MIAMI – City of Miami officials are about to start a new strategy to dramatically reduce trash left behind by boaters on the islands of Biscayne Bay. It’s risky and will require all water enthusiasts who enjoy the islands to get on board.
The bold new campaign is called Leave No Trace, modeled after its namesake non-profit, based in Boulder, Colorado. For thirty years the organization has been educating the public to be better stewards of the environment while enjoying the great outdoors.
It’s already active at many national parks.
When the city launches Leave No Trace on May 18, it will remove the existing trash cans from the city’s spoil islands on Biscayne Bay, encouraging those who visit to pack up and pack out any mess they make and then dispose of it back on the mainland.
“We have a role in making sure that the islands stay clean and maintained,” explained Miami’s Director of Parks and Recreation Chris Evans.
The first signs were installed on Pace Picnic Island last week. It is the most visited of all the spoil islands, and the most trashed.
“The next step will be the marketing and then we remove all the trash cans and start monitoring the trash level,” said Evans.
Right now, after just one day of boating, the trash cans on the islands fill up to the brim with garbage very quickly. So as a result, people make piles of trash all over the island, leading to widespread litter.
The problem is most visitors are unaware that the islands only get serviced once a week, and trash pick-up on Pace Picnic Island only happens on Mondays.
“There’s 120,000 pounds of trash that’s picked up from the islands every year,” explained Dave Doebler of the Biscayne Bay Marine Health Coalition. “It’s just way too much, these little islands can’t handle all of the garbage.”
The Biscayne Bay Health Marine Health Coalition has long been lobbying for the city to adopt the Leave No Trace campaign.
“We’re really trying to change the mindsets of the people, [they] need to remember that they are responsible for the waste that they create,” Doebler said.
In preparation for the big rollout, volunteers engaged with boaters in February at Pelican Harbor Marina to encourage them to leave no trace.
“Now hopefully they can bring their trash back and just dump it back at the marina where that can be disposed much easier,” said Robert Pelton of the Leave No Trace Traveling Team.
A test run a couple of weeks ago proved promising after trash cans were removed from some of the city of Miami’s islands.
“It helped. It seemed like in one of the islands here in Dinner Key that there was no debris left,” said Evans.
Local 10 Environmental Advocate and Anchor Louis Aguirre met up with Doebler at Morningside Picnic Island early Saturday morning two weeks ago during Baynanza. On that day, they saw very little trash comparatively.
“This is going to be a really interesting test to see what the what boaters do when there’s no trash cans,” Doebler explained.
Now, at Pace Picnic Island, the test has begun. Some boaters have caught on, but the majority have not.
“Realistically without a ranger, without education, without actually communicating what the new policy of the land is… it’s going to be the wild, wild west here,” said Albert Gomez of the Biscayne Bay Marine Health Coalition.
While the city does plan to launch an aggressive public campaign on social media before Leave No Trace’s official launch in two weeks, park rangers are not in the budget.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources as a park’s department right now to have rangers on each of them,” said Evans.
Spreading the message far and wide among the boating community will be critical so that Leave No Trace will leave no trace.
“The ball is in my court now to make sure the park department kind of takes the lead in organizing a lot of different agencies who are stakeholders in the bay,” said Evans. “To make sure we all play a role in keeping Miami beautiful, to make sure we’re protecting Biscayne Bay.”
Once Leave No Trace is activated on May 18, boaters who continue to leave their trash on the island will be subject to existing litter laws that will be enforced and may result in fines for violations. The Parks & Rec Department also plans to reinforce the Leave No Trace message with signage at city managed boat ramps. Officials are also working to improve waste management collection at marinas and boat ramps.
To learn more about the national Leave No Trace initiative, you can visit their website by clicking here.
For volunteer opportunities you can sign up for the Biscayne Bay Marine Health newsletter or sign up for notifications on their Volunteer Cleanup website.