Pick it up to earn your hunt
BY JOHN BRADLEY
Dakota Edge Outdoors
We have all seen it, the empty beer can in the ditch, the plastic bag that tangled in a branch - anywhere humans go we tend to leave trash behind, including sportsmen and women. While we should all strive to leave no trace when we are in the woods and water, we can make a positive impact by cleaning up after each other, and summer is the perfect time to take care of the areas we flock to in the fall.
Sure, you can (and should) pick up trash when you see it in the spring and fall, but summer, when there is no pressure to fill the freezer, is the best time to make a trip focused on cleaning up our public lands and waters.
There are numerous groups that have specific days for clean ups – I’m sure your favorite conservation organization has a date already planned that you could join.
One group that I personally have worked with is Keep It Public, a non-profit dedicated to public land management and access. Their projects, based in the West, benefit the public and wildlife. I’ve participated in their “Conservation Campouts” on the C. M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the Dakota Prairie Grasslands.
They are on year five of pulling an old, abandoned fence off of the CMR Wildlife Refuge – fence that was limiting deer and pronghorn movement. They promise rewarding work, a great wild game cookout, and cold beverages. They held up their promise - after a long weekend of removing wire and pulling posts, a cold beer and seeing pronghorn moving across that now open landscape mere hours after we pulled fence was a great reward.
If you aren’t interested in working through an organization, you can still make an impact anytime you take to the field. Throw a garbage bag in your backpack and fill it up with any trash you come across while scouting. You will be surprised at how quickly you’ll fill up that garbage bag.
