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Table Mesa Cleanup April 21, 2007 |
Written by: Jim Florence, April 22, 2007
When I woke up this morning and heard it raining I knew that attendance would be low, so hoping for the best I headed to the air down spot to set up for the meet and greet (this is where we tell all the shooters the area is closed for the day and talk to everyone else to let them know what is going on). Steve Carmickle Past Pres. Of AZOHVC and Troy Waskey from AZ STATE PARKS were already set up and ready to go. Troy brought out the OHV trailer from State Parks. Troy is the Off-Highway Vehicle Planner and was a lot of help all day. I rode out with Lisa Daro from Absolute Offroad and we quickly set up a canopy and the AZOHVC banner then went to work talking to people.
The GoodGun Club did a great job organizing everything as we had three dumpsters and a crew from the City of Phoenix with a Garbage truck and a loader. The Good Gun club received a grant from the NRA to help fund this clean up. They have some great contacts and we talked about setting up a Fall and Spring Clean up together this year. I will be working with them on dates and will get them and flyers out in advance so everyone is ready.
As for the event we had 50 to 60 people show up to help with the clean up most were from the 4-wheel drive community this time. As I was working at the entrance all day I did not get out to check progress, but from what I saw at the end of the day we removed about 4 vehicles and made good use of the 3 dumpsters and the garbage truck.
We made some good contacts at the entry and had a lot of comments from people thanking us for working to clean up the area. Game and Fish Law enforcement showed up with 3 officers and were a lot of help. It also helped us at the entry to tell the shooters the area was closed to shooting today and that the Law Enforcement was very present at the event. Most turned around to go else where to shoot I suggested Ben Avery.
Without the rain in the morning I think we would have had a larger turnout. The group that showed up did a lot of work. My thanks go out to all those that took the time out of their busy lives to attend the Clean Up. This kind of effort helps us all.
At the end of the day the BLM showed up with some great Pizza and drinks and the GoodGun club gave away some great door prizes. This was a very positive event for both the OHV community and the Good Gun Club. I look forward to working with them and all of you in the future. BTW I even won a door prize!
Jim Florence
Vice President AZOHVC
AKA Hackle
