Salmon River
Community Abandoned
and Unwanted Vehicle and Junk Clean Up
-
Phase I –
- “Leave
No Junker Behind”-
Robert Will
Robert Will, representing
the Salmon River Restoration Council,
has obtained the funding for the study/organizational phase of collecting,
crushing and hauling out of the river, all the old “relics” along the Salmon
River. The Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) recommended the Forest
Service fund this local project.
Will, the crusher project’s coordinator, says the
goals of this project are to crush and haul out as much as possible of the
following items: unusable or abandoned vehicles, large appliances, scrap
metal, batteries tires and other hazardous materials. These items represent
potential sources of pollution and contamination to ground water through
seepage and run off to creeks and the rivers. Junkers and large appliances
are safety hazards.
The focus will be on both private property and public land.
The project will provide local employment in an economically depressed area. It is expected that the project will bring together and increase cooperation between the stakeholders in our communities: private property owners, local service organizations, tribal land owners and county, state and federal agencies.
This project will assist property owners with timely and enthusiastic compliance with county codes, which state, “the presence of two or more abandoned, inoperative, wrecked or dismantled vehicles is a violation of county codes.”
A final benefit, states Will, is that this project will eliminate eyesores and be a catalyst for individual, community and watershed pride.
The crusher project will coordinate all participating government agencies, secure permits and insurance, and help with the vehicle paperwork. They will contact property owners and assist them with paperwork and set up hauling arrangements.
One key to keeping costs down is to shorten the hauling distance. The prospective sites for the crusher are, the old “Rosemary Buttes” land in downtown Forks of Salmon, the old Columbia heli-deck up the South Fork, the big flat in Cecilville and the Judge Mine flat just up the Eddy Gulch Road from Sawyers Bar.
The best case scenario would have the crusher on the river by September or October 2004, but given the nature of “Salmon River time”, the project might be put on hold until summer 2005.