13 Mar Tread Lightly! Impact Report: 2025 King of the Hammers Cleanups

Project: 2025 King of the Hammers Cleanups
State: California           

Description:

For nearly a decade, the Tread Lightly! team has coordinated spectator area cleanups during the King of the Hammers race in Johnson Valley, California.

The 2025 cleanups were enhanced thanks to the ingenuity of Bad Lines Good Times and their ‘King of the Canners’ metal trash drums that were strategically placed at ten locations throughout the spectator areas to encourage participants to do their part to keep the desert free from trash.

Each morning from February 3-9, Tread Lightly! rallied volunteers at Chocolate Thunder and Backdoor to pitch in to pack out any trash left on the ground. Throughout the week, 109 volunteers helped pack out over 6,000 pounds of trash from the lakebed.

Thank you to the partners who made this possible:

• Bureau of Land Management
• Hammerking Productions
• Bad Lines Good Times
• Maxxis Tires
• Kawasaki
• Can-Am Off-Road
• Yamaha
• Vision Wheel
• Sons of Smokey

 “King of the Hammers 2025 was another amazing opportunity to connect with industry partners like Can-Am and Ford to do far more than just clean up. The Tread Lightly! team engaged with people from around the country to educate and inform about the importance of responsible off-road recreation”-Tom Zielinski, Tread Lightly! Board Member

“The King of the Hammers is the go-to offroad event on the annual OHV calendar each year by so many enthusiasts and the Tread Lightly! team was incredibly excited to be a part of it all week. By being able to complete work project cleanups and outreach at two of the most iconic areas in Chocolate Thunder and Backdoor was huge. The majority of attendees frequent these areas each day and night and Tread Lightly was able to keep the area cleaner than we had it before, spread the mission of sustainable access, and reaffirm our TREAD principles with the public.Such a great event and great opportunity that is not to be missed.”-Doug Bigelow, Tread Lightly! Executive Director

Want to get involved in your own Tread Lightly! project? Find upcoming activities, events and grant opportunities at treadlightly.org.