Friday, April 17, 1998 | 10:49 a.m.
Desert dumpers, those terrorists of trash, have made the clean-up of vacant lots a full-time job for Clark County's Public Response Office.
At least twice a month the department sends its crews out to remove illegally dumped debris left by midnight marauders of trash hauling from desert lots throughout the valley, said PRO Director Jim Foreman.
"We work every weekend on cleaning up properties as part of our desert restoration," Foreman said.
To help crack down on illegal dumping, the county PRO, health district and Silver State Disposal Service have created a Solid Waste Environmental Protection Team, or SWEPT.
"Silver State gave us two workers to work on illegal dumpers," Foreman said.
Those two workers spend their time driving two pick-up trucks donated by Silver State looking for people who are dumping landscape debris and chunks of concrete into vacant lots.
"We are catching more people," Foreman said, "and with the extra two people I don't have to worry about pulling my people off other projects."
The county also has enlisted residents, contractors and local businesses to participate in cleaning up illegal dumps, especially on Bureau of Land Management property the agency doesn't have the resources to police.
"The BLM ranger gets the complaint, but because of their budget can't afford the crew to go and clean up the site," Foreman said. "At least our Public Works Department can clean up our county lots."
A clean-up project organized by County Commissioner Lance Malone last weekend on BLM land near Cimarron Memorial High School saved the county and city of Las Vegas $40,000 because the Associated General Contractors volunteered muscle power and heavy-duty equipment.
"We have a lot of BLM holdings throughout the northwest area," Malone said. "They do a great job trying to maintain those lots, but with the wind and the illegal dumping they don't have the enforcement abilities."
Malone said the BLM lots are nuisance properties that residents frequently complain about because they're favorite spots for delinquent dumpers.
"Early in the morning or late at night people dump off concrete and debris at the edges of the road," Malone said. "It's an unsightly mess."
Last weekend's clean-up was such a success that Malone has organized another for this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on two 40-acre sites on Durango Drive between Craig and Lone Mountain roads.
If enough people show up, Foreman said, he will take the extra volunteers to another nearby 46-acre BLM lot.
Malone said it will be the first Earth Day event for the northwest and the only one the county is participating in. The annual Earth Day event usually held at Sunset Park was canceled.
Earth Day is next Wednesday.
"I just noticed the county wasn't involved in an Earth Day event," Malone said, "so I decided to host my own."
Sponsors include the Official All-Star Cafe and World of Coca-Cola, who will provide free food and beverages to the first 150 volunteers who show up. The first 150 will also receive free Earth Day T-shirts and a plant from Star Nursery, which will also give out trash bags.
Several information booths will be set up by the Electric Car Coalition, Clark County Air Quality Team, Water Resources and Conservation, and the BLM.
"We're going to continue this effort," Malone said. "I hope to have many more annual events such as this."
Other sponsors of the event include Associated General Contractors, Silver State Disposal, Eagle Industries, the Public Response Office, Clark County Neighborhood Services, UNLV, and Creative Images.
The volunteer clean-ups began when Commissioner Erin Kenny tried to get neighborhoods to adopt vacant lots, much like the adopt-a-highway program, Foreman said.
While neighbors weren't quick to sign up, Foreman said, whenever they would call to complain about a vacant lot filling with debris he would try to enlist their assistance.
"People call and ask if we can clean up a lot, I ask who in the neighborhood can help," he said.
The best thing about the desert clean-ups is they don't cost the county money, Foreman said, and the results they produce are measured by the ton.
"Each time we do a clean-up we fill two huge roll-up dumpsters from Silver State," Foreman said.
Each dumpster holds up to 15 cubic yards of solid waste.
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