OFF ROAD: Locals turn out to lend a hand By MARIO RENTERÍA, Sports Editor
Thursday, October 25, 2007 10:48 PM PDT
Ken Belt is an off-road enthusiast who wants to preserve the desert, so four years ago he decided to coordinate a clean-up effort.
“I use the desert a lot and I saw a need to clean up the Superstition Mountains area because a lot of local people go there,” Belt said.
The account salesman at KXO Radio just coordinated the fourth annual Superstition Desert Clean-Up sponsored by KXO Radio AM 1230 and FM 107. The event took place Saturday.
“I just brought it to the attention to my friends that I was going to get it going and it’s become real successful,” Belt said.
On Saturday, about 250 people showed up looking to lend a hand, Belt said.
“We had families show up with kids, dune buggies, Jeeps, trucks, people were in their ATVs, UTVs,” Belt said.
Instead of just walking around picking up trash, Belt made it a family event.
“All our volunteers had a chance to win a prize. There was pizza, hot dogs, soda and just tremendous support from local business, which enabled this to work,” Belt said.
He said two large dumpsters were almost filled as a result of Saturday’s effort.
“They were just traveling all over from Huff and Wheeler roads to the Superstition Mountains area picking up trash,” Belt said. “There’s a lot of trash and to get anybody to fill up a bag or a couple of bags … it’s just making an impact.”
Bureau of Land Management officials are always willing to work with groups willing to lend a hand.
“As with every organization that has limited resources, any help that the public can offer us is always welcomed,” BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner Dallas Meeks said.
Belt said he is thinking of moving the cleanup effort to Plaster City east and west next year.
“That area needs cleaning too,” Belt said.
He added it’s an ongoing effort that people seem to enjoy doing.
“This is all local people. We had some people from San Diego show up … but most of this is from the local people in the Imperial Valley,” Belt said. “Every year, we’ve been getting more and more people.”
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