Drought

[Mark & Juanita]

Funny, we just spent a day in Rocky Mountain National forest a few weeks ago. Very little litter anywhere, neither at the picnic area nor around Bear Lake or Nymph Lake, nor in any of the parking lots.

Spent time on the beach in Oceanside, California in April. Again, no real significant amount of trash except in a few places along the wave barriers where some had been deposited by waves -- but not in any real great amounts.

Wouldn't exactly bet on that. Had some friends who spent time in Japan, they climbed Mt Fuji and were astounded at the huge amount of litter (bags, water bottles, etc.) on the trail. They indicated it was worse than anything they had seen at US Parks.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Allen Epps]

I agree. While we're not terribly clean we're doing a lot better than we did in the 70's. It's also regionally worse in places. It was not uncommon to see someone toss something out a car window when I lived in Pensacola FL but when I lived in Washington state you never saw that and I suspect people would have tracked you down if you had. I see some on my weekend hikes here in MD but it's usually Sat am and attributable to kids out partying on Friday night and such. I'm also not the only one I see hiking with a shopping bag and rarely is my bag ever full.

Allen

[Prometheus]

Kind of makes me feel fortunate to live where I do. I don't see that much litter around anywhere in my area- don't know if that's a matter of efficient road crews, adopt-a-highway programs, high littering fines, or people just not throwing trash all over (probably a combination of all of that) but there's definately not as much crap on the roadways as there used to be! I do remember it being a real problem 10 or 15 years ago, but these days an empty can on the side of the road sticks out like a sore thumb. The biggest difference is in the volume of cigarette butts- there used to be drifts of those suckers in every gutter, but there aren't really that many anymore.

[Glen]

Hell, I live in a FORMERLY remote desert area of California, and with all our growth I wonder when the Californians will leave! These clowns move from the LA area, then gripe about the desert heat, kids on dirt bikes, people riding horses down our dirt roads, dirt roads in general, etc. etc. etc. They claim "People didn't do this in LA'" or "It's not like this in LA," Well, dammit, this ain't freakin' LA.

Glen

[Dave Mundt]

It seems to vary quite a bit. I have been hiking in the Great Smoky Mtns National Park for 40 years or so, and have seen quite a change there. In the 70s and 80s, It was amazing how much trash there was along the trails. Drink containers, cigarette cases, mayo bottles, cans, etc. Even found a number of used, disposable diapers. I got in the habit of taking a trash bag along, and would often fill it on a short hike. However, in the 90s, things improved quite a bit, and, while there IS some trash on the trails these days, it is far less obvious than it used to be. There is also a somewhat smaller number of trash items along the road by the front of my property...but, there are STILL a lot of empty beer containers... So...some improvement here and there, but, not QUITE enough yet. Regards dave mundt

[Nick]