Celebrate Colorado Public Lands Day by helping clean up a BLM area that is in desperate need.
Overview:
When: May 19th from 10:00AM to 1:00PM
Where: BLM Shooting Range at posted coordinates(Estimated address is 9662 Crawford Rd., Hotchkiss, CO)
Why: Help clean up and begin the process to restore a piece of public land.
What to Bring: Gloves, Sunscreen, Closed-toe shoes Hat, & a desire to help! (Maybe also lunch if you plan to stay the whole day)
Updated Details:
I was able to meet with some folks at the cleanup site. We have solidified some planning, and have made a few adjustments based on the info we gathered. Here is what we have:
- We have asked North Fork Ambulance to have a unit staged at the site for a non-dedicated standby. That means they will have to leave if they get a call, but will otherwise be in the area if we need them. Big Thanks to the Steve at North Fork Ambulance for setting that up!
- Robert's Enterprises has agreed to set up two dumpsters to help us with trash collection. There's a lot of junk out there, and I am sure we won't have a problem filling them up! Big thanks to Sean at Robert's for donating his time and equipment for us!
- Metals, tires, and e-waste: There are a lot of items that don't need to rot away in a landfill. We have worked with a few different agencies, and so long as we can get these items seperated, they will be hauled to the apropriate locations. I will have all areas marked.
- Shot Shells: The ground is very littered with shot shells. It isn't mandatory, however if we are able to seperate them out from the trash, White Flyer will recycle the entire shell. If we have time, I'd love to prevent these from showing up in the landfill.
- Hazardous Materials: There are plenty of hazardous items to be aware of. We will go over them in the safety briefing, and I will be distributing flags for folks to use to mark items that they should not be touching.
With the updates, I want to make sure everyone shows up on time if possible. I will be going over a safety briefing, and it is very important that everyone out here is paying attention and knows what to look out for. Also, Please make sure you have gloves, closed-toe shoes (or even better - boots!), and plenty of water.
Background (AKA Why *this* CITO is so important to me):
In the late 1990's and early 2000's, I (Mike of MikeAndJuli) spent my summers in the beautiful town of Paonia. Somedays I would go to Hotchkiss to swim. Other nights I would go Crawford for fishing. There were other days where my Grandfather would bring me to this BLM Shooting Range to get in some target practice. There were target stands built at various distances, bridges built over the small canyons that meander through this landscape, and a few benches built specifically for target shooting. Most everyone who used this place would be very respectful; bringing in their own targets, cleaning up after themselves, and (if needed) hauling any litter they happened to find in the area.
Unfortunately, times have changed. Over the years the area started to fall into disrepair. Somehow, people stopped seeing this as a shared piece of public land that should be taken care of while it gets enjoyed - to seeing it as a place to destroy. The target stands got shot up until they blew down. The benches were torn apart and eventually scrapped. The bridges over the canyons where destroyed and fell down into the gorges. Nobody picked up after themselves, and eventually they would start illegally dumping their old furniture and appliances here (and then used them for target practice, of course).
When I started geocaching in 2009, my research on the Groundspeak website inevitably brought me to a page about CITO. I immediately thought of how cool it would be to get into the range and clean it up. In September I started to dig around and figure out who was in charge of this piece of land in order to get permission to host a cleanup event out here. After a few phone calls and dropped contacts, I gave up for a number of years.
Then in 2016 I made another push to get permission to CITO the area. After some lengthy e-mail chains and missteps, we were unable to get permission. We were still hosted a few CITOs in the area, but used an alternate site (Crawford State Park). After a personally eventful 2017, I finally got back to pursuing this location in early 2018. In a relatively short number of communications - we were finally given the permission needed to set up a CITO event!
Colorado Public Lands Day:
In May 2016, Colorado became the first state in the nation to establish a holiday recognizing the value of public lands within the state. From now on, the third Saturday in May will be known as Colorado Public Lands Day celebrating the significant contributions these lands have to our state. The bill, carried by Senator Kerry Donovan, passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Governor Hickenlooper.
