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1/26/01 FYI: Just got off the phone with Larry Caffey, Head of Operations for the El Centro BLM office. He said things are definitely improving at the dunes regarding the trash problem. The McCain Valley convict fire crews have been picking up trash for the last 12 days. That’s 18 men, five hours on site per day for 12 days or 1080 man hours picking up trash. Here’s the great news – no fee demo money was used for this. The $30 to $50 per day for fuel for the bus was paid from the BLM’s own budget. The fire crews have been going out every chance the get. They load up the bus and carry the full bags with them on their seats then drive to the dumpsters and toss it in. Larry wouldn’t even begin to make a guess on how many tons of trash they have removed. Even so, Larry’s best guess is that it will take years to get all the trash removed that was deposited over the last 20 years. The beaches, freeways and parks have ongoing maintenance crews that pick up trash daily – we are not so lucky. The dunes, by their very nature, do not lend themselves to that. We have to police ourselves. We all need to take an active part in convincing our fellow dune enthusiasts that trash can get the dunes closed. If you see a big red bus full of men in blue denim wearing orange hats and bandanas, wave and honk your approval to these guys – they don’t HAVE to volunteer to go pick up our trash. Vincent J. Brunasso 12/30/02 Now the bad news: Since the time of the original writing above, one of the prisoners found a loaded weapon in the dunes. The convict crew cleanups were discontinued because of fear of what they may find in the dunes.
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