Friends of Padre

Friends of Padre Beach Report 3/25/2016 Via FOP President, Aaron Baxter Winds: E @ 15mph switching to SE @ 5mph Waves: 2-3 ft Water: Sandy Weed: Dead stuff present in the guts Driving: Excellent on low tide. 4x4 in a few places. Birds consisted of only a few species, but some were present in large numbers. Multiple staging flocks of several species numbering in the hundreds. Species seen included: Royal Tern Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Sanderling Ruddy Turnstone Black-bellied Plover Willet Grackle Laughing Gull Herring Gull Ring-billed Gull Brown Pelican Cattle Egret Common Loon (Injured) We took a couple future Friends of Padre down island to enjoy an overnight trip Friday-Saturday. This was the kids first time camping on the beach and they loved it. Bait was scarce the length of the beach. Driving was great on low tide with only a few soft spots requiring four wheel drive. Lots of camps from the 20-30. Fish caught included whiting, black drum, hardheads, bonnethead, jacks, and a guitarfish. Congrats to Matt for catching this uncommon fish!

Corpus Christi Masonic Lodge 189 presented it's prestigious "Community Builder Award" Wednesday evening to Captain Billy L. Sandifer with these words "His contribution to our community has been unique compared to the contributions of previous selectees. The Padre Island National Seashore has not had a better friend, nor have our turtles who nest there. Through his coordination, hundreds of citizens clean up the seashore annually, and he is active in management of the dunes and the wildlife." With Worshipful Master David Scherzer Left to right Troy Adler, Jim Mayo, Leon McNinch, Mark Spier, Capt. Billy, Susan McNinch. Billy and the Padre Island National Seashore contingent. Left to right Superintendent Mark Spier, Billy, Ranger Buzz Botts, and new Chief Ranger Joe Roberts. The pupil - Eric "Oz" Ozolins and the master! Good friends Stephen and Donna Gregory. There's always that one guy in a photo! Billy wrapping things up with the cake made specially for the event.

Via Jeff Wolda Air Temp: 74 Water Temp: 69 Wind: 20 SE early 15-20 SW late Waves: 4-5 ft Water: Dirty north of the 15, clear south Weed: None Driving: High tide there is only one road and is soft. Low tide is not much better. With a strong on shore wind and a 1.5ft high tide at 0800, there was little room between the water and the camps set up on the beach. Camps of spring breakers are solid the first 6 miles of the beach with a lot of little kids so watching your speed is very important! As the tide dropped throughout the late morning and early afternoon, the water did not recede as far as expected. Driving at the water edge still required some 4x4 in some places. The worst driving on the beach is from the 20 to the 30. Lack of a consistent road and the high water is forcing drivers into the soft sand at the vegetation line. Only made a few casts but did see jacks running the surf in singles and pairs. They are not schooled up so catching them is possible but, still a grind. Pony mullet were observed from the 15 to the 50 in small numbers but fairly consistent. Birds observed were: Sandwich Tern Royal Tern Caspian Tern Curlew Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Willet Laughing Gull Herring Gull Blue Herron White Tailed Hawk Willet Cormorant

I’ve pretty much been a loner all my life. Don’t really know why, it just seems to be my basic nature. Every day but Big Shell Beach Cleanup day, that is, for on beach cleanup day I become a real people person. It would be impossible not to be when I see all the wonderful volunteers selflessly giving up a Saturday and spending the day in conditions that typically vary from bad to horrible picking up trash from the beach and returning the beach to its natural pristine condition. Any number bring their children with them; leading by example and explaining to them the importance of keeping the great outdoors clean and healthy. We had more kids involved in the event this year than ever before. We didn’t keep a count of them but I’ll bet there were a minimum of 100 present.

All conditions were ideal; driving was great except for one dicey spot, weather, tides and temperatures all fell into line to make for that day you always hope for but never expect to actually get. Kinda’ scary. I kept thinking “this has got to be an ambush.” The board members of the Friends of Padre had set the parking lot up Friday afternoon and as volunteers arrived there was very little confusion and row after row of vehicles slid smoothly into pre-departure position. Although officially the event began at 8:00 a. m. we already had one full section headed down the beach before 8 a.m. Mr. Tony Alcoser of Ainsworth Trucking Co. left the Malaquite parking lot at 05:30 a. m. to ensure their rollagon and trailers would be in place when volunteers started picking up trash. The rollagon is slow moving and this additional time was required to guarantee they would be on location by 8 a. m. Big hats off to Tony for going above and beyond to make this event a success.

David Ainsworth Trucking Co. also provided water and ice chests for the entire event. Each section consisted of 35 people and was responsible for cleaning one predetermined mile of beach. If time was available after they completed their mile they proceeded north and helped other sections finish their areas and everyone continued to the North working sections of beach until 12 noon. We started at the 30 mile marker and worked north. The beach was cleaned up for 18 miles: from the 12 to the 30 mile. Those 18 miles beats the existing record by 4 miles. We had a total of 700 volunteers, beating the all time record of 540 people by a whopping 160 people. We picked up a total of 60 tons of trash. That’s not nearly a record but it is indicative of the fact that there was less trash in the area to pick up than in previous years. Unusually high winter tides covered some of the trash this winter but it still shows we are making good progress.

Being notably somewhat crusty I made a very determined attempt to greet and meet everyone I could. A couple of things that thrilled me as I walked through the crowds at the conclusion of the event was that over and over I kept hearing people talking about what they were going to do at NEXT year’s event. And how many people I heard talking about how they picked up trash ever time the go down the beach. Some go for no other reason than to enjoy this wondrous place and pick up trash. There were quite a few volunteers present that I had not seen during the past few events and it was like “old home” week. During the 1st. Big Shell Beach Cleanup Roland Hyatt, owner of “Woodstock Tree Surgeons” and his crew had spent Friday night camped at the 25 mile beach and started cleaning to the south in the morning. As we talked this year, Roland said, “See that man right there. He’s my son and was one year old the night we camped at the 25 mile. Wow? Am I old or what?

Mr. Lindsey Shows and Arnold Reagan had 33 people from CITGO in their group. Much appreciated guys.

Tuloso Midway had many students including their Navy Jr. ROTC group. Daniel Dain of Domino’s Pizza and the Corpus Christi Chapter of CCA fed everybody. Michael Laskowski Sr. and Jr. of Trac-work Inc. Railroad Maintenance of San Antonio furnished gloves for the volunteers. Scott and Brian McKinsey did a great job as our repair/rescue truck. PINS personnel furnished EMT personnel and did an awesome all around job and we appreciate it and them. We gained 3 new sponsors this year and are very grateful for them. They are the Texas State Aquarium, Value Bank and Security Service Federal Credit Union. We remain deeply grateful to the Ruth Parr Sparks Foundation and Mr. Leon McNinch, Sharkathon and Curtis Mai, Graf Plumbing Inc, HEB, Federal Steel, Spoon’r Lure Co., Inc. Coastal Bend Audubon Society, Steven and Donna Gregory and Ben Beaty. Without getting the word out this event would never happen and we are extremely appreciative to David Sikes and the Caller Times, Everett and Pam Johnson of Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine, the Salty Angler and KKTX News Radio.

So now we have had 6,600 volunteers remove 2,456,000 pounds of trash from the beaches of the Padre Island National Seashore. We don’t do this event for personal recognition or praise. We do it for ourselves and for you and for your children and future generations of children yet to come. Next event will be the last Saturday of February, 2017. Billy

Via Jeff Wolda FOP REPORT Air Temp: 72 Water Temp: 69 Wind: 10-15 NE switching to East Waves: 3ft Water: Trout green north of 29, clear south Weed: None Driving: 2 wheel drive to the 19, 4x4 south at high tide Spring arrived early this year. Hopefully it will stay that way. Driving at high tide can be tricky from the 20-30 mile marker. Soft sand and the lack of a consistent road have turned it very soft. Spring breakers began to show in force today. Lots of camps on the north end. It was a perfect day to be on the beach but, Mother Nature looks like she’s going to put an end to it. Forecast this week is calling for big winds before a cold front on Wednesday that will bring rain and storms for the end of the week. As far as the fishing goes, the south end was the place to be with jacks and Spanish mackerel on top waters and spoons. Saw several very large schools of sheeps head and one of redfish in the 2nd gut. Birds observed: Black Terns Sandwich Tern Royal Tern Caspian Tern Curlew Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Willet Laughing Gull Herring Gull Blue Herron White Tailed Hawk Willet Grackle

Thanks to everyone who came out to make this a record-setting 21st Billy Sandifer Big Shell Beach Cleanup! We were dealt good weather and great attitudes, which allowed 700 volunteers to remove 60 tons of trash from 18 miles of PINS! We've received several comments on how well the cleanup went and we have to say it's because we have the best volunteers! Friends of Padre would also like to acknowledge our generous sponsors. They are each imperative to ensuring the cleanup is the perennial success that it has become. Thanks to the businesses, organizations, and individuals who go above and beyond! This year's sponsors included many long-time donors, as well as several first time sponsors. We hope to have made them all proud with our efforts. Cleanup sponsors included: Sharkathon, CCA, Ainsworth Trucking, Ruth Parr Sparks Foundation, Frank Edwards, Steve and Donna Gregory, Domino's, HEB, SmartShield, Ben Beaty, Gambler Specialties, Trac-Work, Inc., Texas State Aquarium, NuStar, ValueBank Texas, Graf Plumbing, Inc., Security Service Federal Credit Union, Federal Steel, Padre Island Moon, David Sikes and the Caller Times, Saltwater Angler, Coastal Bend Audubon Society, corpusfishing.com, extremecoast.com, and Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine. We hope you all had as much fun as we did and we hope you'll be back for the 22nd cleanup. If you weren't able to make it this year, we'd really like for you to help us grow this event by coming out next year.

Rachel Cole did a story for the Friends of Padre on KRIS 6 News. Pictured in the photo: Left to Right, Friends of Padre Board Members Tyler Thorsen, Jeff Wolda, KRIS 6 Morning Anchor, Rachel Cole, and Friends of Padre Board Member, Troy Adler Below

http://www.kristv.com/clip/12241045/volunteers-needed-for-big-shell-cleanup

The parking lot diagram below may be helpful for those who have never attended a cleanup, or for those who just can't remember back to last year. We will have staff on hand to help direct volunteers as well.