As of Saturday afternoon, there is not as much trash in the forest as there was that morning!  Thanks to 60+ volunteers who came to the Yacolt Burn State Forest to volunteer their time, tools and talents at DNR’s annual Pick Up The Burn cleanup event.  The Yacolt Burn State Forest in SW Washington.  A good show of stewardship by all.

After the morning safety briefing, people dispersed throughout the forest, loaded their trucks, cars and trailers with trash, and hauled it to dumpsters at the Jones Creek Trailhead parking lot and at the Four Corners location (two Dumpsters were provided by Waste Management).  Everyone returned during the noon hour for a hearty Pulled Pork lunch!

Trash No Land led a group of 12 volunteers to a popular shooting site and everyone did a very nice job at spiffing up that spot. It was a huge mess that included dumped household refuse trash, tires and target shooting debris.

A few of us deployed on a seek & remove mission for a dumped freezer full of stinky-rotted food. We found it near the road down an embankment (thank goodness for winches!).  Also at that site was a pile of construction debris that had been dumped.

Our team continued further up the main road to clean up another spot.  Along the way, we admired the work of other volunteers who had cleaned up several commonly trashed sites.

Lots of good conversations and new friends were made, not to mention lots of good was done for the forest.  It was a lot of fun!

A great day for ‘The Burn’!

Thanks to WA DNR for hosting this annual event and thanks to all who participated!