BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal TOP: Ron Bowman and Ray Frederick scout areas along the Carson River shooting range for the annual Kiwanis river cleanup. ABOVE: Public affairs officer for the Carson City BLM field office Mark Struble, right, looks through an abandoned car while Bowman scouts areas littered with trash, vehicles and appliances.
Every year about this time, Ron Bowman and Ray Frederick head down Brunswick Canyon in search of cars, hoping their quest won't be fruitful.
The Kiwanis past presidents organize the Carson City River Cleanup, scheduled for Sept. 23, and scout the area to see just how much debris and trash will need to be removed. More than 200 people, including members of the Kiwanis, Boy and Girl Scouts and ROTC, will clean up old appliances and furniture, trash and broken bottles along a three-mile stretch of the river.
"This isn't bad; it's been much worse other years we have done it," Frederick said after scanning the area.
The land being cleaned is owned by the Bureau of Land Management.
"It's a problem in every wildland urban interface across the west," said Mark Struble, public affairs officer for the Carson City BLM field office.
Every year volunteers find discarded refrigerators and appliances along with several thousand bullet casings and shotgun shells, but recently have been thankful that the biggest problem has diminished.
"In the past, it was people living out here. There were areas we couldn't clean up because of the drug paraphernalia," Bowman said. "It's not uncommon to find needles out here."
During the 17 years Kiwanis has been cleaning up public lands, volunteers have encountered everything from a wedding dress to diapers and tools.
"We found stolen rifles and tools, and we found a jackhammer one year. But we've never found a body," Frederick said.
Yet the biggest hassle for volunteers is the discarded vehicles. In addition to their size and weight making them hard to move, the vehicle identification number must be recorded by the sheriff's office so they can be junked.
"We need volunteers with trailers or equipment to help load and haul away the cars. That is the biggest problem we have," Struble said.
This year, the pair located just six cars, less than normal.
For their efforts, volunteers receive a T-shirt, a bottle of water and a barbecued lunch courtesy of the Kiwanis.
• Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.
You can help
What: Kiwanis Carson River Cleanup
When: Check-in at 8 a.m. Sept. 23
Where: Meet at Bureau of Land Management Carson City Field Office, 5665 Morgan Mill Road
Bring: Sturdy leather work gloves, hat, sunscreen and insect repellent. Anyone under 18 years old must also have a signed parental permission slip.
INFO: 885-6000 or 885-7302