Operation clean sweep: cleaning up all the trash in the BLM woods of the illinois river watershed the illinois river valley is an area of wild and scenic natural beauty, but is also an area of…

Operation clean sweep: cleaning up all the trash in the BLM woods of the illinois river watershed the illinois river valley is an area of wild and scenic natural beauty, but is also an area of long-term economic hardship. One of the tragedies of the socio-economic situation in the valley is the pervasive dumping of trash in the woods. However, the valley residents are interested in cleaning up all of the trash, removing the toxins IT spreads into the water and the soil, and alleviating the heavy emotional burden when the public encounters trash every time the public ventures into the public woods. The emotional burden of the trash is not trivial: the residents of this valley feel the shame of the mess that surrounds US, even while so many of US work on so many other projects to improve the quality of life in the area. IT is time to lift the emotional burden by cleaning up the trash, thoroughly, so that at least at one point in time, the public will know IT has been taken care of. The core of the project is a series of 10 cleanup events at different locations around the illinois river watershed: BLM lands ranging from takilma, waldo, o?brien, cave junction, holland, and kerby, up to selma. Each event will depend on a combination of volunteer effort, and leadership from a handful of volunteers that receive a nominal stipend for their repeat participation. Each event will include the filling of two 30-yard dumpsters. The recipient anticipates one event per month, with exceptions to be made for winter weather, or extreme summer smoke conditions. Each event will be publicized to the maximum extent possible, for the main purpose of attracting volunteers and the secondary purpose of drawing attention to the trash problem. An extra effort will be made to attract youth volunteers (teens), in the hope of guiding the next generation into more responsible trash habits. The second part of the project, which is the most expensive, encompasses the disposal of the ?extras?: RVS, vehicles, tires, and appliances. The recipient will work with BLM, southern oregon sanitation, and the local wrecking yard, to remove these bulky and expensive items.