Time to walk the beach! Help us keep our Lake Michigan Beaches clean and beautiful while you enjoy a quiet walk along the shore. As part of our Beach Patrol, you will receive training, equipment, and an annual pass to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Our kick-off training session for Beach Patrol volunteers is May 24 at 1:00 PM at the Visitor Center in Empire.

When you become an Adopt-A-Beach volunteer, we will help you select the beach area you will patrol. You can walk the beach on your own schedule. It is not a group activity, but you are welcome to bring friends or family members along with you. We ask that you keep track of the trash you pick up and report it through an online database or on paper forms which can be mailed or handed in at the park. This data is used for a variety of purposes including to trace the source of major trash wash-ups that sometimes occur.

Jamie Cross from the Alliance for the Great Lakes – our partner in this program will be here to talk about their work and our experience from the last couple of years of Beach Patrol work. She will also demonstrate entering beach patrol data into their online database. We will discuss related programs and answer all of your questions at the meeting, so come and get started!

More information is available on our Adopt-A-Beach web page.