Cleanup of Debris Along 2 State Beaches in Area to Begin

Beginning Tuesday, the California Department of Parks and Recreation will clean up mounds of driftwood and other debris deposited on two state beaches by winter storms, the agency announced Saturday.

Community volunteers, state park workers and more than 100 employees from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service regional office in Camarillo will collect the debris at San Buenaventura and McGrath state beaches through the end of the month, Park Service Ranger Andy Zilke said.

Several scientists from the Minerals Management Service, including a marine mammal expert, a wildlife biologist and an environmental scientist, will be on site to monitor the cleanup, Zilke said.

The material, mostly bamboo-like wood, stream vegetation, brush and other debris carried to the ocean from rain-swollen rivers, is scattered along wide swathes of Ventura County’s beaches.

The debris has aroused the ire of many beach-goers and residents of beach communities who complain the piles of lightweight wood are a blight, and restrict access to the ocean.

Zilke said the debris will be burned on-site in late March or early April instead of taken to a wood recycling company because the state lacks the money to haul it.

The park service said it anticipates “very little smoke” from the burn because of the lightweight nature of the wood.

Zilke said the debris will not be burned until the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District authorizes a “burn day.”

Officials said the burn site will be far from buildings and popular beach sites and on the ocean side of the coastal sand dunes to ensure that smoke from the burn drifts out over the ocean.

Residents near the beaches who have concerns or questions may visit the department’s Channel Islands District office at 24 E. Main St. in Ventura, or call 654-4611.