The Tacoma Shoreline Survey is on the calendar for May 18th, two months from today. “What’s that to me?,” I hear you ask. Here’s the skinny:

Tacoma has approximately 13 miles of shoreline, not counting the maze of waterways and canals of the tide flats. In one day, volunteers cover that entire 13 miles, counting each item of debris they find and cleaning it all up. The event goes from 8am until 4pm, but most volunteers put in about an hour or so on their sections of beach, and we try to make it as convenient and painless as possible. The Ikkatsu Project partners with South Sound Surfrider, Citizens for a Healthy Bay and Tacoma Metro Parks to make this a Grit City day of service that is open to all.

On May 17th (the night before), we set up in a room at the pizza place and do a short orientation for volunteers – if you’re part of a group, it’s only necessary for one group member to attend – where we show you the app you’ll use to tally the items you find, as well as make sure you know (and we know) which section you’ll be covering. And there’s pizza.

The 2018 Tacoma Shoreline Survey saw 78 volunteers count and collect almost 700 pounds of garbage from Tacoma beaches in a single day. If we’d had more people, we could have gotten even more stuff… our goal for this year is to get all of the debris we find up and off the shore. If you’re interested in spending part of your Saturday making a huge difference, please send us an email and get your name on the list. Send your contact info to

Thank You!