Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Page A-3
Illegal dumps on BLM land an issue
Anita Savio
IVN contributing writer
Bureau of Land
Management employees
found 150 illegal dumping
sites on BLM lands in Jackson
and Josephine counties
between June 2019 and
August 2022.
Hazardous materials
coordinator Anna Tankersley
estimates that of those sites,
70% has been cleaned up. But
that’s not the whole story.
In Josephine County
there are at least another 30
sites reported by the public. In
the Illinois Valley, focus areas
include Rough and Ready
off Airport Drive and Kerby
Mainline Road; and a major
dump site in the Tartar Gulch
area, where a lot of vehicles
were recently cleaned up.
“Trash dumping is one
of the biggest issues we face
on BLM lands in Jackson
and Josephine counties,” said
public affairs specialist Kyle
Sullivan. And the problem is
getting worse, according to
Tankersley.
“It has definitely
increased since 2020.”
The reasons, she
suggested, include the cost
of living, the cost of trash
disposal and the cost of fuel.
And marijuana grows are
a problem. A lot of excess
herbicide containers and
trimmings are getting dumped
on public land.
Given the number
of sites, Tankersley must
prioritize.
“Where there’s anything
in a creek, or possibly
damaging public land or in
the place of a road or a hazard
I try to focus on those versus
those that aren’t posing an
environmental or human
threat or property damage.”
So, what is the process
when a member of the public
reports an illegal dump site?
Once a site is reported, the
first thing Tankersley does
is verify that it is on BLM
land. A lot of times it ends up
being on someone’s private
easement or a county road
that cuts through BLM. The
ownership of roads and lands
is very complex and not as
simple as the public likes to
think it is, she explained.
Once a site is determined
to be on BLM land,
Tankersley must verify it is
a hazardous materials site
and, if need be, separate that
material from other trash.
Aerosols are one example
of hazardous material. Used
motor oil is recyclable as long
as it has not been mixed with
listed hazardous wastes, such
as chlorinated solvents.
But the determination
of hazardous materials is not
straightforward. A lot of time
there are containers that don’t
have labels. All unlabeled
containers with liquid must
be treated as an unknown
substance and must have
analytical tests performed
to determine if hazardous
wastes are present in order to
dispose of the wastes properly
according to state and federal
laws.
“For example in
Josephine County I found a
drop this year and there was
a container and they did a
test on it and it turned out to
contain mercury.”
Once the hazardous
material is separated from the
household trash, Tankersley
must find a facility that
will take it. For instance
some facilities will not
take refrigerators and air
conditioners because of the
Freon they contain.
To pick up the trash,
Tankersley uses a contractor
for vehicles and sites that
don’t contain hazardous
waste. This contractor has
the equipment to pick up big
piles of trash. But if there is
hazardous waste, she must
hire a specialized contractor.
How can illegal dumping
be prevented or minimized?
Sullivan said they may place
boulders in places with a lot
of dumping.
“BLM manages land for
the public and we don’t want
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year, one in the spring and one
in the fall, when it will accept
hazardous waste for free.
The next free day is
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to 3 p.m
A pile of trash dumped near Rough & Ready Botanical viewed Friday, Sept. 16.
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to necessarily limit access.
But there are locations where
modifying where people can
park or dump is something we
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