Volunteers Clean Up Little Wild Horse Canyon

[Iceaxe]

Release Date: 11/14/11
Contacts: Trish Clabaugh, 435-636-3633

Volunteers Clean Up Little Wild Horse Canyon

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Price, Utah was contacted with the concern that there were over 100 new etches and scawls on the canyon walls in Little Wild Horse Canyon. This damage was new in 2011, and many etches were dated.

"In early June, 2011 - I took two of my good friends down to the San Rafael Swell to spend some precious time in the desert, and show them some amazing places," says Matt Monson, a Salt Lake City resident. His friends were also eager to experience a slot canyon - so Monson suggested an easy day hike through Little Wild Horse Canyon, a beautiful slot canyon with curved and twisted narrow walls, just outside of Goblin Valley State Park.

Although amazed at the natural beauty of the canyon - the three friends could not help but feel disappointment with what they saw; a popular hike with visitors to the area - Little Wild Horse Canyon was being loved to death. Scratches, scrawls, and graffiti had been marked on the sandstone walls up and down the canyon, littered with names and careless sketches for over a mile.

With the help of Trish Clabaugh, Price BLM Field Manager - Monson was able to organize a volunteer group of friends, loosely coined "The Goodies" to arrange for a clean-up and restoration of the graffiti in Little Wild Horse Canyon on October 14, 2011. In roughly six hours, The Goodies, alongside BLM staff Jaydon Mead and Angela Wadman, were able to restore almost a mile and a half of sandstone canyon walls to their more original nature - removing the graffiti and markings of recent visitors.

An eclectic mix of all types - the Goodies come from all backgrounds, job fields, and philosophies - with a common love for Utah wilderness, leaving things more awesome than they found it, and making fun happen. In the group's own words "Goodies never say die." This group wants to continue being a partner volunteering with the Price BLM.

The BLM would like to thank Matt Monsoon, Rachel Smith, 'Crazy' Dave Miller, 'Geo' Dave Van Wagoner, Josh McGlamery, Colby Lavedar, Darcy Martinez, Sean Carmack, Carolyn Frost, Chase Worthen, Candice Metzler, Sam Metzler and Chase Torkelson for their time and dedication to resource protection.

The BLM manages more land - over 245 million acres - than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.

http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/info/new..._clean_up.html

[jman]

Littering/Vandalism infuriates me...People are desecrating my sacred temples. My soul is at peace when I go through a canyon, and to hear about this or see it incites indignation upon those individuals.

Good job crew! You efforts are extremely appreciated - if there is a donate button - I'd be more than happy to give.

[JONBOYLEMON]

And great work they did. We went through with the family just before this and there was stuff everywhere. The most prominent marking was some LA scratching that was everywhere! It was all gone last weekend when we went through with the scouts.


We also went to the window and the boys saw names scratched everywhere!!!!! One of the boys asked if he could carve his name in the rocks. I told him he sure could, but that when he was done he would have to grind it out, along with 10 other names. It was a great opportunity to teach them that Leave no trace means, DONT SCRATCH CRAP IN THE ROCKS!!!!!!!

[homerj]

I just hiked LWH for the first time last Wednesday (11-16). We did the loop up LWH and back down Bell and I can remember only seeing maybe 2 or 3 scratchings. I'm so glad a lot of this had been cleaned up. The canyon was just awesome!!!