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When we are not travelling Taylor and I like to walk through Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge several times a week. We are lucky that we can walk to the trail head from our house, and hike through the wildlife area that nestles between the communities of Westmoreland and Sellwood, and the Willamette River.
We are not the only people who enjoy the area. Some people even like to live in these woods. For a while now, Taylor and I have spent way too much time complaining to each other about the trash that collects on the trails. Today, we had had enough of whining at each other and we took the trash, so to speak, into our own hands.
We donned latex gloves and carried a large kitchen garbage bag with us, and as we started at the trail head we began to collect trash. We had rules for ourselves: no dog poop bags (yes people pick up the poop and then discard the bags), no broken glass, nothing too far off the trail or in precarious locations. Nothing too big.
It was an experience. We spoke to a number of people as we walked and picked up. I'd say about one third of the people we met thanked us for our efforts. One woman, sitting on a bench smoking cannabis, thanked us and said the folks who live in the woods try to pick up after themselves, but things get out of hand. That said we collected a cigarette package, multiple butts, beer cans and coffee cups from around her feet.
When we got off the paved bicycle trail and onto the narrower hiking trail, the trash diminished somewhat - I think do to a lack of seating areas contributes to this. Since we were walking at a slower pace than normal, we saw coyotes, and well as dog walkers and runners.
At the end of the trail, we had a bag full.
Some of the notable items: a sake bottle, the lid to a Revere Ware saucepan, a large plastic container that had held mixed nuts from Costco, a bicycle tire, the wheels from a grocery cart, a tee shirt, a sheet or blanket, cartons of organic food from New Seasons, a comb, a Ben and Jerry's container and of course beer cans, coffee cups, plastic bottle tops, and oh - a cartridge from a soda stream.
So we've come full circle starting with sorting our personal trash to be collected by the singing trucks in Taipei, to just picking it up here at home.
We are not the only people who enjoy the area. Some people even like to live in these woods. For a while now, Taylor and I have spent way too much time complaining to each other about the trash that collects on the trails. Today, we had had enough of whining at each other and we took the trash, so to speak, into our own hands.
We donned latex gloves and carried a large kitchen garbage bag with us, and as we started at the trail head we began to collect trash. We had rules for ourselves: no dog poop bags (yes people pick up the poop and then discard the bags), no broken glass, nothing too far off the trail or in precarious locations. Nothing too big.
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| This qualifies as too big. |
It was an experience. We spoke to a number of people as we walked and picked up. I'd say about one third of the people we met thanked us for our efforts. One woman, sitting on a bench smoking cannabis, thanked us and said the folks who live in the woods try to pick up after themselves, but things get out of hand. That said we collected a cigarette package, multiple butts, beer cans and coffee cups from around her feet.
When we got off the paved bicycle trail and onto the narrower hiking trail, the trash diminished somewhat - I think do to a lack of seating areas contributes to this. Since we were walking at a slower pace than normal, we saw coyotes, and well as dog walkers and runners.
At the end of the trail, we had a bag full.
Some of the notable items: a sake bottle, the lid to a Revere Ware saucepan, a large plastic container that had held mixed nuts from Costco, a bicycle tire, the wheels from a grocery cart, a tee shirt, a sheet or blanket, cartons of organic food from New Seasons, a comb, a Ben and Jerry's container and of course beer cans, coffee cups, plastic bottle tops, and oh - a cartridge from a soda stream.
So we've come full circle starting with sorting our personal trash to be collected by the singing trucks in Taipei, to just picking it up here at home.
