‘Don’t be a litterbug’: Community tackles Demarest Lloyd Park in beach cleanup

As a little girl in the 1960s, Fairhaven’s Lynne Mason picked up litter with the former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, as a part of her beautification campaign.

Over 60 years later Mason can still be found participating in the effort. 

Cleaning up trash at Demarest Lloyd Park beach Saturday, Oct. 19, Mason said, “I love, love doing this.”

Having done cleanups at Plum Island and Fort Phoenix, with plans to do more now that she’s retired, she said, “I feel like this is one of my purposes in life.”

Mason wasn’t the only one out cleaning up the beach Saturday. She was joined by over 10 other volunteers who signed up to participate in the COASTSWEEP initiative.

“It isn’t the complete solution,” Mason said of the efforts. “But it’s a good bandage for now and I love thinking that maybe I’ll save one marine animal one time — there’s a possibility and that’s enough to get me out here.”

Mason added she does it for the environment, marine animals, birds and the next generation.

“I look forward to more solutions to this problem, but for now, I’ll do this,” she said.

Ann Ambiel, a volunteer from Boston who was leading the cleanup, said the initiative is a combined effort of the Ocean Conservancy and Mass Office of Coastal Zone Management.

During the cleanup, volunteers collect all the trash they can find on the beaches — big and small — and log their findings on a sheet. This data is then sent back to Coastal Management to provide information on what types of pollutants are found most commonly to then guide future policy.

The data is also combined with that of the Ocean Conservancy phone application called Clean Swell, which allows users to log trash they pick up at beaches.

At Horseneck Beach earlier this month, eight volunteers collected 880 items, which amounted to 54 pounds of trash.

Ambiel joined the effort back in 2020 after her last opportunity closed due to the Covid pandemic.

“It was the perfect match because it got us up and out and we found we were doing something and then it caught on too,” she said.

She highlighted how the effort gives kids opportunities to get involved “because it’s really hard for a younger person to volunteer for something, [and] they’re excited to help clean or do something for animals.”

She added how one little boy even spent his birthday at a cleanup.

“It gets them thinking and more connected to the beach and feeling like there is something we can do,” she said.

Dartmouth’s Katie and Tim Howland said they brought the kids along because they felt it would be a good thing for them to do.

Wyatt Howland, 11, and Cooper Houlihan, 12, said they felt good about taking part in the effort. 

“It’s nice to clean up the beaches,” Wyatt said, adding how it was also “nice outside.”

The group had kicked off their effort finding nine pieces of trash to start and also a window.

Tim said he was proud of the boys.

“We have to do something good, so these kids know that whatever they have, they can’t take it for granted,” he said.