Fossil Creek getting trashed

[chumley]

Article in today's Republic highlighting the recent overuse of Fossil Creek.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... d1010.html

I'm all for closing the road to public use ... or at least closing it to anybody without a permit like they did with Bulldog Canyon on the Lower Salt River.

If the only access is to hike from the top, you will significantly limit the number of people who use it as a party spot.

Maintain the road for official access only.

[rally_toad]

okay so I didnt mean to come across as some old guy complaining about "young people" I am under 20 myself so I am pretty young.

But I am just dissapointed that some people my age do not fully respect the wilderness. And I sometimes feel that older folks sometimes blame young people for the trash problem. For the most part people respect and do not trash the wilderness, but a few make up for it by the amount of trash they leave. When you have a place as cool as Fossil you will get more people, which will mean that there will be more litterers even though its a very small percentage of peopl who actually litter.

[joebartels]

The elders really don't have a chance to litter being meatier and all.

[azsixshooter]

An important thing to consider is packing out others' trash and cleaning areas even if you weren't the one that trashed it. Whenever I go shooting I always take my rake and a box of yard bags. When I'm done shooting I usually take at least 1-2 hours to completely clean the area of all trash, targets and brass/shells. In doing this, I have to select an area that's manageable enough for me to completely clean up, but it's a real good feeling when I look at a spot in the desert that was so ugly and now it's restored. The most challenging part of cleaning up those kinds of areas is usually the plastic wal-mart bags that blow into the cactus and then bake in the sun so long the plastic gets pretty weak. You kind of have to pick the pieces out as the bag usually rips and tears when you pull on it. I've had some success taking a long forked stick and jamming it into the center of the bag then twisting and pulling it out. When I stand back and look at an area, to me, it's those bags blowing around in the trees and cactus that make the area looked trashed to another level. If you even just go around and pull all of the bags you can see down it makes the area look better from a distance.

When I go hunting I set aside time to find a trashed campsite or two and completely clean them up. I usually take a long stick and affix a tent stake to the end of it for stabbing garbage, it's a lot easier then constantly bending over every couple of yards.

I guess it's not for everyone to clean up other people's trash, but my philosophy is that at least some of the people that litter do it because they already see trash there. I think it gives some people the rationale for their laziness, like saying "we'll it's already trashed, so it doesn't make a difference if I clean my mess or not". I hope that the same people have just enough of a conscience that they at least won't be the first ones to cast trash in a pristine area.

It's a battle and the bottom line is that those of us who care have to put in time if we're ever going to make a difference. That means packing out more than your share every time you go out and volunteering time, equipment and materials in larger clean up efforts sometimes co-ordinated by the Forest Service or private groups like the Boy Scouts, Hunting Groups, etc. It sucks, but seeing the land in that condition sucks worse.

[PaleoRob]

When I go hunting I set aside time to find a trashed campsite or two and completely clean them up. I usually take a long stick and affix a tent stake to the end of it for stabbing garbage, it's a lot easier then constantly bending over every couple of yards.

Amen to this, and all the rest of your post. I wish more people were like you - willing to do their part to clean up, even if they didn't make that mess. When I'm out working in the forest, I always try and nab some trash when I see it, but I can't do it all the time - otherwise I'd be stopped 95% of the time, and get no work done! I do try, though...

[dgroat]

Close the roads to the general public. It's the only way to save the ecosystem down there. As Edward Abbey envisioned, it's time to put up a big sign that says, "Howdy Folks. Welcome to your national park (forest). Established for your pleasure. Park your car, jeep, truck, atv, tank, motorboat, jetboat, airboat submarine airplane, jetplane helicopter, hovercraft, winged motorcycle, rocketship or any other conceivable motorized transport in the big parking lot behind you. Get out of your motorized vehicle, get on your horse, mule, bicycle or feet, and come on in!

[te_wa]

...Get out of your motorized vehicle

yeah, that'll happen!
take a look at the pics from Painted Desert- that area was less than 1 mile from the road.
I agree, close the road. If idiots had to walk from say, the Verde River Trail #11 i'd bet the crowds would "thin out"

[tonyp]

Last spring, Inside/Outside magazine did a story on this very subject (which you'd have to Google because of linking prohibitions)
I know this because I wrote it.

When I was there researching, I found a fair amount of garbage above the dam, especially in the obvious campsites. The reality is that you are four miles and a couple thousand vertical feet away from the nearest trash receptacle. The number of our fellow citizens who are flummoxed that this is not a municipal park far outnumber the responsible outdoors community - so bring an extra trashbag to haul out your neighbor's crap.

Happily, you don't have to bushwhack very far below the bridge before the garbage disappears. The car-camping sites near the bridge, though, are dreadful.

For those who can't be bothered to read it (and I don't take that personally) (much), here's what I really learned:

The resurrection of Fossil Springs is a feat of human community as rare and amazing as a river in the desert. Optimists might say it is a new paradigm of things to come, while pessimists point out that, by weight of history, this is simply an aberration. I say dip your feet in the water while you can, because the state’s population growth accelerates while the budgets of agencies which manage the wilderness continue to shrink.
Like all streams in the wilderness, Fossil Creek is endangered by the very people who enjoy it the most. Unless we reverse our attitudes about beer cans and Styrofoam coolers and disposable diapers, a hundred years from now, another extraordinary coalition will be forced come together to restore the creek — again.

Tony