All Gloved Hands on Deck for Beach Cleanups

If it’s Earth Day, it’s time for citizens with gloved hands and comfortable shoes to prowl the South Fork sands in search of garbage. Let the beach cleanups begin. . . .

Starting out east, the Great Montauk Cleanup begins at Kirk Park on Saturday with a 9 a.m. pick-up of gloves and bags, after which volunteers will disperse to tidy up areas of their choosing. The cleanup is sponsored by the Concerned Citizens of Montauk, the Montauk School student council, the Surfrider Foundation, Mickey’s Carting, Camp SoulGrow, the Montauk Playhouse, Third House Nature Center, and Imagination Nation.

In conjunction, the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society will host an in-and-out hike on a fern-lined section of the Paumanok Path at 10 a.m. Hikers will collect debris along Montauk Highway on the return leg of the 2.5-mile trip. That group will meet in the parking lot of the Montauk Library. More information is at preservemontauk.org.

Also on Saturday, Dell Cullum, a photographer, wildlife removal specialist, and author of “Eden of East Hampton,” has organized a third annual Shoreline Sweep, a cleanup of beaches from Montauk to Wainscott starting at 9 a.m. and running until about 1 p.m. Volunteers can reach him at [email protected] for specific starting locations and updates.

The eastern Long Island chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is sponsoring cleanups hither and yon Saturday, too: in Amagansett at Indian Wells Beach and at Napeague Lane Beach at 9 a.m., and in Montauk at Ditch Plain Beach at 10 a.m., among others.

The Town of East Hampton, by the way, will provide gloves and bags for volunteers. They can be picked up at Councilwoman Sylvia Overby’s office. Groups looking to participate can call her office at 324-2620.

The South Fork Natural History Museum is also getting into the act, having organized an effort at Long Beach in Noyac that will get under way at 8 a.m. Saturday.

And after all that picking, there will be a time to unwind at 2 p.m. at Atlantic Avenue Beach in Amagansett. Bagels and water will be served.