A full-size Winnebago RV, a commercial freezer with a case of beer inside, a snowmobile, a pop-up camper: All of these items and more have been left behind in the wilderness, and each year, U.S. Forest Service crews are stuck picking it up.
About a quarter of the 1.9-million-acre San Juan National Forest is wilderness.
This summer, Columbine District wilderness crews and volunteers packed more than 700 pounds of trash out of its portion of the Weminuche and more than 680 pounds out of the Hermosa Creek Wilderness, sometimes using pack animals when the refuse was too heavy for backpacking out.
When crews were renovating the Lower Hermosa Campground, it took two flatbed trailers to dispose of trash left at a single campsite.
Refuse is either taken to dumpsters or directly to a transfer station for an additional cost.
“When federal crews must collect and dispose of trash, it is certainly not cost-effective for taxpayers,” said Ann Bond, spokeswoman for the San Juan National Forest. “Trash and debris dumped on or left behind on public lands shifts the costs of waste gathering and disposal to federal taxpayers instead of the individuals who generate the trash and debris.”
And it’s not just trash – vandalism can cost the Forest Service time and money. Just last month, 17 signs were defaced on Missionary Ridge, costing the agency $1,500.
Trash in wild places is something national forests and parks across the nation are accustomed to handling.
National parks move more than 50,000 tons of trash from on-site trash facilities into landfills each year. Murray Shoemaker, spokesman for Mesa Verde National Park, said the park budgets about $37,000 to dispose of trash visitors generate, which was 680 tons in the past year (73 percent of that was recyclable).
Denali National Park spends about $75,000 a year to get rid of the 140 tons of garbage visitors dispose in the park. South Florida’s Everglades National Park pays about $80,000 annually to remove 125 tons, and Yellowstone is feeling the wear of 4 million annual visitors, who create 3,000 tons of trash that cost $500,000 to haul out.
National parks can more easily track those numbers because they have designated garbage facilities, but dumping in the backcountry is harder to quantify.
For nearly 20 years, Kathe Hayes has organized volunteer programs for San Juan Mountains Association, including cleanup efforts in the forest.
All manner of camping supplies, hunting equipment and recreational gear have been found abandoned or cached for later use, which is illegal. This year, SJMA volunteers discovered a deserted tent, tarp, food and clothing near Highland Mary Lakes in Silverton.
“Some people buy cheap equipment and just leave it for the cleaning fairies to pick up, I guess,” Hayes said. “It’s an ongoing process, because it’s ongoing – people keep leaving things. We don’t keep track just because it’s never-ending.”
Over the years, she said, her volunteers have wandered off-trail to scour the backcountry, finding abandoned camps that otherwise could have gone unnoticed for years.
“I will tell you, in my experience, most trash is found in hunting season,” Hayes said. “It’s not exclusive to them, but they get in a bind, we have a blizzard or something, and they abandon camp, I think sometimes with good intentions to come back – but they don’t.”
Years ago, Hayes instituted a dumpster program exclusively for hunters during the season, establishing receptacles at trailheads in Pagosa Springs, Durango and other popular sites in the San Juans. It cost $5,000 a year to run, and was discontinued when others, such as construction companies, left their refuse at the dump sites.
Dumping refuse, debris, trash or litter on Forest Service land is punishable by a $500 fine. When trash or evidence of other illegal activity is found, the Forest Service notifies its law enforcement officers.
“If they want to inspect it, we hold it at the district until the officers have had an opportunity to look at it,” Bond said. “Sometimes it becomes evidence, such as when we find discarded mail with names and addresses included in the trash.”
It’s common practice for employees, recreation crews, timber crews, firefighters, wildlife biologists and hydrologists to pick up trash and haul it out as they find it, usually without making a report, and it’s rare that a perpetrator is identified.
“The more time agency crews spend picking up trash means less time is available for other important recreation management duties, like installing interpretive signs, cleaning toilets, keeping parking lots in good condition and keeping trails open and well-maintained,” Bond said.
jpace@durangoherald.com
