October 2025 Site Reports

Jana

Volunteers at beach cleanup and habitat restoration events near the beach

Spooky season is here, and the cigarette filters we’re finding during this year’s annual Butt Blitz are frightening! October was jam-packed with our regularly scheduled cleanup and habitat restoration events. We also celebrated Pelican Week from October 20-25 — a fun and educational week with content about our 2025 Earth Honoree that culminated in a film screening of “Pelican Dreams” by award-winning Director Judy Irving and a special outdoor pelican talk by Ace Pelican Spotter Bart Selby.

The screening brought 50 people to the community room at the Sharp Park Library in Pacifica. Together, we watched Gigi, a brown pelican rescued from the Golden Gate Bridge, get a new lease on life. We learned more about a pelican’s journey from egg to plunge-dive and even watched an injured brown pelican named Morro become an educational ambassador. Guests enjoyed asking Director Judy Irving questions after the movie.

The next day, Bart Selby gave an informative talk about Half Moon Bay’s resident brown pelicans to 25 guests who braved rainy conditions. He brought some fantastic pictures of brown pelicans that frequent the harbor, including one that’s 25 years old named Salty. He also talked about the challenges that birds in the harbor face, in particular cut fishing line. Adults and kids alike were captivated by his stories.

Volunteers and guests at PBC events in October 2025

Check out the results from some of our October 2025 events.

Rockaway Beach Cleanup

Highlights: It was a beautiful October day and many of our volunteers came from a wide variety of schools, including Hillsdale, Oceana, St. Catherine, Odyssey Middle School, Central Middle School, Ingrid B. Lacy, Stratford, St. Ignatius, Archbishop Riordan, Westborough Middle, Half Moon Bay, St. Matthews, and more. One teacher, who checked in from Taylor Middle School’s Leadership Class, brought a group of his students. Sadly, no one found any weird trash today. All the volunteers did a great job collecting butts for the blitz.

57 volunteers
25 pounds of landfill trash
11 pounds of recyclables
1,400 cigarette filters

San Pedro Creek Cleanup

Highlights: San Pedro Creek was fairly busy this month with a healthy amount of volunteers ready to clean up the creek and a large perimeter around it. Everyone involved had a fun and productive day. We had quite the array of interesting and stand-out items, including a decoy duck floating in the creek, multiple shovels, a volleyball, and a giant wad of thick, bendable metal.

25 volunteers
111 pounds of landfill trash
9 pounds of recyclables
221 cigarette filters

Thornton Vista Habitat Restoration

Highlights: With a weather forecast of rain expected, we planted about 30 native plants, including: Toyon, Lizardtail, monkeyflower, beach strawberry, California phacelia, yarrow, Douglas iris, lupine, California sagebrush, Coyote mint, low growing coyotebrush, and Hooker’s Evening Primrose.

During the habitat restoration, we saw a goldfinch perched on older dried stalks eating the seeds from primrose planted last year. Very satisfying to watch!

Adult and youth volunteers pick up trash at various cleanup events

Linda Mar Beach Cleanup

Highlights: It was a beautiful fall day at Linda Mar! The surf was up this morning, so when we arrived, the parking lot was already full. Our intrepid volunteers came from different Bay Area schools, YMSL, and a big group of our friends from several San Francisco unions. Lots of families joined in together as well, some from as far as Walnut Creek and San Jose. Among the findings were a bucket of fishing line intertwined with seaweed, 20 pounds of nails, burnt fire remnants, and a credit card.

101 volunteers
68 pounds of landfill trash
6 pounds of recyclables
450 cigarette filters

Foster City Cleanup

Highlights: We had a large turn out to clean up 1010 Metro Center – Farmers Market and the surrounding area. Volunteers from St. Catherine of Siena, Mariposa Elementary KNA, and various schools and individuals joined us to make a difference.

95 volunteers
203 pounds of landfill trash
33 pounds of recyclables
25 pounds of compost
2,150 cigarette filters

Pillar Point Harbor Cleanup

Highlights: Our Saturday cleanup at Pillar Point Harbor was successful and quite soggy! It rained on us pretty good, but this did not dampen the spirits of the volunteers. We had a wonderful group, including those from the Westborough High School. Unusual findings included a small tire, part of a car bumper, a rubber ducky, and a solo earbud missing its mate.