I will be visiting my favorite camping areas and hiking trails with frequency this summer to ensure they stay clean. Would anyone like to organize and protect our favorite wilderness spaces this summer/fall season?

Our hard working, dedicated friends at the USFS have been illegally terminated en masse. These sacred spaces need protectors.

I’ve been thinking about spending summer weekends doing this since a conversation this past September with a USFS friend on the East side. We were hiking near a specific sno park on the East side and I was venting about how disappointed I was with the way people were treating the place. Garbage, toilet paper and poop everywhere. I’ve also witnessed people shooting fireworks during wildfire season- an area that is a literal tinder box. My friend shared how difficult it was to address these issues because of the hiring freeze and budget cuts. The districts were already stretched thin, so patrolling these areas and having a presence just wasn’t happening.

Obviously things are even worse now.

So I’m planning to do trash pick up, but also just be a presence and kindly ask people to put out campfires during fire bans, check firepits for smoldering coals etc. I’ll also have a bunch of wag bags to give out to campers because the toilets are going to be terrible.

Ideally it’d be great to get folks from all across the state and just keep it local to where we are. I know this is a big ask because summer is adventure season for us outdoor lovers, but this is a pretty critical time to step up and support our ecological communities (if you have the time, effort, and mobility to do so). I’ll be doing this with or without help, hopefully I can at least inspire others to step up and do the same.