'Happy to co-operate': Upstreet's beach cleanups cancelled for now

Beach cleanups lead by Upstreet Craft Brewing are officially cancelled, for now, due to concerns flagged by Island Nature Trust.

Mikey Wasnidge, marketing and events manager at Upstreet Craft Brewing, said the Nature Trust was forced to withdraw its support for the initiative because it's nesting season for the piping plover a bird whose population sits at a mere 61 on the Island.

• P.E.I. beach cleanups ill-timed, says Nature Trust

"We don't want to disturb their nests, so at first we thought we could avoid the beaches," Wasnidge said.

"But ... there's no telling where they may pop up, so it's really difficult to avoid them."

Despite being disappointed by all the wasted work gone into rallying support from the community, Wasnidge said holding off on the beach cleanup was a "no-brainer."

"I think it's best that we respect the environment and respect the species. We wouldn't want this kind of good cause to endanger the birds any further," he said.

Respecting wishes

The initiative hada cleanup of 11 Island beaches planned for next weekend. Upstreet had brought on several other P.E.I. businesses to host the events and offer small rewards to volunteers everything from coffee to a yoga class to lunch.

Wasnidge said they even gained support from Parks Canada and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

However, when the Island Nature Trust withdrew its support, Wasnidge said they wanted to respect their wishes.

"We've since been in touch with them and continued conversations, and they've made it really clear that they can't support it, even with these precautions in place, so we really respect them," he said.

"We respect what they do and we couldn't, in good conscience, proceed, so we figured it would be best to just cancel for now."

In the meantime, Upstreet is encouraging those who were interested to carefully take matters into their own hands.

"It is still a good idea for smaller scale cleanups to happen," Wasnidge said.

"So, we're encouraging people to still go out on their own time when they're enjoying the beaches this summer and try to pick up garbage as they go, but these kind of Island-wide initiatives can cause some issues."

Wasnidge said he is very hopeful they will be able to reschedule the cleanups, and the goal is to find a date and circumstance that works for everybody who wanted to be involved.

"This was never intended to be hurtful or destructive to the environment. It was meant to be a positive initiative, so we're happy to cooperate."

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