Beach Management
Teacher Michelle Lee (left) and several James Island High School students joined John Crisco of the FBMP (right), and in an hour they picked up nine bags of trash from an eight-block area.
By Lauren Dean
With unusual foresight, Folly Beach City Council passed a resolution right before the 2009 Fourth of July debacle that transferred $15,000 in funds allocated for beach management to create a civilian beach patrol. The Beach Management Patrol, which originally consisted of Ali Akhyari , Eric Cadiz and John Crisco, was quickly put together in the aftermath of that disastrous weekend and the three young men could be seen walking or cycling up and down the beach wearing identical gray polo shirts. It was a hard, hot job that paid eight bucks an hour.
Only John Crisco is left, a dynamo who has trudged the beaches ever since – just about every day, all year long – to keep Folly’s beaches free of the stuff people leave behind and the stuff that washes up on the beach. Flotsam and jetsam and then some. “John is truly an unsung hero,” said Zoning Administrator Aaron Pope. “He has been selflessly working behind the scenes performing the kind of invisible service that people take for granted.”
“If you’re too cool to pick up trash on the beach, you’re part of the problem,” said Crisco. “It makes such a difference when you see other people out there picking up trash. It’s a hard day when you find things like dirty diapers on the beach, then you see someone else walking down the beach picking up trash and you’re reenergized.”
The Beach Management Patrol has been picking up trash from the beach front, beach access areas, parking areas, and roadsides since mid August of 2009. A conservative estimate of litter collected thus far is almost 900 kitchen-sized bags of assorted trash, according to Crisco. “Each bag weighs an average of 35 pounds, which means that in less than one year we have physically removed no less than 14 tons of litter, nearly half of which was recyclable,” he said.
This figure does not include such things as construction debris or damaged sand fencing, which would bring the total debris collected to about 20 tons. “If we had a utility vehicle at our disposal, our effectiveness and efficiency would easily be magnified tenfold,” Crisco said.
He’s not out there alone anymore, Crisco said, adding that there are about a dozen active reliable volunteers of the Beach Management Patrol like Nancy Smith, who can be found regularly cleaning her section of the beach in the mornings or Paul Hume, who cleans up on the West side. “One of our best volunteers, Chris Peters, found a twenty dollar bill while he was picking up litter and used the money to buy a grabber from Lowe’s so he could pick up trash faster,” Crisco said.
There are many other unsung heroes picking up trash, according to Crisco, who said he has a long list of people who support the program and attend scheduled beach sweeps and other events. He said several local residents deserve special recognition. Long-time local Julia Scott has formed a group that meets across from the Crab Shack every Saturday at 7:00 p.m. to clean the roadsides within a block of Center Street. “Then there’s Danny. Nearly every morning like clockwork out by the pier, Danny is guaranteed to be lugging a bag of garbage around. He has rarely spoken with me and seems to prefer discretion, but this guy is truly an inspiration,” Crisco said.
Volunteerism takes many forms and is a fundamental aspect of the Beach Management program, according to Crisco. “We know that certain areas of the beach are covered, so we focus our efforts elsewhere. Without all these volunteers, we simply would not have been able to make such a significant impact on the health of our beach and the environmental awareness of our community.”
In addition to removing trash, damaged sand fencing, and large debris that has washed in, the Beach Patrol serves as a liaison to Public Safety and Public Works, reporting violations and erosion. As the local volunteer base has grown, the Beach Management Patrol has placed buckets in local businesses for donations to help defray the cost of materials.
Surfriders, the US Coast Guard, local schools, and other organizations and community groups have organized their own beach clean-up efforts or joined forces with Crisco, and the Beach Management Patrol sponsors events like the “After Fourth Beach Blitz” and the “Sunday Sweeps” that give residents an opportunity to become more actively involved in helping to keep our beach clean.
Crisco has been relentless in achieving his goals. Although he had been repeatedly told that Charleston County would never agree to the recycling bins he wanted for the beach access points, he managed to acquire 20 brand new 95-gallon recycling roll carts. “Prior to the placement of these recycling bins, there were no bins on the West side except the one at Third Street,” Crisco said. “The new bins clearly made a big difference with this year’s holiday trash pileup. It gives people a chance to do the right thing.”
Crisco’s long range goals include continued community activism and volunteer support, recycling improvements, and the acquisition of a used ATV. The Beach Management Patrol recently received $25,000 in funding from the accommodations tax and City Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks is looking for grant money to augment that funding. “I wish I had a magic wand to wave that would make this happen overnight,” she said, “but it takes time to really get things up and running.”
Kevin Boniface has recently joined the Beach Management Patrol as a paid employee and Crisco would like to hire several other part-time employees who are CPR trained and can work with Public Safety. In addition to an ATV, Crisco would like to purchase a john boat so the team can remove litter and debris from the marshes. “I would eventually like to see Beach Management grow into Island Management, covering all roadsides and accessible marshy areas,” he said.
“Bottom line is that people are less inclined to litter when the beach is clean,” Crisco pointed out. “Our ultimate goal is to increase community awareness to the point that people don’t litter and those who do stick out like a sore thumb.”
Italics: Anyone who would like to volunteer or coordinate the work they are already doing with the Beach Management Patrol can contact John Crisco at follybeachcleanup@gmail.com or call Aaron Pope at 588-2447, extension #3.
