Field Report: Trash cleanup in southeast Arizona with Hunters Who Care group

[DesertRose]

We spent Saturday with a Safari Club group called Hunters Who Care, helping to clean up trash on various Altar Valley ranches (between the Baboquivari Mts and the Sierrita & Cerro Colorado Mts) - mostly from migrants, and from hunters (or rather, slobs-with-guns -- not real hunters). Here's a shot that relates the scope of the problem:

http://www.jandrhanson.com/trash.jpg

We had to create a road to get a few pickups to this site, to take about 100 big bags of trash out. This area is in a saddle between two big hills, away from any roads. It's a stopover point for migrants on foot.

The problem was that user-created roads are like bait for ATVers - you'd think they think there's a 12-pack of Bud at the end of each one. Sure enough, just as we were finishing up, three rather WIDE-bodied folks including their pudgy kid came right up the side of the hill on their 3 ATVs.

We stayed behind and disguised/closed the road at Game & Fish's request.

Game & Fish and lots of hunter friends we know are all getting sick of ATVs driving off roads, up washes, scaring off game, wrecking habitat, and giving radical environmental groups plenty of ammo to start lobbying for more restrictions on backcountry driving of all kinds - and it's those of us who are careful users who will suffer most.

So there's a real need for ethical-minded 4x4 enthusiasts to help support Game & Fish in an up-and-coming campaign to educate ATV and 4x4 users about the illegality of driving off-road and up washes.

Stay tuned.

Roseann

[Scenic WonderRunner]

I found this article tonight..........it really shows how bad this migrant/trash problem really is!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Article:Article LINK (http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=110795)

Published: Sep 25, 2005
Author: ANDREW BECKER
Post Date: 2005-09-26 17:55:00 by Moderate Mammal
17 Comments




Migrants leaving ugly mark on land

Up to 4,000 tons of trash left near Arizona border each year

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 25, 2005

By ANDREW BECKER / The Dallas Morning News

ARIVACA, Ariz. – Empty water jugs and scraps of clothing are as common as saguaro and mesquite in this part of the Sonoran Desert, 12 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.


No More Deaths volunteer Jeff Weeks hikes along a littered trail outside Arivaca, Ariz. Trash along migrant trails is particularly concentrated in encampment areas. There are places along the Mexico border in Arizona where the desert floor is hidden by discarded backpacks, shoes and other refuse left behind by people crossing the border.

These are the signs of illegal immigration, found in heaps at camps, along well-worn paths that run through the dry desert creek beds and ever closer to Tucson, 50 miles northeast.

"It would be an understatement to say parts of the desert have been trashed," said Gail Aschenbrenner, spokeswoman for the 1.7 million-acre Coronado National Forest, which shares 60 miles of border with Sonora, Mexico.

"It's like collateral damage," said Gary Nabhan, director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, who has studied southern Arizona desert ecology.

4,000 tons of trash

Illegal immigrants drop an average of 6 to 8 pounds of waste during their journey, according to government estimates. With an estimated 1 million people crossing into Arizona each year, that amounts to 4,000 tons of garbage.

The worst areas are at smugglers' "lay-up" sites, where travelers wait to be transported to areas such as Tucson and Phoenix. Backpacks and clothes practically pave the ground, left behind so that more people can be packed into vehicles, or when the immigrants try to change their appearance from dusty hikers to indistinguishable citizens.

Federal and state money to address the problem has trickled down, but it's not enough, resource managers say. Citizen cleanup efforts exist, but volunteers can't keep up.

Neither can landowners. Ranchers Tom and Dena Kay, whose property touches five miles of border, said they haul out a pickup load of garbage a week.

"It makes you very, very angry because there's such lack of respect of the land and the people living here," said Mrs. Kay, 62.


Lasting impact

The environmental impacts will long outlive those dropping the trash, Mr. Nabhan said. He pointed to remnants from the California gold rush still evident on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

"You can still see tracks and garbage from a much smaller group of people ... 150 years later," he said. "This last decade of increase in illegal border crossings will inevitably be seen on the ground well into the 22nd century."

The problem on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation to the east is even worse. The 2.8 million-acre tribal land – nearly the size of Connecticut – fronts about 70 miles of remote border.

As many as 1,500 illegal immigrants cross the reservation each day, leaving more than 4 million pounds of trash a year, according to a June 2004 Government Accountability Office report.

Gary Olson, administrator for the reservation's solid waste program, said more than 40 tons of garbage have been collected in the past year. Much of that garbage is up to 10 years old, which he calls "easy pickings," compared with waste in more remote places.

The nation has been among the most aggressive in addressing the issue, using global positioning systems to map and monitor the dumping grounds. The nation has also received grants totaling $100,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management to help fund cleanup projects. But, Mr. Olson says, that won't wipe out the trash.

Little coordination

Mr. Nabhan said there is little cleanup coordination.

"With homeland security issues trumping everything else along the borders, there's no agency with the power to make sure ecological impacts are minimized by either illegal border crossers or the government agencies themselves," he said. The Border Patrol responded last September by creating a position to help communicate with different agencies and to focus on environmental issues.

Harv Forsgren, U.S. Forest Service regional forester for the Southwestern region, said he's still concerned about the environmental impacts of the Border Patrol, but he has seen improvements.

For instance, when agents apprehend apparently illegal immigrants, they sometimes make them clean up their trash. Immigration law prohibits them from cleaning up more, officials said.

"It's the saddest thing to see its effects," Mr. Nabhan said. "It's much more dramatic than anything we've seen in the past."

[flyingwil]

http://www.jandrhanson.com/trash.jpg


:Wow1: Dear Lord that's a lot of trash! I would have thought some one bombed the landfill right next door.

:clapsmile Great job on your efforts for keeping our trails open. It is a shameful sight to see any place to that degree with that amount of litter.

I recently went out to Butcher Jones / Rolls OHV and spent more time picking up litter than I did wheeling, upon leaving I had a near full bed of pure litter. The best part of it all is there is a large dumpster near the entrance/ exit and while unload the litter into the dumpster a Jeep trailing 2 ATV's stoped by and asked where I got all the trash. I explained to him that I had simply picked it all up while on the trail. The couple in the Jeep's faces were priceless, and hopefully they too will help next time they are out to keep ouor trails open.

There is a fine line between picking up the litter and educating others and being seen as an ******* in their eyes. If I am with people I know, they know I like to pick it up and in fact think it is funny to put trash in my truck. But in my oppinion it is just as bad to roll past a beer can as it is to put it there! It would be great to be able to roll on with out stopping, but if I am out enjoying the trail I want the next guy behind me to enjoy it too.

Roseann- Great job! I am sorry to hear about the closing of the trail, but it clearly needed to cleaned and shut down. Thanks for your efforts in fighting :sport_box to keep our trails open for continued use and enjoyment!

[DesertRose]

I am sorry to hear about the closing of the trail, but it clearly needed to cleaned and shut down. Thanks for your efforts in fighting :sport_box to keep our trails open for continued use and enjoyment!

Just to clarify, Flyingwil - this "road" that we closed was created by us to access the site to remove the trash (migrant trash). This was an area with no roads. Any road that is created for management must be closed, or slobs like the 3 ATVers will scoot right up in in search of . . . Bud? Bud Light (hey, gotta watch those waistlines; Levis don't go up past 60x32).

So - yes, we need to be vigilant and help where it's needed.

On a rather humorous (in a sick way) note, when we were coming home through more backcountry, we were flagged down by 2 migrants who had been lost for 6 days, were exhausted and scared (they'd been robbed by fellow Mexicans at gunpoint, and said they found some bodies of deceased migrants, who had been partially eaten by animals!) and wanted to be taken in to Border Patrol. We calmed them down and gave them some Cokes before loading them in the trucks (and calling Border Patrol). Before getting in the truck, they turned around and tossed their cans off into the bushes....

Sigh.

:(

[Ursidae69]

There are some major cultural differences between the US and Mexico. Here, we bury our trash, but the landfills in Mexico are generally just open pits and it is rarely buried.

Here is a picture of a landfill south of El Rosario in Baja Norte. It spread this far in every direction and this town isn't all that large. Most Mexican towns have their on-the-top landfills outside all their cities. Not sure that we can do anything about the illegals dumping trash, they don't see a problem with it like we do. It's how they deal with their trash. This landfill below was mostly sea urchins, that is why it is purple in color.

http://www.chucksweb.net/Albumatic/BajaMarch2003/L_Urchin2.jpg

We have to stop the illegal traffic if we want to stop the trash. The Border Patrol cannot do it, having the military on the border won't work either. Many of the areas are very rugged and mountainous, not to mention awesome habitat. The illegal drug runners I ran into a couple weeks ago crossing into the US were using a VERY rugged mountain pass to get into the US. I was there studying an endangered rattlesnake that inhabits the sky islands in the borderlands. The border patrol won't go there, only crazy biologist types like me hike into rugged areas like this.

I think the answer is a political one. The US and Mexico need some better treaties. The economy in Mexico needs supported so that their people will want to stay home because they have work there. It's hard to find concensus with political answers though. They need to move the war on drugs south too.

[Life_in_4Lo]

I won't get into politics, but trash is a widespread offroad problem. I've seen it in many places and it pisses me off.
The original post is true, it's great fodder for the eco-nazi's to shut everything off. ATV's piss me off too, again it's the few bad apples that ruin it for everyone.

I wish there was some ritual ***-kicking that could be done at every trailhead in America whereby a ignant, drunk, "offroader" is made example of...

[MaddBaggins]

Rose, that pic makes me want to puke. That is just insane. Thanks for cleaning up! :clapsmile

[calamaridog]

For doing something :jumping:

I'm glad some people still care.

I no longer do quail hunting in the East County here in San Diego. In the 90's, Operation Gatekeeper was started here, causing the worst ecological disaster in the Southwest for many decades.

Close the border near San Diego and push the illegals into East County, ruining the way of life of the rural inhabitants and destroying out wild areas with millions of tons of trash.

Aggressive law enforcement near population centers pushed the illegals farther and farther east causing the number of crossings to explode in AZ and NM. Which has caused communities such as Sierra Vista to explode with Border Patrol agents looking for a decent place to live.

I haven't been up in my old stomping grounds for many years. My favorite canyon and 12" wide trail became a human highway, wide enough to drive a trash truck on. Needless to say, that game all left too.

Those pictures speak volumes. The trash should all be bagged up and piled up on the White House lawn.

[DesertRose]

Calamaridog - you hit all the points dead-on: all this traffic adds up to a huge ecological disaster. You would not believe the impact (well, YOU do, but others can't comprehend til they see it).

And just to mention: people are dying out here by the dozens; we talked with a man and his son who had been lost for 5 days; they had been cheated by their own "coyote" who had just dumped them and not shown them where to go as promised, then they were robbed at gunpoint by Mexicans operating in the no-man's land out here in the US of A, and then they stumbled on bodies of a man and woman, in an advanced state of decomposition. These men were completely freaked out and wanted to go hom - to Veracruz.

I have great sympathy for these people despite the trash and damage. They would much rather stay at home - but there are so few jobs (these guys lost their ranch jobs when the ranch went to a big agri-business, no more cowboys, thanks - thanks NAFTA!) and there's no social security infrastructure, which is why they come up here.

We were just talking about airlifting the garbage both to DC and back to Mexico - preferably on the palace of Vicente Fox.

Roseann

[Scott Brady]

The Sand Tank Mountains, just West of Tucson were a beautiful and remote spot to visit a few years ago. You had to have a range permit to even enter the area, and it was golden. (Goodtimes and Al have been in there with me).

The last time I went in there, the migrant trash made me sick. New roads cut by illegals, etc. I talked with the BLM officer, and he indicated that increased enforcement in the Organ Pipe had pushed them there... So sad :(

[awalter]

Two comments.

The western loop thru Organ Pipe NM has been closed for about 2 years now. The first reason I was given was, the roads were damaged by resent storms & were in need on re-construction. The latest reason, last spring was for illeagal imigration traffic & the abundance of Border Patrol infrastructure being constructed. I asked then, when might the area be opened again for our use? The response was, unknown at this time. So, we have lost access to a part of one of our National Monuments for immigration/security reasons.

The Otay Mountain area east of San Diego that abuts the border is, was, still is a beautiful place. Each time I've been there the last few months, I come home with at least 2 full garbage bags of litter. This is from the Illegal traffic still poring thru this area only a couple of miles east of the Otay border crossing. Gatekeeper has not pushed that much traffic away from our metropolitan areas. The volume is still here.

Al

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Al.......

I've even seen discarded clothes and hidden water jugs in Anza Borrego.....out on the trail that heads north along the train tracks from the old Train Water Tower.

[Ursidae69]

Just to stoke the fire a little... :campfire: :elkgrin:

Even though the illegals are leaving a lot of trash, I 100% do not support building some huge damn wall along our 1900 miles of border with Mexico. Some of these areas are really rugged, unique, and a wall will be useless first and foremost and secondly it will be fugly as hell. Cites or populated areas, sure put up a wall or two, but in the middle of nowhere a wall does nothing unless someone is standing there watching it and we will never have enough people to patrol 1900 miles of wall, we cannot even stop people from hopping the wall from TJ to SoCal.

[awalter]

Chuck,

I totally agree. We got rid of the walls in eastern Europe only a few years ago. I'm not for erecting them on this continent. There isn't a local solution for the problem. There isn't a national solution either, it is a continental problem that has to be dealt with somehow.

[calamaridog]

Al,

There are certainly a bunch of illegals walking across the border in San Diego County still, but the vast number of the illegal border crossings are now happening elsewhere.

The San Diego political machine forced the Border Patrol to push the majority of the illegal crossings into rural areas, away from the political power base and prying eyes of the local media.

Then the bureaucrats can clap themselves on the back and tell each other what a great success their programs have been, when in reality the picture is very grim indeed.

Several of my best friends are Border Patrol agents and I hear the horror stories first hand. My buddy called me one night (several years ago) on his cell phone. He was sitting on an "X" in a Bronco near Otay Mesa. He was in a Zone that had reported 0 apprehensions for the entire year. Part of the "success story" the bureaucrats were spinning to the media.

Illegal aliens were walking within 100 yards of his post. He reported the border crossers to his supervisor and advised he would apprehend the aliens. He was ordered to "stand down", and told that he was "seeing things" and NOBODY crosses in that zone.

My buddy wanted to vent and ask me what he should do. Should he complain up the chain? Should he call the media? "No, you should STFU so you can get the job you want in another agency", I told him. You see, when you are 20 something, it is a bad idea to rock the boat and do the right thing when they might screw you out of your chance to leave.

Another friend of mine is a rancher in East County. He will be selling his land soon and leaving California for areas North. He has trash all over his land, stolen and damaged property, and has been involved in armed confrontations (read: shootouts) with smugglars; he's even been harrassed by the government.

This is why they are getting so badly screwed in these smaller communities in AZ that are not equipped to handle the volume of people streaming across the border. 1,000,000 is the "safe" estimate of how many people cross over into AZ each year. AZ is now the "front line" on the "war".

Our border policy is a complete failure. You can't build a wall on lies, the foundation just falls apart. Nothing short of a miracle will bring us back from the brink.

And no, I don't think a fence along the entire border is a realistic solution to a larger socio-economic problem.

-Bryan

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Below is an article I found......regarding San Diego County.

They should have put a stop to it 50+ years ago!

Personally...........I'm sick of it!

Also!.........I think we are one of the few countries in the world where foreigners can come over and buy up land/property and businesses!

Just try and go to Australia for more than a 6 month tourist visa!


......OH!.....Sorry!.....am I on a RANT tonight>?!!!!! hehe

Maybe if I get the WonderRunner fixed soon.....I will be better behaved!




http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1193409/posts (http://)

Illegal border crossers major trespassers in once-quiet backcountry
San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | 08-17-2004 | Anne Krueger


Posted on 08/17/2004 1:44:59 PM PDT by NewRomeTacitus


The discarded water bottles, clothes and backpacks that Joe Brown often finds on his property by the border are just a part of his life in East County.

The land in Boulevard where Brown grew up is now a piece of the playing field for a daily game of cat-and-mouse between Border Patrol agents and the illegal immigrants they are trying to apprehend.

Brown accepts that he regularly has to repair the breaks in his barbed-wire fence, just north of the 12-foot corrugated steel fence separating the United States and Mexico. But that doesn't mean he's happy about it.

"We're being invaded, our property is being trashed, and we're not being protected," said Brown, 71.

Since Operation Gatekeeper took effect almost 10 years ago, cutting the flow of crossers in the urban areas of San Diego County and pushing illegal immigration east, Brown and other backcountry residents say they no longer have the serene enclaves they most love about living in rural East County spots such as Boulevard, Campo or Jacumba.

"We went from having a nice, quiet, peaceful life with lots of privacy to being invaded by thousands of illegals," said Donna Tisdale of Boulevard. "We don't have any privacy anymore."

People in the backcountry see the immigrants dehydrated from the summer heat or freezing in the cold of winter. They'll offer a drink of water or a warm blanket – but then they call the Border Patrol.

"I do have compassion for them individually," Tisdale said. "It's the numbers that are overwhelming."

Before Gatekeeper started in October 1994, little separated East County border-town residents from their neighbors in Mexico. People in Jacumba freely visited an adjacent village, Jacume, in Mexico.

Then the fence went up, the Border Patrol increased its presence in East County, and life changed in the backcountry.

Near the coast, the corrugated steel is backed by a concrete fence, making an imposing barrier. In East County, geography and the persistence of people trying to cross the border have created gaps in the fence.

In some spots, the fence is only half as tall or holes have been dug underneath it. Steel poles welded together are the only barrier at some rocky stretches. Border Patrol agents say the weaknesses in the fence are well-known and often used by illegal immigrants.

Before Gatekeeper, 109 Border Patrol agents were stationed in East County. Now there are 531 agents in the backcountry. As a comparison, the Sheriff's Department has 42 deputies patrolling the same area.

Almost 70,000 people have been apprehended by the Border Patrol in East County since October. The Border Patrol figures about one-fourth of the people trying to make their way north are being caught.

Many residents say that being a portal to illegal immigration is usually little more than a nuisance.

"It's just something you know and accept," said Jim Callahan of Jacumba. "You know when your dogs bark a certain way to call the Border Patrol. If you see someone speeding down the road, you know it's the Border Patrol. You lock your cars at night, but not for theft. You lock them to keep people from hiding in them."

Others are less complacent. Bob Maupin, who owns a 250-acre ranch in Boulevard, says he can't rent the land out for pasture because his barbed-wire fence gets cut several times a week.

Maupin, who owns a gun shop in Alpine, said he regularly patrols his land for trespassers. He said it's nobody's business whether he carries a gun while on his property.

Maupin said he doesn't leave his three young granddaughters alone on his property because he once found an illegal immigrant carrying a butcher knife.

"With Operation Gatekeeper, the flood started," Maupin said. "It hasn't slowed down. It goes on seven days a week, 24 hours a day."

Sometimes the encounters with illegals can be violent. Kimberly Hope of Jacumba was beaten to death in April 2003. Daniel Berumen, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, is awaiting trial for in that slaying.

Immigrant smugglers occasionally take the deadly chance of driving the wrong way on Interstate 8 with their lights off in an attempt to avoid the Border Patrol checkpoint on the freeway.

That has resulted in fatal collisions, like the one in June 2002. Six people were killed and 31 were injured then when a van filled with illegal immigrants crashed into a Ford Explorer and a Toyota van.

No crime rate change

Despite the wave of immigrants passing through East County, sheriff's officials say the crime rate has not fluctuated in the last decade. Most backcountry residents said they aren't fearful of the illegal immigrants who show up on their doorsteps.

"They're pretty harmless," said Brian Goldsby, night manager of the Lux Inn in Boulevard. "All they want is to get a ride north. They're pretty tame."

Many backcountry residents have more dealings with Border Patrol agents than with the sheriff's deputies who cover the region.

Leon Herzog, owner of the Barrett Junction Cafe, said he calls Border Patrol agents several times a week to pick up illegal immigrants. He sees a sheriff's deputy less than once a week.

When a girl was injured by a horse near the cafe, Herzog said it was Border Patrol agents who got treatment for her.

"They're good to have around," Herzog said. "They're the first ones I call if I have a problem."

Making a trip north through the scrub and sagebrush of the backcountry can be treacherous. Last year, the Border Patrol rescued 152 people there. Twelve people died after crossing the border in San Diego County.

A sign at the border, just north of the steel fence, warns in Spanish: "Don't Expose Your Life to the Elements! It's Not Worth the Risk!"

But few immigrants pay heed to the sign as they try to make their way through the thick brush, hoping to avoid the sensors that alert Border Patrol agents to their presence.

Night hunt

On duty one recent evening, Border Patrol agent Ramiro Lizarraga slowly drove along the dirt road by the fence, looking for footprints in the dust that indicate someone has crossed the path. He said immigrants sometimes try to foil trackers by tying carpet scraps to their shoes as they cross the dirt path by the fence.

Lizarraga is vigilant in his search for illegal immigrants, but he also has sympathy for many of them. He recalled a woman who'd been wandering lost for several days before he found her.

"When she saw me, she started bawling," he said. "She was so happy to see me."

Near sunset, Lizarraga responded to a radio call about a van that had rolled over off a two-lane road in Tierra del Sol. Roll-overs sometimes mean the vehicle is filled with illegals, Lizarraga said.

But when he arrived at the accident, he saw that the driver, a local resident, had gone off the road when she was blinded by the evening sun. The driver, Gina Vitale, was shaken up.

Even so, Vitale's first words when she saw Lizarraga were to thank Border Patrol agents for their help when her 11-year-old son was injured in a bicycle accident several weeks before.

"They were so professional," she told him.

Lizarraga waved and smiled as he passed by people standing in their yards, but said he has little contact with residents.

"There are some property owners who don't like us going through their land," he said. "But if I'm tracking somebody, I'm gonna just do it."

Other agents caught a group of illegal immigrants who had become lost in the brush, and Lizarraga stopped by the van where they were being held. One of the immigrants, a middle-aged woman, said she had lived in Los Angeles and was trying to return there from Mexico to work.

"If somebody asked me to sweep the street, I do that," she said in English. "If somebody asked me to wash dishes, I do that."

Around 9:30 p.m., Lizarraga got a report that a resident had seen people on his property. He sped to the area, and along with a half-dozen other agents, scrambled through the brush tracking footprints. The agents' flashlights were the only beacons illuminating the trail.

Lizarraga said the group of illegals appeared to be circling around as the agents tried to track them.

"They know we're on to them, so they're doing all kinds of funny stuff," he said.

Almost three hours later, Lizarraga parked his truck along with three other Border Patrol vehicles beside Interstate 8. He climbed up the hill by the freeway, and saw tracks indicating the group was nearby.

A few minutes later, two other Border Patrol agents emerged from the darkness with their prey: five young men wearing baggy jeans. Sitting by the road, they gulped down the water the agents poured for them.

The men would be fingerprinted, then returned to the border. They could very well be back the next day.