Helping Focus on the Forest's Cleanup Operations: Pike National Forest

Last time I camped in this section of the Pike National Forest, I'd found a dump site while motoring about on Yagi, my TW200.

While at the site looking for clues as to who'd done the dumping, a Forest Ranger came by and we chatted for a bit.  He mentioned there was an outfit called Focus on the Forest and hat their mission was to coordinate volunteers to pick up trashed out sites in the national forest!

Today, they hosted an event to clean up several sites near Woodland Park.  One of the reasons I'd chosen to camp here was to join one of their teams and help out.

I went to the dump site that I'd reported to the Forest Service before, it was marked by Shawn of Focus on the Forest as cleanup site #1.  I got there before the assigned cleanup crew, at 8:30 and did some pickup of small litter and such until the crew arrive around 10 AM.  This crew, from Monument, CO, had been delayed in arriving at the main site which explained their 10 AM arrival at site #1.

Here's what the site looked like before the crew showed up:

The crew was welcoming and everyone just started picking up stuff and throwing it onto the back of a couple of pickup trucks.  Trash bags were provided and soon we had the larger of the two pickup trucks full of trash:

Some idiot(s) had dumped a couch down the hill from the main dump site, I think it took 3-4 guys to hump it back up the hill and onto the back of the Ranger's pickup truck.

By 11:20 (1hr, 20 min) elapsed time, the site was cleaned up!

Shawn, one of the main organizers of Focus on the Forest, had parked his truck on the main trail and they transferred the couch from the Ranger's truck to the Shawn's trailer:

We then spent the time before Noon cleaning up a mildly littered site nearby designated site #2.  

I then left and found their main camping/asmin area for today, signed in so they get credit for the few hours I spent helping.  Apparently it helps with gaining funding/grants from various organizations when they show # of people, whether they're Vets or not and some other factors as well.  Dang it, I forgot to ask for the free t-shirt.  Oh well, next time.

Great experience working with the informal crew, good to work with like-minded individuals and FS officials as well.  If you care to help,  make sure to attend the pre-cleanup briefings to cover logistics, paperwork and such to let everybody know the plan.  You'll be better informed than I was for sure.

In the late afternoon, I was joined by Thing Two and friend Alice for a bit of shooting in the same spot I'd spent time picking up trash.  All went well and Thing Two familiarized with a recently purchase G19 9mm pistol.  Did OK too and I was glad to see safe gun handling and willingness to train and learn.  Of course, we policed up our brass!

The two of them left me to go further south towards Cañon City where they're spending the night before heading to the Great Sand Dunes National Park tomorrow I think.

Update:  Focus on the Forest reports having picked up 3200 lbs of trash and three tires this event.  

They're reporting a total of 641 tires overall since they started doing these cleanups!  641, and this is only one national forest and not even all of it being cleaned up, what is wrong with the people who litter like this!