By GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News
www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_033106ENBfriendsoftrailKC.7e1e1bdb.html



NORTH BEND - It's been a decade of picking up what Washington State's most thoughtless residents leave behind.


KING

Wade Holden and his crews have removed tons of debris carelessly tossed into Washington's most treasured forest lands.
A group dedicated to cleaning up trash in the Washington wilderness turns 10 this month and the "Friends of the Trail" will go to any lengths to get it done.

Video
Gary Chittim reports

More ...

Custom Video

Resources
Friends of the Trail
As the Cascades shake off another winter and mountain snow recedes in icy currents gushing from the hillsides, another year of abuse is revealed.

"Looks like a little bit of everyone's drinking party and everything else, doesn't it?" said Wade Holden.

For Holden and his Friends of the Trail, the spring thaw means it's time to begin a 10th year of spring cleaning.

And since then, he and his crews have found and removed tons of debris carelessly tossed into our most treasured forest lands.

Usually it's just little stuff tossed out of cars and trucks. But not always.

Sometimes it's the big dangerous stuff like car parts found, probably remnants of an illegal chop shop.

Holden and crew chain it up and yank it out, just as they've done thousands of times in hundreds of different places.

Three years ago they called in an air strike to help remove an illegal hunting camp in the mountains near Easton.

Five years ago they chopped their way through the brush to clean out a trashed section of the Snoqualmie River.

Their job takes to the best places in the state suffering the worst problems.

"Sultan Basin has to be one of the worst," said Holden.

In 2003, Holden and crew found dozens of pullouts there turned into trashed-out shooting ranges and confronted the people blasting them up, telling them they were ruining it for everybody.

Holden has never been one to hold his tongue when it comes to the wilderness he's patrolled for 10 years. But he'd never give it up.

"If we weren't doing it, no one would be," he said.

So they post another site, cleaned up by Friends the Trail, and move on to the next decade.

Friends of the Trail is a non-profit group that's funded by government agencies to do jobs that would otherwise never get done

Quoted: "Sultan Basin has to be one of the worst," said Holden. In 2003, Holden and crew found dozens of pullouts there turned into trashed-out shooting ranges and confronted the people blasting them up, telling them they were ruining it for everybody.

It is worse now cockbreath!...

and there were not dozens of turnouts...there were 3 on the whole road!

You and your bunch need to get off of your ass and get that shit hole cleaned up!

Gary Chittam and other media need to be notified about how it is worse now that the areas have been closed to shooters. Their 'feel good' stories and feeling of victory for getting areas closed to shooting needs to be brought down a notch. They need to realize that littering needs cracked down on, not just the idiots who shoot the litter left by the litterbug.

Quoted: Quoted: Friends of the Trail is a non-profit group that's funded by government agencies to do jobs that would otherwise never get done Is that true?

Yes...

He is also the same asshat that wants a Ammo tax per round, and the funds given to him for his group.

[email protected] I am going to try to send off a letter to them tonight.  I think we all should.

[email protected]

Friends of the Trail is a non-profit group that's funded by government agencies to do jobs that would otherwise never get done

Paid by the government and lobbying to close off land to the shooting public......

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Friends of the Trail is a non-profit group that's funded by government agencies to do jobs that would otherwise never get done Is that true? Yes... He is also the same asshat that wants a Ammo tax per round, and the funds given to him for his group.

In 2003, Holden and crew found dozens of pullouts there turned into trashed-out shooting ranges and confronted the people blasting them up, telling them they were ruining it for everybody.

Really?....Got a badge? Got an ID? Get out of my face....no?

Pulllllllllllllleeeeze don't tell me you're going to become combative

our famous doug sutherland who is head of the dnr is trying to shut down public lands to shooting except  per hunting seasons.  

lets all email him with our rejections.  his email is  [email protected]

Quoted: our famous doug sutherland who is head of the dnr is trying to shut down public lands to shooting except  per hunting seasons.   lets all email him with our rejections.  his email is  [email protected]

This is a quickly changing situation, if you want to be part of organized efforts (and be informed of changes) one way to do it is to subscribe to GOAL alerts in email. You can do that by emailing [email protected] and just asking to get on the list.