Tyndall's beaches get a deep clean

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Alex Echols
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Donning protective gloves and carrying trash bags, volunteers trekked down Tyndall's beaches searching for anything that did not belong.

Over 175 members of Team Tyndall joined the Society of American Military Engineers and the 325th Civil Engineering Squadron to rid the base's beaches of trash during the 29th Annual International Coastal Cleanup Sept. 20.

"Most of the trash on Tyndall washes up on the beach from the ocean," Diane Bateman, 325th CES water programs manager. "We have the most pristine beaches around here. They are not developed, and because of that, we attract a lot of wildlife. The plastic pieces are ingested by the wildlife and can cause harm."

Men, women and children from across Tyndall came out to help keep the base's beaches clean and the wildlife safe.

"It looked like a clean beach out there, but we came back with a lot of stuff in trash bags," Staff Sgt. Manuel Aponte, 325th CES dorm manager. "It was pretty great to see everybody doing their part. I didn't know there was going to be such a big turnout."

For four hours, the volunteers collected plastic bottles, aluminum cans, pieces of Styrofoam, cigarette butts, party balloons, construction materials and more from the shoreline.  

"I'm amazed how much trash we actually found," Lt. Col. Richard Martin, 325th CES commander. "It doesn't look that dirty until you start walking the beach and looking for it. We found a lot of trash. It's so great to see everyone give up their Saturday morning to come out and make our community and environment a lot cleaner."

The beaches were not the only locations cleaned during the event, volunteer boaters and divers from the Tyndall Dive Club worked the sea floor around the Beacon Beach Marina picking up underwater debris.

"Thank you to everybody who participated including the dive club," said Bateman. "I'm really surprised and happy that this many people came out. We are all Team Tyndall, and we work as one."

The Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program presented Tyndall with the National Public Lands Day Legacy Award for $6,500 this year to support these kinds of events as well as programs such as stewardship.

"In addition to providing supplies for the events, award funds are used to educate volunteers and children about littering and water pollution and to retrofit trash receptacles with a wildlife-resistant design," said Wendy Jones, 325th CES Natural Resources wildlife biologist.

During last year's International Coastal Cleanup, 648,015 volunteers from 92 countries removed over 12.3 million pounds of trash from the world's beaches, according to the Ocean Conservancy website. Surveys from the cleanups help enact conservation and wildlife protection laws.