We could all be better land stewards. Honestly, in this era of consistent threats to public lands and our access to them, we need to be. Because the folks who are looking to take those great spaces are actively looking to find excuses to point to as to why we don't need them. And the easiest way they've done this is by pointing to how our public lands have been trashed by the very users that supposedly want them conserved.
Now, I'm not laying the blame on any one group because every group is responsible for leaving trash by the side of the trail, along campgrounds, or in the deep dark wilderness areas where dirt bikes, ATVs, UTVs, and trucks can't go. It's hunters, anglers, off-roaders, campers, hikers, climbers, rafters, and everyone else under the sun doing it. There are also real homelessness problems in areas around the country thanks to gutless politicians who refuse to actually help folks out, but who push them to our public lands to live.
These can't be excuses, however. We need to do better. All of us. And the good folks over at the Gambler 500 are showing the way, as in the group's latest event, they pulled out nearly 400,000 pounds of trash over the course of just a single weekend.
That's not just doing good; that's doing f'ing great things for our public lands. And they worked with the U.S. Forest Service to accomplish it.
According to the Gambler 500 organizers, which include founder Tate Morgan, at the Gambler's fourth annual Oregon rally, 4,500 attendees worked to haul out 391,000 pounds of trash across the Crooked River National Grassland. That included 14 cars, eight RVs, four boats, and a whopping 2,500 tires, as well as regular old debris, trash, and leftover crap you see whenever you turn up to our public lands. Those tires, however, are something to call out, as working in conjunction with the Ford Corporation and the Larry and Gail Miller Foundation, the Gambler and the Foundation spent $15,000 on just the disposal fee for those alone.
And, folks, money just doesn't fall out of the sky for these types of things. That's a chunk of change, but one that's worth the cost given it reduces the pollution we're exposed to on our public lands, which is also good for air and water quality.
Morgan, who talked with the Forest Service after the event, relayed, "We didn’t think there was enough trash to make it worth the effort, but this year turned out to be our most productive ever."
Jim Beaupre, the recreation team lead for the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland, went further, praising the group by stating, "Central Oregon faces significant challenges with illegal dumping and the abandonment of vehicles and RVs in the urban interface of our public lands, especially on the Crooked River National Grassland. The Gambler 500 has been an extremely helpful addition to helping us get the landscape cleaned up with many hands making lighter work in a single weekend. It is truly amazing the amount of work the group accomplishes, all while having a great time enjoying our public lands. We have noticed a much cleaner landscape after the event and hope the message to leave no trace encourages the community to help us keep our public lands as clean as possible."
For those unaware of the Gambler 500, as well as its sister company the Sons of Smokey, the Gambler 500 started life as a rally for, well, shit boxes, that cost less than $500, where the participants would enter the rally but the plan was to clean up our public lands over the course of a weekend. It's since expanded, growing bigger and bigger each year, as well as launching the Sons of Smokey app, which allows trail users to mark where dumped trash, cars, RVs, and more are, so folks can come and clean it up and help our nation's wild places stay wild and free of trash.
That reminds me, I have two GPS pins to add to the app.
The Forest Service's press release went on to further praise the Gambler and Sons of Smokey, stating the group has been responsible for removing over 6 million pounds of trash and debris from our nation's public lands, and have been basically the equivalent to Captain Planet and assembling these awesome public land fighters to help promote good stewardship. And, honestly, we need more of this, along with more of this in the powersports community, as well as the hunting and angling community, too.
So let's get on it, and pack out more than you packed in. Don't give those public land ghouls any ammunition against us.
