The tide of trash
Volunteers sweep clean the minefield of waste found along Holman Island’s shoreline
Conservation volunteers deployed Saturday to sweep up the red-sand shores of Holman Island, located less than two-kilometres from Summerside, after it became a minefield laden with obstacles and hidden hazards for nesting birds and waterfowl.
Conservation volunteers deployed Saturday to sweep up the red-sand shores of Holman Island, located less than two-kilometres from Summerside, after it became a minefield laden with obstacles and hidden hazards for nesting birds and waterfowl. With support from TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and Environment and Climate Change Canada, 17 volunteers braced the blustery cold autumn conditions to comb the 37 hectares of the nature reserve. “We took a group by boat to clean up the marine debris and garbage that washes up on the shores there. We found most of the rubbish was bits of plastic, bottles, a lot of gloves, Styrofoam and rope,” remarked Courtney Thompson, volunteer co-ordinator from the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
“Most of the rubbish seems to be from Summerside harbour, and you could tell that a lot of it had accumulated over time because we were finding Pepsi-Cola bottles that looked like they were from the 1970s,” she continued.
For the first time in many years the land, acquired by the Nature Conservancy of Canada in 2016, was cleaned.
The small Island once home to a 19th century resort, is now used as a ‘hotel for birds’.
“I’m not sure that anyone else has been out there to clean since we took possession, but it’s so important to keep this area garbage-free because it’s home to a range of bird species. They can get entangled or even ingest the trash, especially the Styrofoam and plastic.”
Conservation biologist Allison Patrick added, “It’s a good resting place for sandpipers, American Wigeon, blue heron, a bald eagle, there’s quite a variety of birds on the Island.”
The volunteers hauled more than 25 large bags of trash off the Island.
“We will probably come out in another couple of years to clean, just by judging on the amount of waste and what we found,” noted Thompson.
She surmised, “Recycling is one thing, but we really need to cut down on our overall usage of plastic.”