12/5/2011
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Old dumping ground discovered this spring among Idaho 21 vegetation
BOISE COUNTY - Soon the highways will be covered with the trappings of winter - snow, ice and grime. However, there's often a bonanza just below the surface. For a volunteer group picking up litter on Idaho 21 this spring it was trash - really old trash.
The volunteer group was part of Idaho's Adopt-A-Highway (AAH) litter collection program, in operation since 1991. The discovery by the group as they walked the highway between Garden Valley and Grandjean Junction this spring highlights the value of the program. The odds are that the trash they found is also, unfortunately, just the tip of the iceberg.
The AAH group, one of about 220 groups in southwest Idaho and 1,000 statewide, out on their routine litter patrol, stumbled upon what looked like an old dumping ground about 10 miles south of Grandjean Junction and 10
miles east of Garden Valley, just before the
Sourdough Lodge. The trash was probably dumped there four or more decades ago. The pile was hidden from sight by vegetation.
Cleaning the site involved more than a traditional
Adopt-A-Highway effort. The AAH group assigned to that section of Idaho
21 received help from ITD crews and local citizens of the Lowman area.
The clean-up effort resulted in 35 bags and two trailers of trash picked
up by six volunteers over four hours on April 28.
Here's a photo of the trash.
“We believe someone dumped this trash long ago, and I recently
noticed it because the grass has not grown yet and the sun was shining
on the old stove,” said AAH volunteer Gretchen Sherlin, who discovered
the dumped items.
“This is about 50 feet south of the highway,
between the road and the river," said Sherlin. "The trench that has hidden this mess is
about six feet deep.”
Sherlin expressed concern that “a spooked
deer/elk/fox would run across it and break a leg and get entangled. “
Mike Harkins, who found the dumpsite along with his wife, added
“We are estimating the trash is at least 40 years old because there are some
Fresca cans in there that I can remember from 1970s.” Harkin said there was also a hot-water heater, stove and tires.
People interested in adopting a highway for litter pickup through the AAH program in southwest Idaho can contact local program coordinators Janet Gregory or Althea Fackrell at 208 334-8003.