The SOLV Spring Oregon Beach Cleanup is organized into 14 zones with 47 registration sites up and down the coast, and each zone is coordinated by a volunteer Zone Captain (or two). Zone Captains, and the volunteer Beach Captains they recruit to staff registration sites, are at the core of the success of every Beach Cleanup.
Dane Osis, Zone 1 Captain, with Oregon Parks & Recreation (OPRD): Dane Osis has been a Zone Captain every spring and fall for the last 10 years. The most interesting thing he's seen on the beach was Buoy #6 from the Columbia River. It had broken free in the Dec. 2007 hurricane. His favorite beach is "Secret Beach" on the South Coast.
Coral Cook, Zone 2a Captain, with Dennis from Seaside Lions: Coral has been coordinating the SOLV Oregon Beach Cleanups since the first cleanup 27 years ago! The first coast-wide cleanup in the U.S. was held here in Oregon in the fall of 1984.
Jenee Pearce-Mushen, Zone 2b Captain, with her amazing local team: As a licensed contractor Jenee always finds it interesting to find rebar on the beach! Her favorite beach in the world is in Malaysia. She volunteers to make a difference and also volunteers at Hay Stack Rock Awareness Program, Relay for Life, and kids reading groups to name a few.
Shelley Parker, Zone 3a Captain, with OPRD: Shelley has been serving as a Zone Captain since 2007. She grew up in nearby Cannon Beach, and the most impressive thing she's seen on the beach was also a 6 ft + tall buoy marker.
Dolores Stover, Zone 3b Captain, with the Rockaway Lions: Dolores has been volunteering as Zone Captain for at least 8 years. Her excellent organizing skills stem from running a large daycare and raising 5 daughters!
Zone 4 Captain Jennifer Holderman with the Lower Nehalem Bay Watershed Council (center) and Beach Captains Denise Lofman (left) and Travis Korbe (right): Jennifer moved to the area recently to work as the Lower Nehalem Bay Watershed Council Coordinator. She just finished a Masters at OSU in Water Resources.
Travis Sisco, Zone 4b Captain, with OPRD: Travis has been coordinating the Sand Lake Spring Beach Cleanup for two years. Sand Lake is a unique dune area near the mouth of the Nestucca River.
Scott Duncan, Zone 5 Captain, with OPRD: Scott has been helping to organize beach cleanups since 2007. His favorite beach is Wi-Ne-Ma beach and the strangest thing he's found is a calf-nursing shed.
Mark Saelens, Zone 6 Captain, with Lincoln County Solid Waste District: Mark started helping out with beach cleanups as a Beach Captain with Oregon Fish & Wildlife 27 years ago! He now works for Lincoln County Solid Waste and his favorite beach is Short Sands at Oswald West on the N. Coast.
Charlie Plybon, Zone 7 Captain, with Surfrider Foundation: Charlie has been a Captain for 4-5 years with Surfrider. His favorite beach is South Beach near Newport, and his favorite beach find are the goat packers who make long treks every year to haul trash out with the help of goats!
Doug Sestrich (left), Zone 8 Captain, with OPRD volunteer Pepsi: Doug has been a Captain with OPRD since 2006. His favorite beach is Seal Rock.
Trisha Wymore, Zone 9 Captain, with OPRD: Trisha has been coordinating the beach cleanup in Zone 9 for 5 years. Her favorite beach is Smelt Sands in Yachats, and the strangest thing she finds on the beach are plastic pellets called nurdles! They may be blown by the wind, spilled during transport, or ride the currents up from California plastic production plants.
Mike Northrop, Zone 10 Captain, with US Forest Service: The Reedsport Rotary Club has been a big help in Reedsport by removing trash from remote beaches and encouraging folks to turn out by raffling decorative glass floats as a reward for trash cleanup. Mike is happy that the beaches are notably cleaner since the Rotary took action!
Robin Sears, Zone 11 Captain, with OPRD: Robin has been coordinating the beach cleanup in zone 11 for 5 years. She loves all beaches, as well as the quote: "You can't cross new oceans unless you leave the shore."
Eric Cook, Zone 12 Captain, with OPRD: Eric Cook is holding a variety of bottle caps that he collects from local beaches in his off time. You can track his finds at www.disposableoceans.com, including bottlecaps from Russia, Japan, China and Korea!
Greg Ryder, Zone 13 Captain, with OPRD: Volunteers in Zone 13 take the SOLV Oregon Beach Cleanup a step further, by separating out plastics for art projects like the fish pictured left. The effort is led by the Washed Ashore project to reduce the amount of plastic trash out on local beaches and in the landfills. Visit them at http://www.washedashore.org.
Angela Stewart, Zone 14 Captain, with OPRD: Angela has served as a Zone Captain for 23 years! She's been busy organizing extra cleanup efforts in Brookings this year as the area took the brunt of the tsunami surge.
