28 Jan Peavine Mountain Cleanups

STATUS: COMPLETE

KTMB hosts ‘Great Community Cleanup’ on April 30

Over 76 Tons of Trash and Weeds Removed at KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup

RENO, NV (April 30, 2016) – Over 700 volunteers worked for hours removing invasive weeds and cleaning up illegally dumped trash from the open spaces hills for KTMB’s 10^th annual Great Community Cleanup today. Trash included tires, yard waste, appliances, shot-up televisions, thousands of shot gun shells, furniture and more. Preliminary results show that over 76 tons (152,000 pounds) of trash and invasive weeds were removed during the event.

“This event is instrumental in lessening illegal dumping and removing invasive weeds before they bloom and spread” said Christi Cakiroglu, Executive Director for KTMB. “This is truly a community-driven event and it’s great to see so many volunteers and partners come out to keep our open spaces clean. The tough part is that there is still so much more trash out there. These cleanups are costly and we can only do so much with limited funding.”

The event is no small endeavor. KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup, requires months of coordination, over 30 public and private partners, heavy equipment, and tens of thousands of dollars to put it on. As a non-profit, KTMB relies on donations, grants and partner support to make these clean ups happen.

KTMB coordinates the Illegal Dumping Task Force – a group of over 50 vested partners including the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, municipalities, recreating groups, and private citizens to discuss current illegal dumping sites, support cleanup events and work on long-term solutions to prevent illegal dumping. Washoe County Sheriff’s Office has a new Illegal Dumping App that allows residents to easily report illegal dumping. The app is available for free from the iTunes App Store and Google Play.  Though the issue of illegal dumping is not easily solved, progress has been made through increased patrolling, cleanups and education.

KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup is made possible thanks to the Truckee River Fund, NV Energy Foundation, Intuit, Washoe County Health District, Waste Management, City of Reno, City of Sparks, Sun Valley General Improvement District, Washoe County, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, and the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

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Description from Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful:

Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (KTMB) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit dedicated to creating a cleaner, more beautiful region through education and active community involvement. For over 25 years, KTMB has been working with businesses, municipalities, community groups and individuals to keep our open space areas, parks, the Truckee River, business corridors, and our neighborhoods beautiful for all to enjoy. KTMB accomplishes this through diverse beautification and education programs and projects, which actively involves our community.

In relationship to Tread Lightly’s 25 for 25 Restoration for Recreation program, KTMB’s work on public land is helping to keep recreation areas and trails open for users to enjoy on in Northern Nevada with volunteer-driven illegal dumpsite cleanups. This project proposal will support new and increased stewardship efforts of open-space, multi-use recreation areas on Peavine Mountain in Reno, NV.

Due to its proximity to the Reno-Sparks area, Peavine Mountain is attractive to and popular with all varieties of outdoor enthusiasts. Under the stewardship of the USFS / Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, many miles of hiking and mountain bike trails have been added, and the varied geography provides a range of challenges. Peavine is also a favorite recreation destination for off-road vehicles.      The USFS maintains assorted access points on the southwest flank of the mountain, some allowing for motor vehicles, with others designed for pedestrian traffic; access from the east and the north is substantially less regulated.

Popular, heavily used open space areas and trails on Peavine Mountain often result in user conflict and irresponsible recreation by some. There is especially significant conflicts between target shooters and other recreation happening on Peavine Mountain. Washoe County has long classified much of the mountain as a congested area, where no shooting is allowed, other areas are classified as restricted, which means only shotguns and air rifles are allowed. There are also rules against shooting too close to homes or structures or over trails and roads.

Unfortunately, because of the lack of signage and capacity by the USFS and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to constantly enforce no shooting boundaries, there are several trigger trash sites that continue to be abused inside congested areas, close to residences and non-motorized trails. Because the mountain is so accessible, there is also significant illegal dumping that takes place on a year-round basis.

KTMB’s commitment to partnering with federal, state and municipal agencies for cleanup of illegal dumping and trigger trash on public land is unprecedented in Northern Nevada. Grant funding from Tread Lightly will support the cleanup and maintenance of heavily used and easily accessible multi-use recreation areas on Peavine Mountain through KTMB’s new volunteer driven Adopt-An-Open Space program (https://ktmb.org/adopt-an-open-space/) and Great Community Cleanup (scheduled for April 30, 2016) with the goal of keeping the mountain clean, safe and open for all recreation users to enjoy.

This grant will also support joint efforts by the USFS and KTMB to better inform users about ethical use of Peavine Mountain with increased volunteer-led cleanups, Tread Lightly education and improved signage.     KTMB is able to leverage a minimum of 500 volunteer hours in 2016 to implement both short and long-term goals for this project. KTMB is also in a position to leverage funding and resources in contribution to this project.

Specifically, Tread Lightly grant funding will achieve the following outcomes for this project.

–Rental of 5 – 30 yard dumpsters, which will be spread out at various cleanup sites on Peavine Mountain for KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup (https://ktmb.org/ktmbs-great-community-cleanup/) on Saturday, April 30th.

–Purchase of tools, trash bags and food for 50 – 60 volunteers who will participate in KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup on Peavine Mountain on Saturday, April 30th.

–Removal of 15 tons of waste from Peavine Mountain on April 30th as part of KTMB’s Great Community Cleanup (this number is based on the past 5 years of cleanup efforts on Peavine for this event with the increased potential of removing more trash and tires with the support of Tread Lightly Restoration for Recreation funding).

–Rental of dumpsters or purchase of transfer station passes for 2016 Adopt-An-Open Space cleanup efforts on Peavine Mountain for the three new adopters (each group is required to do three cleanups per year).

–Removal of 25 tons of trash from Peavine Mountain in 2016 through KTMB’s Adopt-an-Open-Space program.

–Removal of 50 – 100 tires from Peavine Mountain in 2016.

–Leveraging this grant to support the purchase of signage and educational postcards for Peavine Mountain informing users of shooting and non-shooting areas, illegal dumping consequences, trail etiquette, and Tread Lightly messaging.

Photo via KTMB
Tread Lightly! has awarded a “25 for 25” grant to partially fund this project.  Funding was made possible by our generous partners: Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative, Federal Premium Ammunition, Bushnell and Dallas Safari Club.