“The time is always right to do what is right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Pacifica State Beach in Linda Mar was bustling with volunteers on Saturday, January 18, 2025 for the Pacific Beach Coalition’s 28th Annual Beach Planting and Cleanup in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was our first big event of the year, and the community showed up to do their part to clean up the beach, remove invasive plant species and weeds, and install new native plants along the trail between Linda Mar and Rockaway.

Beach Cleanup

Our event kicked off with a successful beach cleanup. Volunteers scoured the beach, parking lots, and walkways to collect pieces of microplastic, cigarette filters, bottles and cans, fishing wire, and other landfill debris.

Together, our incredible 110 volunteers kept all of this out of the ocean:

• 251 pounds of landfill trash
• 6 pounds of recyclables
• 1013 cigarette filters

Habitat Restoration

The second part of our event took us to the area’s beloved trail that connects Linda Mar and Rockaway. Volunteers of all ages, including young Daisies and Girl Scouts, got their hands dirty pulling out weeds, preparing poppy seeds, mulching, and digging.

Our 106 habitat restoration volunteers covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time:

• 250 pounds of green waste (weeds)
• 334 native plants planted
• 300 square yards mulched
• 8 pounds of landfill trash collected

The restoration area had at least six distinct sections that received plants, weeding, and mulching. The group removed a large portion of oxalis, which made for great mulch that can protect the soil and cycle nutrients back into it. As part of the youth section, we planted coastal poppy seeds.

Further, volunteers came together to select proper placement for each plant species: larger plants like toyon and lizard tail further up the hill with room to spread; plants that do better in the shade than others like hedgenettle and Douglas iris across from the mulch pile; and flowering plants like yarrow, asters, and primrose closer to the trail so they can be more easily watered and enjoyed by all.

During this event, we also introduced a new native plant into the ecosystem: Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, commonly known as California Blue Blossom. Ceanothus is a keystone species, supporting large numbers of pollinators and wildlife. It’s also our 2025 PBC native plant “hero” of the year.

We’d like to extend waves of gratitude to Pacifica Gardens and volunteers Jeff and Lynn for the plants that they provided for this restoration effort. Our next restoration efforts will focus on watering these newly planted areas so they can begin to grow. Plus, members of our dedicated PBC team were seen sporting their brand new blue shirts graciously donated by Whitestone, a 1% for the Planet agency based in New York City, NY that specializes in creative product promotions.

Take action! We invite you to join us at one of our monthly beach cleanups or habitat restorations.