead.

Please email BISC_Beach_Cleanup@nps.gov with any questions or to sign up.

WHAT TO WEAR:

Volunteers should wear a bathing suit and clothes that can get wet and dirty.  We will be wading in ~waist deep water at points during the day. Lightweight and long sleeves/pants are best to provide protection from the sun and bugs.  Due to the rough terrain, dive booties, old sneakers, or any other durable  thick-soled, closed-toe footwear are required (no open-toe shoes are allowed). We can loan you dive booties for your use if you do not have proper footwear. A light jacket, hat and sunglasses are recommended.  

WHAT TO BRING:

Plenty of food and water to last you the day (work is strenuous).  Although not necessary, a towel may be useful. 

If anyone is highly prone to sea sickness, they should bring appropriate medications for the short boat trip.

WHAT WE WILL PROVIDE:

Coolers for food and drink storage, a large water jug for re-filling your reusable beverage container, sunscreen, bug spray, hand sanitizer, life jackets, dive booties (for those that need them), and all work-related gear (such as protective gloves, trash bags etc.). NOTE: If anyone has allergies/sensitivities and requires a particular brand of sunscreen or bug spray, they should plan to bring their own.

For more information and to register: Volunteer - Biscayne National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Reservation or Registration: Yes

Pre-organized groups of 4-12 volunteers ages 16+ only
Make Reservation or Register

Image Gallery

A group stands with collected trash near the ocean and a blue sky
A group stands with collected trash near the ocean and a blue sky
Biscayne Beach Cleanups
NPS photo