! _ SANDY (Ore) POST Thur».. Sept 25. ,975
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BENT AND MANGLED victim s of
bumpers and guns have been accumulated
here into a useless retirement. Vandalism.
both willful and ignorant, takes its toll in
the U.S. Eorest Serv ice lands here.
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GUN CRAZED vandals add to the thousands of dollars in
damage done to the ZigZag Ranger District grounds each
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Vandalism attacks
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year bv malicious and thoughtless persons
B um per tric k s , ’Y ogi-the-B ears
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ta k e to ll on fo re s t service lands
BEPOSIT BOX
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W E LD E D AREA shows where rohher-vondals broke into
this campground money box recently.
SOME PERSONS elect to use the public forest lands as
impromptu garbage dumps.
Story/Photos
by Paul Keller
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SW
THOUGHTLESS. HATCHET* b a m
a o m m * otatdv Iodio nolo
mv Harmi n
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• a sorry stump. Sock activity b
■ to campgrounds here.
The forest takes a beating.
Close to half a m illion people recreate
inside the ZigZag Ranger D istrict each
year, officials reveal
John Geyer, resource assistant with the
ZigZag D istrict, reports that $5.(WO worth
of people-induced damage occurred in the*
district last year.
You don’t have to discredit the woodsy
environs on purpose to be a vandal Many
do it unintentionally.
Webster defines “ vandal” as one “ who
w illfu lly or ignorantly destroys, damages
or defaces property belonging to another
or to the public.”
“ Our two biggest offenders are theadult
and juvenile who destroy w illfu lly or
ignorantly,” confirms Geyer, who lives in
Sandy
He said often times people do things like
leave litte r and build improper fires
without realizing their crime
“ We've had campers build fires under
picnic tables and against trees when it s
raining And, when it's hard to find dry
wood, it’s hard telling what some people
w ill burn,,’ he says, with a horizontal
headshake
Geyer's seen all kinds of destruction.
Many times kids w ill carve on trees and
chop on posts out of pure boredom, he
notes “ Besides, there was nothing else to
do and I just got a new hatchet,” he adlibs
mockingly
Geyer talks about the morning lie went
to work to find three toilets destroyed and
six picnic tables chopped up He calls this
the “ the wholesale approach.”
"B um per tric k " is more vandalism
jargon here.
Seems some people take pleasure in
backing their rigs into roudsigns, bridge
guard railings, garbage cans, water
faucets and toilets All of these forest
service iximper victims make good gun
target practice for the w illfu ll vandal, too
"When someone destroys a $50 dollar
sign, you mast figure the wages it takes to
put it back in ," explains Geyer Hesaidthe
resultant manpower required can often
double the in itia l cost of the sign
Geyer, who is a member of the Sandy
City Planning Commission, said that badly
damaged facilities may not be repairable
for an entire season
W illfull vandals can get downright
deceitful Their premeditated malaise
includes switching directional roadsigns
and laying logs and rocks across roadways
Io obstruct tra ffic: a real hazard to the
night tim e traveler.
"Then there’s the guy who comes in and
does a Yogi ,he Bear," Geyer continues,
re fe rin g to the anim ated cartoon
character who steals picnic baskets from
innocent camper».
The human prototype is just as cunning
when it comes to robbing the camper of his
food, refreshments and equipment
Others m ake routine clandestine
journeys to the public forest lands with
their residential garbage This type would
rather dump waste In the woods than face
a garbage bill.
Like their roadsign and picnic table
allies, campground toilets also take a
beating Geyer said he's seen tiwrn bur
ned, dynamited, tipped over, stumped in,
stripped for firewood, painted on. and
driven into.
E arlier this summer, someone shot a
water pipe w ith a shotgun in one of the
district's overnight camping areas
The recreation areas in our local ranger
district are in use more so than in other
districts, says Geyer
The ZigZag district offers summer
camping (including exclusive camps for
horses and motorcycles), backcountry and
wilderness areas, anti w inter use for
downhill and cross country skiing and
snowmohihng
“ We're accessible all year long." sums
up Geyer
He said the most effective way to reduce
the threat of vandalism is thnxigh more
public contact between his agency and
those who venture onto forest lands Such
preventive measures are aimed especially
at the ignorant vandal
Geyer believes a person's sense of
responsibility changes from what it would
be hack home once he becomes a "cam
per." Eor instance, kids aren't watched as
closely, he observes.
“ We encourage people to think about
what they're doing, and to consider their
acts rather than just being on vacation.”
D istrict employees are trying to help the
camper overcome his lack of orientation to
the forest by getting out and talking to
him, telling him these things
A pack it out program has also been
initiated for the backcountry camper, and
scout troops and church groups have
volunteered to come up and pitch in a
helping hand with the ongoing clean-up
and restoration projects.
A ll such activity helps kindle a mass
awareness that w ill hopefully alleviate tlie
ignorant vandal syndrome and keep the
wearand tearat a minimum
But. what about the guy who spreads his
wrath intentionally’’
"The foul play is usually due to grudges
or boredom," explains Geyer.
He said all acts of vandalism, intentional
or not, are subject Io federal misdeamenor
offense laws Besides fines, persons are
sometimes required to pay restitution for
the property damage
Some districts require the apprehended
vandal to return to the scene of th<» crime
and repair his deed and those of others
The ZigZag Hanger D is tric t also
maintains a cooperative law enforcement
program with the Clackamas County
Sheriff’s Department Plus, all full time
ranger district employees receive a three-
day crash law enforcement course
Even so, people w ill still be kicking over
garbage cans, leaving litte r, chopping
picnic tables, shooting signs and cutting
down trees.
Unfortunately, this disfiguration seems
as much a part of modern mankind as
lieauty is to wilderness,