By Kaya Jones
RUMSON – On Oct. 5, with the sun shining and a slight breeze, over 15 people launched their kayaks from the Rumson Boat Ramp to help clean up the Navesink River. The inaugural event was spearheaded by Save Coastal Wildlife as part of their mission to keep local rivers and beaches safe, healthy and clean. The volunteers retrieved pieces of foam, bags, plastic and even chairs and cushions. In all, they collected more than 800 pounds of trash from the river and the nearby small islands.
Founded in 2018, Save Coastal Wildlife is a nonprofit determined to keep all wildlife safe and thriving through “education, restoration and research.” It collaborates with many other organizations and manages numerous hands-on and citizen-scientist projects to enable people of all ages to get involved. The organization holds shore cleanups at least once a month from Raritan Bay to Delaware Bay.
“As we always say, our volunteers are awesome!” said Jenna Reynolds, founder of Save Coastal Wildlife. “There are not many organizations in New Jersey who have the ability or the volunteers to conduct kayak cleanups of rivers and lakes. We are fortunate that volunteers with Save Coastal Wildlife and especially volunteers with Stroke You Eco, one of our many wonderful partners for this cleanup, are willing to host a day to clean up and restore waters and land that normally do not get cleaned up and restored all that often.”
Follow Save Coastal Wildlife on social media to get involved or learn more about the organization and its next cleanup.
Kaya Jones is a fifth-grade student at Rumson’s Forrestdale Middle School.
The article originally appeared in the October 24 – 30, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
