Maybe some politician will get on a horse and get some community service hours dedicated to trash pickup. Might should be done without publicity since it might breed more lackadaisical attitude. I saw some trash that was put in bags and left. Of course, the animals had opened the plastic bags an scattered it. Why would somebody bag it then leave it...no room? Just not that hard to pack out your trash. Jeebus!
I used to think the same thing... but I have learned over the past couple of years that public shaming works wonders... by that I mean take pictures, stop in at the ranger station in charge of the area and show them the pictures, walk them out to the rig and show them the amount of trash you have picked up, give them exact grid coordinates where the trash was taken from. With this information they can monitor if it’s a common dumping ground, how many man hours is required to keep the area clean, and a lot more useful information for the agency; to include the possibility of preventing further dumping. Then post the pictures to media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Overland Bound, etc so the public can be aware of these locations and the purps can be caught.
Polotitions aren’t going to waste their time doing a cleanup event. They think (as well as the rest of the world population) that keeping the lands clean is up to the rangers in charge of the lands. However it is OUR responsibility to keep the lands clean as ambassadors for the lands. If you want to really make a difference, then set up a cleanup event. You don’t think they work; look at the Mojave Road Project. They leave tomorrow for the second cleanup event. Originally 50 rigs were allowed to go, but with the overwhelming number of members wanting to go they have bumped the numbers up and set up 2 base camps. We are working with several organizations to make these events Nationally as well as world wide.
So in conclusion, do your part in being an ambassador for our public lands to keep the systems open for generations to come. Document all the work we do to maintain the lands we use. Report bad educate to the proper authorities, and blast the bad behavior so the world can see both sides.
