Earth Day Clean-Up at Blacks Creek Reservoir a Huge Success

Members of the Boise ATV Trail Riders Club helping with the Blacks Creek Reservoir clean-up.

The largest crowd in five years turned out for the Earth Day clean-up at Blacks Creek Reservoir on Saturday, April 21, 2012, located 10 miles southeast of Boise. Participants collected over 60 cubic yards of trash, leaving the area cleaner than it has been in years. Nearly 100 volunteers joined the BLM including individuals from a local Kuna GirlScout troop, members of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society (GEAS), Boise Gun Club Responsible Shooters, Idaho Fish and Game Department, Land Trust of the Treasure Valley, Boise ATV Trail Riders (Bob Saum and Bill Jones are shown in photo at the right), Mountain Visions, and many others. National Audubon Society has designated this as a globally important birding area due to hundreds of different migratory bird species that use it as a stop-over during long annual migratory treks. Another clean-up of the area is planned for September 2012.  Note: Along with Bill and Bob,  Ray Schmierer, Gary Whitney, and Pauline Jones,  from the Boise ATV Trail Riders Club also helped with the Blacks Creek Clean-up.

 BLM and Partners Clean-Up North Rim of Snake River Canyon

Boise ATV Trail Rider members used their ATVs to pick up the trash bags and hauled to the dumpster.

On May 12, staff from the Bureau of Land Management joined the Southern Idaho Off-Road Association, MagicValley ATV Riders, geocachers, Jerome County Commissioners and other organizations to clean-up garbage for the 13th annual north rim of the Snake River Canyon clean-up. According to Greg Moore of the  Southern Idaho Off-Road Association, “We couldn’t do this without the support of all of our sponsors, in particular, Western States Caterpillar, Cesco Equipment and Southern Idaho Solid Waste. The donated heavy equipment is indispensable for hauling out the huge volumes of trash, and the donated dumpsters enable us to clean this area year after year.” Additional sponsors for the clean-up event included: Columbia Electric, AJ Electric, Western Waste Services, and Jim Bob’s Bakery. Heather Tiel-Nelson, public affairs specialist for the Twin Falls District was happy with the results of the day. “It appeared that all participants had fun and were proud of the work they accomplished in a short period of time. The group filled four 20-yard dumpsters.”

 

Source:  Idaho BLM Newsletter, May issue, page 6