On Saturday, April 28, a group of 17 volunteers made the long trek up to the Upper Sespe watershed to remove trash left behind at an illegal target shooting site. Over the course of three hours, they were able to remove over 400 pounds of microtrash as well as several large, shot-up items from the small site!
After meeting in Ojai and listening to a safety talk, the group carpooled to the site in the Los Padres National Forest. There they loaded up with supplies before make the short hike to the illegal target shooting site. While the area was covered with microtrash — bullet casings, broken glass, pieces of plastic, etc — it looked much better than usual because of our cleanup last summer. And this time, the trash was no match for our awesome forest stewards!
The group quickly set about removing the microtrash as well as larger items used as targets. A group of Girl Scouts found a scuba tank that had seen better days. Other volunteers found several street signs being used as targets. And our youngest volunteer of the day found a shot-up toy truck that was difficult to throw away.
All together, these incredible volunteers removed over 400 pounds of microtrash — which is dangerous to endangered California condors — as well as traffic cones, propane tanks, plywood, and various electronics from along this small tributary to the Wild and Scenic Sespe Creek. Thanks to them, our national forest is cleaner, greener, and safer for wildlife!
You can find out about upcoming volunteer projects by clicking here. Below are more photos from the cleanup.
Comments are closed.