Fifty March “Marsh Madness” Cleanups Planned, Volunteers Needed

BRUNSWICK, GA - (January 29, 2026) – Roll up your sleeves, put on your boots and come get muddy with Keep Golden Isles Beautiful! Be part of the 13^th annual effort and help keep the beautiful Marshes of Glynn litter free at one of many scheduled March “Marsh Madness” cleanups!  Sponsored locally by Georgia-Pacific Brunswick Cellulose Mill and kicking off the national Greatest America Cleanup effort in the Golden Isles, during March FIFTY, yes FIFTY, local salt marsh and marsh adjacent cleanups have been planned for various days of the week and times, to accommodate the largest number of volunteers possible.

“Volunteers of all ages and abilities are invited to participate in Marsh Madness,” said KGIB executive director Lea King-Badyna. “Cleanups are planned for marsh bordering high ground, ocean/river bordering parks as well as down in the salt marshes themselves. This is our most ambitious and expansive effort with a record fifty planned cleanups in just one month this year, and a large volunteer turnout is crucial to making the biggest possible positive impact in removing trash and debris from this valuable natural resource. We absolutely cannot emphasize enough the importance of a large volunteer turnout.”

Individual cleanup event listings, containing cleanup location maps, can be found at KGIB.ORG\EVENTS

“We greatly appreciate the organizations and individuals serving as site leaders for Marsh Madness cleanups. With just a two-person staff, Keep Golden Isles Beautiful simply could not hold this many cleanup events in one month without their help and partnership,” continued King-Badyna. “The 2025 effort saw 46 Marsh Madness cleanups removing 9.5 TONS of trash, including 70 tires, from our important salt marshes, illustrating just how much trash ends up on our marshes. Since its 2014 inception, the Marsh Madness month-long cleanup effort has cleaned 236 sites and removed 69 TONS of trash and debris, including 677 tires – again, this is just for the March Marsh Madness efforts since 2014, we cleanup in these areas regularly, and there is always trash present.”

AGAIN THIS YEAR: Volunteers working a minimum of 3 Marsh Madness cleanups will receive a custom Marsh Madness t-shirt, while those volunteering at a minimum of 5 Marsh Madness cleanups will receive a custom sling bag. **The male and female working the highest number of Marsh Madness cleanups will be crowned Marsh King and Marsh Queen 2026.

Bags, gloves and volunteer water will be provided; boots, sunscreen, bug spray, clothes/shoes for mud recommended. Please arrive a few minutes early to cleanups to allow for volunteer check-in. Contact Keep Golden Isles Beautiful for more information: info.kbgib@gmail.com or 912/279-1490. Keep America Beautiful’s Greatest American Cleanup is the nation’s largest volunteer driven cleanup effort.

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Established in 1979, Keep Golden Isles Beautiful is a Keep America Beautiful / Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation affiliate. Keep Golden Isles Beautiful’s mission is to preserve and enhance the beauty of Glynn County through community stewardship.