Trash problems

This week, the Bigfork Eagle has a story about the problem of trash. Last week, Zena Pirone came in and related her story about how a man had dumped bags of trash at Loon Lake.

I almost couldn't believe it.

Who actually loads up a truck full of trash and thinks, "Hey, I bet Loon Lake could use all this."

Seriously, who thinks trash is a nice addition to the views around here?

My guess is only a lazy, inconsiderate, self-centered and unthinking person could possibly consider mass littering to be acceptable.

Zena was way too nice. After digging through the trash to find the man's contact information, she should have immediately turned him in. Instead, she gave him a chance to clean up.

But still, I thought that this was probably an isolated incident, and that people around here would never, ever litter.

Fool me twice.

Since Zena didn't have any photos of the great Loon Lake trash dump, I needed to come up with a photo to accompany the story.

Where, oh where was I going to find large amounts of litter to photograph?

Turns out, the answer was everywhere!

All along Hwy 209 - trash.

All along Hyw 35 - trash.

Wayfarer's Park - trash.

Dirt roads, side roads, any roads - trash.

The most common objects were pop cans, beer cans and cigarette butts. Unfortunately, these are also some of the most resilient materials when it comes to nature's ability to break them down.

Aluminum cans last 80-100 years. Cigarette butts last up to 12 years. The plastic 6-pack holder rings will laugh at the elements for 450 years.

So not only do these trash can-impaired people spoil the natural beauty of the area, they force others to take time out of their week to pick up after them. Otherwise, all that trash will still be there when our grandchildren's granchildren are living here.

And the problem with littering isn't located only in town. I consistently find beer bottles (glass bottles take one million years to biodegrade) and trash up in the mountains. In Montana, people out hunting, fishing and camping face real consequences for littering. If they are convicted of littering, they can forfeit their licenses and the privilege to hunt, fish, camp or trap for an entire year.

Unfortunately, the penalties for these lazy trash slingers are quite soft. Often, nothing happens to them at all. On their first offense, the offenders usually just receive a letter of warning from the Department of Environmental Quality and are required to clean up the mess. If a person is actually caught being a repeat offender, the penalties range from $250-$1,000 per day the trash isn't cleaned up.

If you see anyone dumping trash illegally, write down his or her license number and immediately call the sheriff's office and call the Montana DEQ, where they maintain a database of people who have been caught.

And if you are one of the slobs trashing my state, either figure out how to use a dumpster or move.