Local volunteers braved bad weather on Saturday to take part in a cleanup event, picking up trash and debris on public lands in the area southeast of Bend. Over 150 people attended the Public Land Stewards event, which focused on cleaning up the area between Cabin, Horse and Coyote Buttes as the organization begins a prevention project in the area.
According to Kevin Hopper with PLS, crews collected about 12,000 to 15,000 pounds of trash in total. In addition, the PLS ground crew pulled at least 20,000 pounds from abandoned sites, including scrap metal and tires.
"The rain came in and made quite a mess. All things considered, we had a great turnout on what turned into a stormy day," said Hopper.
In an effort to preserve natural landscapes and public land accessibility, volunteers helped clean areas they say have been abused by different user groups and helped protect those areas from future abuse.
"It is a multi-step build to improve and mitigate abuse out there, to mitigate user conflict between groups and to make improvements on recreation. That is the big end goal of this," said Hopper. "There's a lot of steps and elements to it. It's not going to happen overnight."
PLS has facilitated several volunteer cleanup events along China Hat Road in the last few years. Last June, PLS did a large volunteer event in the China Hat area, cleaning abandoned encampments and items, resulting in 58,000 pounds of trash removed from the Deschutes National Forest.
The areas where the cleanup took place invite all types of recreators. Some people go to the area to shoot guns, while others go to nearby trails to hike, ride horses or mountain bike. The multi-use area prompted the organization to be more proactive, cleaning and making the area safer, which differed from the organization's larger-scale, reactionary cleanups of the past.
"We're pivoting this season because hosting large cleanups is obviously a tremendous amount of work and organization," said Hopper. The organization also wanted a safer event. "The safety and security of our volunteers is number one. How and where we've been cleaning, we've adjusted a bit."
One part of the April 13 cleanup involved the pit at Cabin Butte, which Hopper said people often use as a dump site. People dump various items or bring things to shoot at and leave it in the pit.
The pit at Cabin Butte and Coyote Butte are both popular shooting areas, but people sometimes go to outer parts of the pit to shoot because the pit itself has never been groomed or facilitated for shooters. This can be dangerous as there are several trails that recreators use around the area.
While the pits are not technically designated as a shooting range, the organizations are making an effort to create a safe place for people to shoot in the pit, stewarded by the shooting community, creating more opportunities for people to safely shoot.
"Some people will go out there not realizing they are shooting at the edge of or over trails," said Hopper.
To reduce the risk of people driving to trail areas or bringing items to shoot at, burn or leave, PLS worked with construction contractor, Taylor Northwest, to bring in thousands of pounds of boulders to help blockade user-created roadways. Trash No Land, a nonprofit club for responsible shooting, sponsored the cleanup at Cabin and Coyote Butte shooting pits.
One volunteer, Paul Bishop, arrived bright and early to take part in the event. It was his second time attending a PLS event. "I think it's a great thing to do," he said.
Hopper is always thrilled to see people excited to help and come together for a shared purpose. "One of our favorite things is the community aspect of doing these cleanups," said Hopper. "You get people from all sorts of different groups and walks of life in Central Oregon that come together for the same cause."
