Annual cleanup of St. Catherines Island to begin weeks after wildfires burned 2,000+ acres

LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - This past June, wildfires on St. Catherine’s Island in Liberty County burned around 2,200 acres.

Now, members of the Liberty County community are planning their annual cleanup of the beaches on the island.

Staff members at Keep Liberty Beautiful say the recent fires on St. Catherine’s Island make their annual cleanup even more important this year.

Georgia Forestry officials say lightning sparked multiple fires that burned around 2,200 acres on the island. The fires burned for days before finally being put out on July 5.

Now, Keep Liberty Beautiful will head over to the island in September for their yearly cleanup. Executive Director Dr. Karen Bell says the beaches weren’t impacted directly by the fire, but Keep Liberty Beautiful is lending an extra hand wherever it’s needed.

“The only thing we’re looking into is finding out if we can help more. Maybe plant some trees or plants, what else we can do besides clean it up, so it just gave us something else to ask, what can we do for our community,” Bell said.

Bell says they have space for 60 volunteers for the cleanup scheduled for Sept. 10, and they’re still in need of boat captains to take volunteers to the island.

Click on the link if you’re interested in signing up to be a boat captain or a volunteer.

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