"When you defile the pleasant streams and the wild bird's abiding place, you massacre a million dreams and cast your spittle in God's face." ~ John Drinkwater

By: Marlene Affeld

I am continually amazed by the disrespect of Mother Nature that many people exhibit. I am angry!

A prospecting buddy and I went up to the high country yesterday. As always, we had our shovels and gold pans. We intended to try our luck on a narrow drainage we had noticed on a previous trip. Our adventure was also a wonderful opportunity to enjoy NW Montana’s incredible fall foliage and hopefully view some wildlife. The journey to Barber Gulch on Oregon Creek was spectacular; the tamaracks were in full glory, their needles shimmering in the sun like molten gold against a cloudless cobalt sky. A perfect day to enjoy the woods, or so we thought.

Our destination on Oregon Creek is remote, thirty miles from the nearest inhabitant, reached by a narrow, climbing and sharp turned logging road that is navigable by four wheel drive vehicles only. Not many people visit these woods. One would think that those who do are people who value and respect the wilderness.

Wrong! We pulled into a clearing, parked and started to off-load our mining equipment only to look about and see the area was dirty and defiled. Cigarette butts, beer bottles and soiled diapers blighted the forest floor; disgusting. What absolutely amazes me is that people will drive 30 miles or so up a logging road to dispose of their garbage, when there is free dumping 28 miles away .... all on paved highway roads. It's not as if they have to pay the $15 fee at the county dump. Why on Earth would they haul it an hour into the woods when they could be at the free dump in a half hour?

Cussing and fussing, we pulled on our gloves and went to work picking up the debris while we speculated on the intelligence and morality of the persons who had left such a vile mess. What were they thinking?

It is not only regular, household garbage that is dumped in the woods. We have been on river cleanups where tires, chairs, sofas and even a washing machine was pulled up from the river. You can just imagine putting a washing machine into a canoe and then trying to keep the canoe steady enough to get it back to the home site. The fish need a ladder to get back to their spawning ground, not the rinse cycle!

Earth is a finite resource we all share, a legacy for future generations. Let’s respect and care for our planet by remembering to honor the "rules" of the woods.

"Pack It In - Pack It Out" - If you find trash left by morons, please remove it.

"Leave Only Footprints" - Use common sense and be thoughtful of others.

Although we "mined" trash instead of treasure, there is satisfaction in knowing we left the area better than we found it. Please join me, and the millions of others who honor the land, in our fight to "Keep America Beautiful".