There are plenty of "adoption" programs around the country — adopt a section of highway to clean up, or maybe a city park — and now you can adopt a section of beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This new program at the national seashore is intended to help the park staff remove trash and help keep the beaches clean, safe, and pristine.

For this first year of the program, the seashore is making 18 sections of beach available, with a focus on the year-round off-road vehicle routes north of Oregon Inlet and on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Each section is roughly 2 miles long. Opportunities may expand to other sections of the beach in coming years.

To adopt a section of seashore beach, a group must commit to completing four cleanups each year and meet all reporting requirements. Upon completion of their first cleanup, each group will be acknowledged via signage at the entry point to their adopted area for the remainder of their commitment.

More information, including requirements, how to sign up and maps of adoptable areas are available at go.nps.gov/adoptabeach. Interested groups may also contact the seashore stafff at [email protected] to learn more about the program. Training and cleanup supplies will be provided to group leaders following signup.

“So many local families and businesses already provide exceptional support to the seashore by helping to steward our beaches,” said National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac. “Through this program, the seashore will be able to better support and recognize individuals and organizations that want to help maintain beautiful beaches.”

The seashore’s Adopt-a-Beach program has been developed with support and partnership from the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association (NCBBA), the first organization to adopt a Seashore beach. NCBBA provided valuable insight from their decades-long Operation Beach Respect program. The National Park Service would also like to thank all the individuals who have spent countless hours picking up litter along seashore beaches.