Report by Stephanie Raymond, education coordinator, People For Puget Sound

About 30 folks showed up at Howarth Park in Everett on Sunday, May 6, to collect litter, hunt for hidden treasures, and go on a beachwalk. And guess who else was there—the Mud Monster, who encouraged folks to get dirty for the Sound!

Our Everett Parks partner Kraig Hansen helped with the event. A huge amount of garbage was collected and removed from the beach, but not before kids got started on building their art contest entries from the rubbish found on the beach. Sure was a lot of garbage; this is a beach that doesn’t get cleaned by anyone on a regular basis and the kids really made a difference.

The idea of these beach events is to protect the environment and teach folks how to treat the beaches. The time to be out is when the tides are low. Leaning about the fragile nature of our beaches is an important element in the whole ecosystem of Puget Sound.

The beachwalk at Howarth Park featured lots of shore carbs, some good-sized hermits, clam worms, flat worms, a couple of nudibranchs and a number of blennies and sculpins. Blake, in the picture above, was particularly enthusiastic about the crabs!

We want to make sure that visiting the critters on the beach is done in a way that doesn't harm them. It's fine to roll over a rock and see what's underneath, but it should gently be replaced just as it was to protect any life that's found. Wet your hands before touching a crab, for example, to keep it from drying out.

One family said, as they left the beach, that they had so much fun they thought they just might come back and "do this again" on their own.