Will there be enough trash?

[+sTeamTraen]

I've been asked by a relatively inexperienced local cacher to help organise a CITO event for a local nature reserve. There are a couple of caches there and when finding them, he thought it could do with a good cleanup.

 

I went along with him to see and, while the areas for 20 feet around the caches are quite messy, there isn't a huge stinking pile of garbage.

 

My concern is that we might have 20-30 CITO volunteers walking round scratching their heads after 20 minutes, looking for the odd bottle-cap or two. But it is a nice place to spend an afternoon.

 

Any experiences?

[+BlueDeuce]

Maybe try hitting a few other 'low' CITO required locations. Either caravan around or break people up into teams.

 

Just a thought.

[+MissJenn]

a CITO event for a local nature reserve.

Do the land managers need help with things other than cleaning up?

Say, trail maintenance?

Or removal of invasive plant species?

[+sTeamTraen]

Maybe try hitting a few other 'low' CITO required locations. Either caravan around or break people up into teams.

 

The whole area is pretty big. Perhaps we should advertise it as "CITO and exercise". I'm sure there's trash there if people walk the full length of the area, which is about 2 miles by 200 yards, but then it might be less "sociable". Perhaps we can have breaks every 40 minutes for some caching

 

Do the land managers need help with things other than cleaning up?

Say, trail maintenance?

Or removal of invasive plant species?

 

We were hoping to go in "under the radar". This is France. If you have to ask permission, 100 bureaucrats who don't have an answer in their rule book will find ways to say no. OTOH the land is publicly accessible and if 2 or 20 people pick up the litter, no permission is required.

 

So far we have almost everything covered in "stealth" mode apart from what to do with the bags of trash at the end of the day; people could take it home if there isn't very much. Our backup plan is to ask the local hydro-electric power station - the nature reserve was created when the dam was built - if we can leave the bags by their dumpsters. On the bright side, if we need that, then there is enough trash

[the family team]

I went along with him to see and, while the areas for 20 feet around the caches are quite messy, there isn't a huge stinking pile of garbage.

 

My concern is that we might have 20-30 CITO volunteers walking round scratching their heads after 20 minutes, looking for the odd bottle-cap or two. But it is a nice place to spend an afternoon.

 

That is a good point.

Does anybody have any BEFORE pictures of a CITO?

Along with information about how many showed up, how long it took, how many bags, etc?

 

That might help others decide if a site is worth a CITO or just a couple of return trips with more bags.

 

Thanks.

-The Family Team

[+Harry Dolphin]

There's always trash! (As a trail maintainer, I know this!)

I went to a CITO event at a beautiful little park. We all glanced around, and said: This will be easy!! The organizers planned to put the trash in the back of a pick up truck, and drive it to the dump. Hey! This is a beautiful, well-kept park!

Boy, were we wrong! There's always garbage. Thirty bags of garbage, six tires, two headboards, one traffic sign, (no one was strong enough to get out the engine block...) and a lot of other assorted garbage later, and another run to the supermarket for more trash bags... We were all astounded by what we had found!

 

 

The organizers had to call the municipal garbage truck in!

A great time was had by all. The park is even more beautiful.