Clean-Dezert/Hodge Road

[Clean-Dezert]

I want to introduce myself.
I run Clean-Dezert and last year i put on a clean up off outlet center drive (2 miles north of Hodge) and we filled 9 dumpsters of trash and 2 dumpsters of tires in 4 hours with over 650 volunteers. I currently have a huge following from offroaders as i have connections in that industry.

What I am seeing more and more is areas like Hodge which are being trashed by unaware parties. I want to try and incorporate and work with more shooting based people to help fix this. Seems we get alot of young people who think its okay to shoot up tvs and computers and leave them. How do we get the shooters more involved so our deserts arent closed down?

I have reached out to the BLM, regarding Hodge. BLM has no control over this area. What I would like to do is get the word out that people need to police this or its a very real concern that areas will be closed. I would also like to find some good contacts in the gun world to work with as far as sponsors, and people willing to help promote this idea.

To get an idea of our events, last year we had over $25,000 worth of products being raffled off for free, this included a glock donated by turners. We did a free bbq lunch and free event shirts for 500 volunteers. We are all about giving back and having a good time.


Check us out on Instagram or facebook, but really help me get the ball rollling with this sport and industry, so we can make sure we dont loose land.

[78marz]

Awesome I will start following for updates on IG

[Clean-Dezert]

any ideas on how to spread the word to get more shooters onboard? I have been a member of this forum for about 10 years but really dont frequent it much anymore. Can i bug you for some feedback?

who would be a good person to reach out to that runs this board to maybe help push this message? obviously this area of the forum doesnt get a huge amount of traffic and hoping we can push this message in other places too.

This whole thing makes me sound like a tree hugger, but its more i see a problem and want to help fix it.

[78marz]

Well groups already do yearly cleanups in shooting areas. Search the threads and you can see who organizes them. KESTRYL is a mod here I believe not sure if he can help. Post cleanups in the appropriate sections and people will show up.

[Clean-Dezert]

this section has one of the smallest post counts on the site. You have to want to clean to come to this section. what i want to do is have a more outward facing message to make people think. I am willing to bet that more than 50% of this site doesnt take a tarp and shoot on that to clean up after themselves, and thats mostly because people havent thought of the idea. Help teach people and show them something new, they will be more prone to do it, vs hoping they wonder into this section because cleaning up is near and dear to their heart.

[Old Marine]

So this seems more like a discussion about how to approach a clean up than a clean up.

I have a rake, a shovel and a pick up truck.

I will help.
I always pack out more than I pack in.

[m35a2]

I'm up for a clean up. I go out there 2-3 times a year, on the back side off of old 66. It is getting worse. I usually bring back 4-5 5 gallon buckets of SG shells and steel cases, trash, TV's Computer shards. People are pigs.

[Eat Dirt]

P m sent ....

" Years .......of clean -ups in Bee Canyon"

[Clean-Dezert]

Originally Posted by Old Marine

So this seems more like a discussion about how to approach a clean up than a clean up.

I have a rake, a shovel and a pick up truck.

I will help.
I always pack out more than I pack in.

Very much so. I am 100% putting on a clean up in barstow in Nov of this year. I have a huge following from offroaders who will be there but not a good following from shooters which i think is the natural progression for this year. I want to target Hodge as a part of our event and so i am asking you guys for help on how to get more shooters involved. While having 20-40 people show up is good, i want to get 250-300 shooters out there ontop of the 600+ offroaders who will show up. I will be supplying 12-14 dumpsters this year.

[DB>]

Was out at Hodge yesterday, you're gonna need a lot more dumpsters... not many people out there, but paved with shooting castoffs.

[caldog]

I am up for a clean up at Hodge. Just post the dates and time.

[slicksetter]

First day out to hodge, severely disappointed in shooters. What a mess it is out there. Post a date and I'm down to show with two little helpers. Psa...please clean up after yourselves no matter big or small it all adds up, the amount of shotgun hulls. Sad face.

[Rakso]

Yeah it's pathetic up there. Same morons that complaint about places being shut down are the same nasty *******s.

[axel4488]

Whenever we go out, we try to bring out more than what we came in with. Sadly it is a losing battle

[Clean-Dezert]

we are still waiting to hear back from BLM regarding our yearly barstow event. With that being said. I am still trying to get the word out to more people in the shooting world. Its amazing how much crap is left behind. I am all ears if you guys have any ideas on how to get the word out people need to clean up their shells.

[B.J.F.]

I also practice packing out more than I packed in. I’ve been to hodge one time and it was a mess then. I packed out 2 trash bags of additional trash when I went.

Cleaning that area up, if your going to participate, be careful and wear snake gators. I saw 3 different sized Mojave Greens near where I was shooting.

Do not pick up objects without first moving it with a rake, shovel or long crowbar.

[Clean-Dezert]

So I went out to Hodge this weekend to do some research. We will be doing a night cleanup on a friday night either July 10th or August 28th. The reason for the night clean up is the lack of active shooting will make it safer, also it would have to be friday as I will get a dumpster brought out and it needs to be picked up Saturday morning. If a date works better for you let me know. We will likely be providing hamburgers and hot dogs for anyone who comes out. And will need a count.

With that being said, a couple photos, I was shocked we saw almost no brass, and was shocked how great these harbor freight magnets work.

[readysetgo]

Originally Posted by Clean-Dezert

I was shocked we saw almost no brass

You're not a shooter, huh?

There's no brass because some ol' codger/s is going out there regularly and picking it all up and selling 'em. Brass cases have monetary value, the other trash does not.

If you're not a shooter you're going to have a hard time engaging the firearms community. Even if you are a shooter, you will still have a hard time engaging what you see as "the firearms community." Because the few people who would put the effort in to clean this up are not the same people leaving the trash and the trash leavers are legion.

In my experience we don't do "spam" here (no matter how worthy or important the cause), so you'll be free to post your efforts in the appropriate sub-forum but it sounds like you want a megaphone and that's just not going to happen here.

If you haven't already, please reach out to member Eat Dirt who posted above, he's the best one of us to talk to for tips and experience.

Good luck.

[Clean-Dezert]

I do shoot, just prefer not to shoot at hodge as its not my cup of tea. Not really safe the dozens of times I have been there. Also most other spots i have frequent still has brass on the ground, and with how much crap is at hodge, i figured there would be brass there.....

I dont think of this cause as spamming... really we are just trying to keep the deserts open for everyone to use, its more of a public annoucment. Quite sad if nobody wants to stand behind that, because the land will be taken or you will have some tree hugger see this and want to use it as a way to take land.. I just happen to have a good time putting on these events and wanted to help the cause. Hopefully get more people involved, and actually thinking about their actions. At the end of the day i can take or leave this role.

The interesting thing about our events, that most people dont realize.. I would say the average age of our participants are 20-30 year olds. This is typically the age that people are trashing our area. IF we can get them thinking more about this, maybe they wont trash it. I always think of clean-ups as 50-60 year old salty dudes. We are younger people out for fun.

[desertrider]

Originally Posted by readysetgo

You're not a shooter, huh?

There's no brass because some ol' codger/s is going out there regularly and picking it all up and selling 'em. Brass cases have monetary value, the other trash does not.

If you're not a shooter you're going to have a hard time engaging the firearms community. Even if you are a shooter, you will still have a hard time engaging what you see as "the firearms community." Because the few people who would put the effort in to clean this up are not the same people leaving the trash and the trash leavers are legion.

In my experience we don't do "spam" here (no matter how worthy or important the cause), so you'll be free to post your efforts in the appropriate sub-forum but it sounds like you want a megaphone and that's just not going to happen here.

If you haven't already, please reach out to member Eat Dirt who posted above, he's the best one of us to talk to for tips and experience.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Clean-Dezert

I do shoot, just prefer not to shoot at hodge as its not my cup of tea. Not really safe the dozens of times I have been there. Also most other spots i have frequent still has brass on the ground, and with how much crap is at hodge, i figured there would be brass there.....

I dont think of this cause as spamming... really we are just trying to keep the deserts open for everyone to use, its more of a public annoucment. Quite sad if nobody wants to stand behind that, because the land will be taken or you will have some tree hugger see this and want to use it as a way to take land.. I just happen to have a good time putting on these events and wanted to help the cause. Hopefully get more people involved, and actually thinking about their actions. At the end of the day i can take or leave this role.

The interesting thing about our events, that most people dont realize.. I would say the average age of our participants are 20-30 year olds. This is typically the age that people are trashing our area. IF we can get them thinking more about this, maybe they wont trash it. I always think of clean-ups as 50-60 year old salty dudes. We are younger people out for fun.

Clean-Dezert, you enthusiasm is appreciated, but it doesn't seem that you are getting what readysetgo is saying.

It's not that we don't stand behind your idea of a clean up.

Shooting enthusiasts that are regulars on this site aren't the type of shooters who leave a mess. My experience in my years here is that the majority of calgunners not only police their own trash, but haul out trash that others leave behind as well.

The average gun owning yahoo that goes to Hodge, or any area for that matter, doesn't give a rats azz about who deals with the old TV they've been holding onto in their garage since Christmas, or the thirty year old water heater they just replaced, or the forty year old dresser they brought out to staple targets to.

All the junk they accumulate is specifically earmarked for their next shooting trip, which is usually once every two years, and they have no intention of hauling it back home.

We aren't the ones who need to think about our actions.

[Clean-Dezert]

If anyone is interested, we have a dumpster being delivered for the night of Aug 28th. This will be a friday night so we can have the dumpster picked up first thing saturday morning. We will likely start around 8ish and hold the clean up for a few hours. We will provide a BBQ and possibly a raffle of a few things afterwards.
If you want to come, we can always use more rolling magnets, shovels or rakes for this area.

[Spartan301]

My wife and I attended a cleanup there a few years ago.

We are now in Arizona and won't be able to attend.

I applaud your effort and hope you have a good turn out.

Spartan301

[ChRodriguez83]

@Clean-Dezert Count me in. Great idea and initiative for a cleanup. I’ll bring a truck, tools and helpers!

[Clean-Dezert]

Just want to bump this as it’s 2 weeks away. We will be bbqing pulled pork and doing a small raffle as a way to give back to volunteers

[B.J.F.]

. Last week there was 13 CHP units and several people look to be arrested weapons sitting on the hoods of a couple squad cars.

Was that way when I spent a couple days in CA, same when I went home. My BIL said they have been targeting that area because of illegal weapons.

[Clean-Dezert]

We had a great time last night with over 120 people showing up. Filled 2 roll off dumpsters in just over an hour. Check out our Instagram for pics cleandezert_official

[DevilDave]

https://www.clean-dezert.org/


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[hxckidd]

This was a great event. Ended up with over 160 people signed up. We pulled out 3 dumpsters full of trash.

Check out some pics on our website

https://www.clean-dezert.org/past-events