🌊 Surfrider Washington 2025 — What a Ride! 🌊
Wow — what a year to protect our coastlines and crank up the coastal advocacy vibes! From our windswept beaches to the marble steps of the Capitol, 2025 had it all: action, impact, adventure - all driven by the amazing humans who choose to spend their free time protecting and enjoying the amazing coasts of the PNW!
🏖️ Cleanups That Count
Once again, volunteers showed up in force — tackling debris with grit and gusto. Whether it was our annual coastwide cleanups (shout out to Washington Coastsavers!) or response efforts to local pollution events (like the recent removal of a derelict foam dock, again shout out to Coastsavers the the OPC), our chapters made a visible difference in the sand and surf this year, collectively hosting 71 cleanups and removing well over 10,000 pounds from Washington’s coasts. And that’s not including our now infamous July 5th cleanup, which hauled in over 141,000 lbs of trash in a single day! And we’re still finding plenty of fireworks on the beach months later. Washington is unique in the nation both in the amount of trash left on our beaches after July 4th, but also in the number of people who show up to clean up on the morning after the mess - massive thanks to all the volunteers and partner organizations and groups, as well as city and state parks staff, who make this essential effort possible.
🗳️ Passin’ policies!
And we can’t mention beach cleanups without mentioning our beach cleanup data! We track the types of trash that get plucked from the sand, and these data are what we use to drive policy to prevent plastic pollution at the source - cue the Recycling Reform Act (RRA)!
During this year’s state legislative session, we were SO STOKED to finally pass Extended Producer Responsibility in Washington. The RRA will make it so that the producers of packaging pay for the end-of-life of their products, instead of passing the costs onto cities and taxpayers. Over six years in the making, this bill will overhaul Washington’s waste management system, increase access to recycling in rural areas throughout the state, and eventually create a universal list of what is and is not recyclable - no more guessing games, so long wish-cycling!
In addition to passing the RRA, we celebrated two more coastal victories - passing the sewage spill right to know bill, which will make it easier to know if there is raw sewage in your recreational waters (ew!), and the Bull Kelp Bill, establishing the keystone species bull kelp as Washington’s official state marine forest (and establishing April 16th as Washington Bull Kelp Awareness Day!). You can read more about these victories here.
Shout out to all the volunteers who braved icy roads and sketchy conditions to drive to Olympia and participate in Environmental Lobby Day - you helped push these policies over the finish line!
This year’s 9th annual Coastal Recreation Hill Days had our activists Zooming in to virtual meetings with federal lawmakers to advocate for clean water, NOAA funding, and fighting new offshore drilling. Our Washington and Alaska delegations brought coastal voices where they matter most. It was amazing to see our volunteers leverage their local efforts towards federal policy and lobby on behalf of our ocean, waves, and beaches at the national level.
Our federal advocacy didn’t end there - Pete Steelquist, Washington’s Policy Manager, has been hard at work behind the scenes, strengthening relationships with federal leaders during an intense year of defense as the current administration continues its assault on our public spaces, natural resources, and the federal agencies and staff that safeguard them. Pete flew to DC with other leaders in the Washington Outdoor Alliance to fight for our public lands and waters (read more about it here!)
đź“Ł The Pipeline from Poop to Policy!
Our Blue Water Task Force program continues to fill in vital gaps when and where agencies don’t have the capacity to sample, often at popular water access sites. Chapters in Washington collected 239 water quality samples, testing for enterococcus (aka poop!) and notifying the public if it’s unsafe to swim.
We waded deep into water quality advocacy this year, spotlighting issues like Puget Sound nutrient pollution and pushing (dare I say straining?) for stronger protections and public notification systems so we know when it's safe to swim and when it's more of a doo-doo-don't situation. Surfrider’s 2024 Clean Water Report once again highlighted the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma as one of the top polluted sites that we sample, and efforts are underway to see what can be done about it.
For more info on how our clean water programs tie into state policies and federal funding, check out our blog post, Clean Water from Coast to Capitol.
Expanding Programs, Growing Chapters, and Launching Campaigns
In addition to all the usual business of chapters - planning cleanups and monthly meetings, fundraising, collecting and testing water samples, hosting board swaps and film screenings, and more - we’ve seen chapters expand their efforts by launching new programs and scaling out existing ones! Some highlights from the field include:
🎉 More Good Waves to Ride
Huge thanks to the volunteers, partners, policymakers, and ocean-lovers who made a tumultuous year unforgettable in a good way! Every cleanup, every phone call to a rep, every water sample collected — it all adds up. Here’s to healthy beaches, clean water, and stronger coastal communities in 2026!