Marijuana Gardne Clean up program?

emily duxbury · Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 8

As you know, Tom and I had our reservations about being garbage men/women for the cops given what we've focused on for years. However, we felt it was first, a mistake to stand against it without knowing about it first hand; secondly, forget the pot. It's gone, this is about human garbage in the wilderness.

I know, that doesn't sound as noble as cutting a 4 ft. fallen king of the forest and moving it off the trail, but it's worthwhile. However, I strongly believe that we should not do more than 2 trips in spring and 2 trips in fall. The amount of logistical planning is too great to interfere with the other trips we do. Those trips should never be sacrificed or suffer from too much attention to the garbage clean up! Tom and Em

Tony Cortez · Joined: 20 Feb 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Galt

There are some good ideas and suggestions. David had some good points. I think things we should look for:

1. ensure we are provided indoor facilities. It would have been tougher to continue had we had to return to a cold wet tent after being snowed and rained upon.

2. availability of showers- knowing you have a warm shower at the end of the day makes any cold weather bearable. Also, this may be a major safety point considering the insects and contaminants (including poison oak).

3. better reconaissance- a trailcrew member should be able to visit the site in a reconaissnce role, or a LEO who has been to the site via land route should accompany the crew, or we should have a thorough recon (pictures) on what to expect (i.e. structures, trash sites, etc.)

4. safety equipment- gloves, dust masks, and safety glasses funded for this project by the government.

5. feedback- obtain feedback from the LEOs as far as what we can do to improve, what they liked, and anything that may make us stronger in the future.

6. screening of youth- Shane has a great knack as to when to allow a kid on trailcrew or projects. The three youngsters I've seen on these two trips are incredible young adults. It makes one's day to see these young adults committed to the environment and community service. It makes it worth the trip.

7. helicopter training- Although the LZ crews are trained, we should still provide everyone with the how's and why's around a helicopter. We have to realize that we adapt to the chopper, not the chopper to us.

8. funding- this is tough work, we have to do it until (and if) the government agency(ies) get the resources to do it. However, I think we should have some help getting the equipment we need (i.e. tape, bags, gloves)

I'll be there regardless but if any of these things can be done, that would be great.

Tony