More work

Yesterday I joined a volunteer work crew from the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center (CSERC) cleaning up parts of the Clavey River watershed. We were supervised (and ably led and assisted) by members of the Stanislaus National Forest staff.

They directed us down to a series of OHV campsites that had been abused over the years. We moved logs and trees to block off access to some areas, took down a few illegal campfire rings, and cleaned up plenty of trash, including everything from beer bottles and diapers to plastic forks and spoons. And more toilet paper than we bothered to count.

Note how close this is to the creek in the background.

The sad thing is that these campers had shovels. They dug pits for toilets--as you can see above. And then they left TP on the ground, and the pits open. When we were done, the TP was hauled out, the pits were filled in, and the campsites again looked like they were ready for human habitation.

Hopefully, that doesn't come until next year. The places could use a few months of vacation.