How many people have had trail closings because people can't pick up there trash or leave an area the same or better than when they got it? A couple privately owned trails by us are most likely going to be closed because of the trash people leave. Anybody have this problem?

 

Oh yea!! I'll give a very small sample of what the trails close to streets where I live look like.
Sadly these pics really don't show how much trash is out there, I was trying to get pics without the trash.
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I've been cleaning the trails by my house a lot lately. I took 4 35 gal bags out of one area and still need to get 4-5 other areas. It's really sad that people can't keep their trash to themselves.

 

I wish this was somthing that I could clean up, however it would literaly take several dump trucks and some heavy equipment just to clean up the area those pics were taken. And that cost $$$

 

The stuff in Hawkeye's pics was left by some mattress tossers who were to lazy to make a trip to the dump. Clearly, that has absolutely nothing to do with off-roading....except guilt by association. Around here, the fines for mattress tossing are huge!!! I carry my cell phone, and call their license plates in if I see them......

Interesting the the red neck games has ATV events, and a mattress toss...great for our image! Great to be regarded as a bunch of drunk redneck tweakers!

 

That is great to hear. I do the same thing. Wish more people would speak up. It just sucks....a bunch of lazy slobs that find it more convenient to dump their stinkin' trash on somebody else's property.

Fact! It just reinforces the already bad image the non-motorized people associate with off-roading. Basically considered a bunch of stupid drunks. Not good.

 

It's true that all the trash in photos are from lazy,cheap, inconciderate ppl. The point being, that no matter however the trash gets there the land still gets closed to all public access...the athorities know that the ohv'rs are not the ones dumping the trash but to help stem the flow of dumping all access has to be restricted.

 

It is true that the “authorities” know it isn’t the OHV users dumping all this trash, and it is also true the easiest way to stop it is to close the trails. But – “they” can only close the trails we allow them to close – get enough people to protest and they will open again. Plus - we, as users of public land can help alleviate some of the problems by phoning in the idiots as suggested by recon, and we can also help if each of us carries out small amounts of trash each time we visit. Any time we go hiking I make my kid find a piece of trash to carry out. Granted, it’s often a water bottle or some such thing closest to the vehicle, but that’s one less water bottle out there on “our” land.

 

I strongly agree.. too many morons out there are ruining it for the rest of us .. PICK UP YOUR TRASH for petes sake.

 

These trails scrambler is talking about are privately owned, as in private property so "they" can close anything they want whenever they want.

Hawkeye makes no mention of who owns the land in his pictures....could be state, local, federal. There's no way to know if protests would do squat.

If you're talking Forest Service, a USFS Supervisor can write a Closure Order for a specific trail (for a period of time) or area regardless of any protests anytime they want. Maybe enough people could reverse an order, but I've never seen it happen. People getting together and cleaning up an area would go a long way to opening it again. Total trail closure could launch a lengthy NEPA round and large protests would be effective there.