Sonoma County Readies To Launch Coastal Cleanup Initiative

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino counties are partnering with a nonprofit to keep the Northern California coast clean.

The counties earlier this week jointly announced their partnership with the group Leave No Trace in a campaign that aims to reduce litter and waste, officials said.

The campaign is expected to launch later this month.

The bilingual campaign will include messaging to educate and influence visitors to all three counties.

Over 10 million people annually visit the California coastline and adjacent communities across Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

Last year alone over 55,000 pounds of trash were picked up from the sensitive coastal environment across the three counties.

Sonoma County Tourism, the county’s destination stewardship organization, was instrumental in bringing the Leave No Trace organization into the partnership conversation with the three counties.

Sonoma County Tourism has worked with Leave No Trace since April 2021 on the Sonoma County Leave No Trace Initiative.

Through its seven principles, Leave No Trace provides a framework of minimum impact practices for anyone visiting the outdoors.

New education messaging focusing on trash and litter in coastal watersheds is highly relevant due to a surge in visitation to all three counties’ coastlines and adjacent communities, officials said.

The new education messaging serves to complement existing Leave No Trace and other trash reduction efforts promoted by state, county and local parks officials in all three counties, as well as the Sonoma County Leave No Trace Initiative.

“We had a bit of a head start with the successful launch of our Leave No Trace campaign last year, and we are happy to leverage and coordinate our efforts with our neighbors from the north and south,” Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said.

“Visitors don’t stop at county lines, nor does the flow of trash.”

Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni initiated the three-county collaboration in 2020.

“COVID-19 pushed more residents outdoors and drew them to the coast as they looked for safe ways to recreate,” Rodoni said in a statement.

“This stressed our limited visitor-serving infrastructure, creating an overflow of trash and waste like I have never seen before.”

Trash causes major impacts on the enjoyment of creeks, bays and the ocean, and creates significant impacts on aquatic life and habitat in those waters; trash eventually enters the global ocean ecosystem, where plastic persists in the environment for hundreds of years — if not forever.