More Campers Bring More Trash Into Wild Areas Mountains Of Garbage Clustter Some Of The Nation’s Most Scenic Places

The explosion in popularity of outdoor recreation is trashing some of America’s campgrounds.

While they’re regularly patrolled, most campgrounds managed by the U.S. Forest Service don’t have the support staff of a self-contained state or national park. But the few people hired to fix doors, maintain plumbing and paint picnic tables find themselves evermore consumed with picking up garbage.

A 1989 U.S. Forest Service study showed that the participation rate in developed camping was expected to grow 20 percent by 2000, and another 80 percent from 2000-2040.

Tent camping alone increased 12 percent just in 1994, according to American Sports Data.

Much of the infrastructure of public campgrounds has been in place 30 years or more; in those 30 years, use has more than tripled, according to the Outdoor Recreation Coalition of America, a Colorado-based industry group.

The increases in use have left a wake of misuse at many public campgrounds. Some people apparently leave their trash at campgrounds to freeload a trash pickup fee or to take advantage of services they believe they’re owed by the government, some Forest Service workers say.

No studies are available on whether campers who trash their campsite are the same ones who do other environmental damage - carve their initials in trees, cut down trees for firewood, and throw their foil and glass into the campfire - but Cathy McKeen thinks they’re all the same, bad-mannered lot.

“I think there are a couple of factors,” says McKeen, a veteran backpacker, camper and member of the Colorado Mountain Club. “I think the people who trash campgrounds treat their own houses the same way, or they think the park service is supposed to clean up after them.”

Who is trashing the wilderness? It depends on who you ask. Hikers blame fishers. Fishers blame hunters. Small-town folk blame those from the big city and vice versa.

So what’s the answer? Those who manage public campgrounds hope education will help cut down on the mess in the future.

State and national parks have long sponsored outdoor-education programs. Forest Service programs are a longstanding tradition, too.

Often, stringent regulations work best. On Alaska’s 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, Baughman says, climbers are required to carry out everything they carry onto the mountain, and human waste is deposited in trash bags that are thrown into deep crevasses.

But perhaps the best hope for the future is in the individual.

Take a garbage bag with you on the next outting. Take a few minutes to pick up trash. Pack it home for a proper disposal in a garbage can.

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