Coke Ovens: Request from the land owner

[Scott Brady]

We are seeing the affects of the "ME" generation now. 90% had no parenting and they are running wild and think nothing of leaving garbage around. My dad showed me by example to leave things better than I found it.

I just did a clean-up in the Four Peaks area on a small, side trail (we are using it for a Jeep launch). We hauled out 40 bags of garbage and a burned out Dodge Ram.

I did mention to the owner that the Copper State Cruisers did a clean-up. They expressed their appreciation.

If someone is willing to coordinate the run, I will be happy to contact the owner and get permission for a clean-up and legal access to the Ovens.

[seth_js]

I bet that 90% of the people out there do not have valid BLM permits.

I wasn't aware of any BLM permits for FJ. State land, yeah.

[DaktariEd]

We are seeing the affects of the "ME" generation now. 90% had no parenting and they are running wild and think nothing of leaving garbage around. My dad showed me by example to leave things better than I found it.

I just did a clean-up in the Four Peaks area on a small, side trail (we are using it for a Jeep launch). We hauled out 40 bags of garbage and a burned out Dodge Ram.

I did mention to the owner that the Copper State Cruisers did a clean-up. They expressed their appreciation.

If someone is willing to coordinate the run, I will be happy to contact the owner and get permission for a clean-up and legal access to the Ovens.

That might be a good opportunity for ExPo goodwill and to assist the property owner. Could even help them post signs (though no doubt short-lived) in appropriate areas.

[jeffryscott]

a clean-up would be a good idea, I don't know the area well (been there just once) so don't feel too comfortable organizing anything, but am willing to help.

Let's pick a date as a starting point (Saturday's would be best for me as I work Sunday afternoon) and when a date is chosen (if the land owner wants this) then I'll contact my friends at the Land Rover group (AZLRO) and I'm sure we could get help from the Copper State Cruisers (John Shotts? Mad Baggins?) and we could pick areas: Expo, AZLRO, CSC to concentrate our efforts.

One thing I've seen on C-Gap is a welded sign ... maybe a few signs made of heavy metal would last a few shotgun blasts longer than wood or plastic ...

Let's get this going ...

(I'd take my 4-year-old too ... start teaching her some of this stuff. Everytime we go out and pick stuff up, she says we should organize a cleanup. Here's her chance ... cool.)

[BajaTaco]

Just thinking out loud here...

I think a clean-up is a great gesture, and I bet there are a ton of community oriented 4wd people already thinking the same thing. If the word was spread around to the various AZ clubs and such, I bet the number of volunteers would be staggering since it is such a popular destination. HOWEVER, a clean up is a short-lived thing. Perhaps too little too late. I bet if the various phoenix area clubs could organize their efforts, a plan could be proposed to set up a training day for volunteers. The participants would volunteer two weekend days per year (doesn't have to be two consecutive days) to camp out or day-trip at the ovens and act as a guide for visitors. All visitors would be required to have the guide take them through the property. It would take 52 people to do it, but I bet the positions could be filled quite quickly. If I lived in the area, I certainly wouldn't mind doing that. It would also be a fun way to meet people and see a lot of cool vehicles. My guess is that after the clean up has taken place, and if the property has a baby sitter on the weekends, the amount of vandalism/irresponsible acts would go way, way down.

[GeoRoss]

Scott, could you forward this email to the CSC site on Mud? We are in the process of creating a "trail info" sticky.

If someone could supply some UTM/state plane coordinates I can try and provide a better idea of the property lines.

Ross

[SLOwag]

HOWEVER, a clean up is a short-lived thing.

Agreed. What may need to happen is to "Adopt The Trail", whereby a group regularly picks up trash similar to the road adoption we have here in CA. I belong to a club where we adopted a section of road in a beach town that gets trashed especially hard during the summer and holidays. We schedule a pick up day as needed and leave the bags by the road for the DOT to pick up.

Everytime we are out picking up trash we are stopped by the locals and thanked for our service, at that time we tell them the name of our club and we're happy to give back to the community......This service goes a long way when we put on events that require community approval.

I remember an article last year in Toyota Trails where the Alaskans went way back in the bush to recover and remove stolen wrecks, If it can be done up there, it can be done here.

[TBob]

I posted this thread on the VJC and I think members from there as well as members from the AZTTORA would be willing to come out for a clean up.

[saltamontes]

solar cell powered web-cam and microPC with donated cell phone (is there coverage?) to upload n-second stills to [path].expeditionportal.com

...or...

web-cam w integrated web server running dynamic dns resolution sWare
(images not uploaded anywhere; kilns.az.webCam.expeditionportal.com resolved to whatever ip the cam/server assigned).

...either way...

images are fifo, w/ no prob storing days of "latest images" thus providing both a record of visitors (and possible vandals) as well as a cool live web-cam link to popular offroad destinations.

place a Cingular ad on the site in exchange for them donating the cell account or do it via ham packet radio or cell patch.

would be cool.
if you can get the hWare stable/bulletproof and nobody steals it


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personally, i would like to see an artist create a set of interpretive sign design templates that off-road clubs (we know the state will not fund it) can use to fashion informative historical landmarks that hopefully instill some sense of wonder/awe/respect in visitors that would otherwise vandalize.

get the state(s)/blm/feds to agree to not rip em out and foster some good pr for local offroad clubs.
look at what was done by a public/private partnership between the bellmaker and caltrans for the Camino Real.

[oldhockeyvb]

It does not appear to me the ovens themselves are on private land. I am sensitive to the private land owners concerns and am willing to work on trail cleanup and maintenance but I don't believe they can deny access. We should still work with them to help alleviate the damage.
Vern

http://www.virtualjeepclub.com/showt...d=1#post145216