Snoqualmie National Forest cleanup - volunteers needed

Volunteers Needed on July 10 in the Snoqualmie National Forest The U.S. Forest Service is asking for volunteers to assist in a clean-up of garbage and debris left at several shooting sites located in the Greenwater Area on the Snoqualmie Ranger District of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The areas are becoming filled with a variety of trash, household items, and shooting debris. In order to keep access opened, the areas need to be cleaned and maintained. The Service does not have sufficient staff to do this on its own and is asking for help. Please consider donating some time to this effort. It is one of the major ways that you can help keep Federal lands open to the public for informal target shooting. You are asked to bring trash bags and gloves. If you can join in this volunteer effort and/or have questions, please contact Officer Ian Canaan at 206-510-6496 or email him at icanaan@fs.fed.us.

Any takers? I think this is a worthwhile effort and would be fun to get a group of us together. I am emailing the officer to find out specifically where the clean-ups will be.

Further details, this is down towards Enumclaw so I won't be able to make it.

Thanks for your interest in helping on the 10th. We were planning to focus on Forest Service Road 70 on this specific date, and if we have some success we will expand and continue to other areas of the district on future days. The 70 road is just past Greenwater on State Route 410. Depending on the level of interest we may also send some volunteers and staff to Forest Service Road 7710 near Wlikeson, WA. We will have staff on site to assist with the clean up and facilitate taking garbage to our dumpster location. We will also have staff available to show other nearby areas needing clean-up. For those going to the Greenwater area we are planning to meet at the gravel pit on the 70 at about 9am. If we have enough volunteers to also send some to Wilkeson, we will likely meet at the Forest Service Office in Enumclaw. If you have clean up equipment we can probably use it. If you have a vehicle to haul it or a trailer, we have a site with a large dumpster just a few miles away. Thanks again for your offer to help and your continued interest in helping keep the area clean and open for recreational shooters. I am maintaining an email list of everyone who has expressed interest. As the date approaches I will send an email with maps and all of the final details.I look forward to working together to maintain our local shooting areas so we can keep them open for recreational purposes. Ian

I will be on that side of the mt that weekend. My family does a lot of clean-ups with the 4x4 community and have worked with Ian before. There is ALWAYS a need for volunteers, even more with all the budget cuts.

I plan on being there...

FS 70 is not only a great place for shooting, but I take my kids backpacking up there in the summers...

Take SR-410 through Enumclaw, like you're going to Crystal Mountain. After you get through the town of Greenwater watch for the fire station on the left... FS 70 is the next paved road on the left. If you aren't looking for it you could miss it, the sign is not easy to see.

Follow FS 70 about 5.5 miles to the gravel pit, aka "THE WALL" where the Rangers will plan to meet at 9am and organize the clean-up efforts.

I am thinking afterward would be a great time to pop off a few hundred rounds and practice policing the brass...

I'm in. Just got off the phone with Ian and he said it looks to be a pretty good turnout. Hope to see a lot of you there.

I spend a lot of time up in that area and will continue to do my part as I use it. However, this is the same officer that gave some of us issues & grief during the Memorial Weekend OC campout and now he is asking for help?

A good opportunity to show him just what kind of community we are...

I know, I'm supposed to be way more involved since we had such a great turn out for the North Fork Clean-Up. However, I will be away on VACATION (my first in over 5 years) during this one.

Forest Service Clean-up Day

Date:

July 10, 2010

Time:

Meet at 8:30AM in Enumclaw. Clean-up from 9AM-1PM at various locations.

Where:

45600 284th Ave SE, Enumclaw, WA 98022. This is the South Parking Lot for the Fairgrounds in Enumclaw.

The locations for the clean-up will be distributed at 8:30. If you have a preference you will be allowed to choose.

Mission:

We are planning a day to clean up the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the Enumclaw area. Several locations have been identified and the group will be broken up in to manageable work groups and sent to a variety of locations with a Forest Service representative. The Forest Service will have dumpsters available for the garbage.

We are asking that everyone bring their own clean-up “stuff,” such as gloves, rakes, garbage bags, water, food and anything else you think you may want or need during the day. We will have some equipment and trash bags available, but depending on the turn out we may run short.

The simple directions to the Fairgrounds parking lot are: Travel East on SR 410 through Enumclaw, as you leave town turn Right/South onto 284th Ave. SE and travel approximately ½ mile to 456th. The parking lot is on the left.

After a very short sign-in and safety briefing we will break up and travel to the locations.

I can’t tell you how appreciative we are of your willingness to volunteer for the day. We can’t do it alone and in some cases the only way we can keep these areas open to the public is through your support.

If you are coming from Eastern Washington and using SR 410, please call me and I will make specific arrangements for you.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the 10th. Thanks, Ian








Ian J. Canaan, Law Enforcement Officer
U.S. Forest Service
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
450 Roosevelt Ave East
Enumclaw, WA 98022
Office- 360-825-6585 X-213
Cell- 206-510-6496
Email- ICanaan@fs.fed.us

How did it go?

I was working and couldn't make it, but I would like to know how it went.

I had what I can only refer to as "vehicular difficulties" without resorting to profanity...

Hope it went well and we made a good showing for the Ranger crews.

Don't know if anyone from this board went but here's the email thank you

All,

I want to start by thanking everyone who came out to support our clean up efforts on Saturday. As a group we made a huge impact on garbage and debris in the areas we focused on.

We had a total of 98 volunteers show up, and I can't tell you how much we appreciate that. We also had support from the Washington State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, not to mention the civilian staff of the Forest Service and a couple of other Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers. I appreciate the time and effort everyone put in to try to maintain these areas for recreational uses. It's a partnership, and we need your help to make this stuff happen.

We picked up approximately 62 yards of garbage, two 25 yard dumpsters and approximately another 10 pickup and trailer loads. We removed a camper, engine block, household furniture, propane tanks, paint cans, car parts and almost anything you can think of. We have several photos that I will forward on as soon as we get them together.

Again, thank you for your support. I have established an email list that I will use for future efforts. No junk mail I promise. Thanks, Ian