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About 150 volunteers took to the dunes at Sand Mountain Saturday with trash bags in hand to pick up the wind-scattered scraps left behind by recreators over the past few months.
Aside from the obvious goal of beautifying the site, the annual Friends of Sand Mountain cleanup is the highlight of the off-roader advocacy group's outreach efforts.
"We were trying to make an even bigger push on education this year," said FOSM member Jon Crowley.
FOSM has been lobbying to keep Sand Mountain open to off-roaders since last year, when a U.S. Bureau of Land Management biologist recommended banning vehicles from an area north and northwest of the dune to protect a rare butterfly and its habitat.
The BLM has since imposed a "voluntary" trail closure system under which off-roaders are asked to stay off certain trails and stay on others. The massive, 600-foot-tall dune from which the area got its name is not vegetated and is open to vehicles, as are some of the smaller dunes that surround it.
Environmental groups claim the voluntary program is ineffectual and have filed a petition to list the insect under the Endangered Species Act.
FOSM maintains off-roaders aren't completely to blame for the habitat's die-off, and say they deserve a chance to turn things around before the popular recreation area about 30 miles east of Fallon is shut off to them.
According to the BLM, the vast majority of Sand Mountain visitors are from out of state and FOSM member Jon Crowley says most are unaware of the controversy between off-highway vehicles and the desert ecosystem.
Throughout the year, FOSM members hand out pamphlets explaining Sand Mountain's most pressing issues, with pictures of the declining Kearney buckwheat, which is the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly's lifeblood.
At this year's cleanup, the group posted signs that more clearly delineate the trails - something they do for every heavy-use weekend.
They also erected some temporary fencing between some of Sand Mountain's more popular trails and remaining vegetation.
"It was just a test," Crowley said.
Although the group has long been opposed to most harsh conservation measures such as closures or fencing, Crowley said some patches of fencing might be worth keeping Sand Mountain an off-roaders' playground.
"I'd rather not have to put up any fencing. I'd rather not see it out there. But given a choice between no trail and an open trail, people are going to take the open trail with a fence," he said.
According to Crowley and the BLM, very few off-roaders traveled into the area's "discouraged" areas this Labor Day Weekend, which drew between 2,500 and 2,800 visitors.
"That shows us education really does work," Crowley said.
According to the BLM, the holiday weekend was fairly quiet at Sand Mountain, however one man was killed in a single vehicle accident Monday morning.
Byron Soczek, a 21-year-old sailor from NAS Whidbey Island in Washington state, died from blunt force trauma when he sailed over the cusp of the dune and crashed upon landing at 3 a.m. Monday.
Aside from the obvious goal of beautifying the site, the annual Friends of Sand Mountain cleanup is the highlight of the off-roader advocacy group's outreach efforts.
"We were trying to make an even bigger push on education this year," said FOSM member Jon Crowley.
FOSM has been lobbying to keep Sand Mountain open to off-roaders since last year, when a U.S. Bureau of Land Management biologist recommended banning vehicles from an area north and northwest of the dune to protect a rare butterfly and its habitat.
The BLM has since imposed a "voluntary" trail closure system under which off-roaders are asked to stay off certain trails and stay on others. The massive, 600-foot-tall dune from which the area got its name is not vegetated and is open to vehicles, as are some of the smaller dunes that surround it.
Environmental groups claim the voluntary program is ineffectual and have filed a petition to list the insect under the Endangered Species Act.
FOSM maintains off-roaders aren't completely to blame for the habitat's die-off, and say they deserve a chance to turn things around before the popular recreation area about 30 miles east of Fallon is shut off to them.
According to the BLM, the vast majority of Sand Mountain visitors are from out of state and FOSM member Jon Crowley says most are unaware of the controversy between off-highway vehicles and the desert ecosystem.
Throughout the year, FOSM members hand out pamphlets explaining Sand Mountain's most pressing issues, with pictures of the declining Kearney buckwheat, which is the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly's lifeblood.
At this year's cleanup, the group posted signs that more clearly delineate the trails - something they do for every heavy-use weekend.
They also erected some temporary fencing between some of Sand Mountain's more popular trails and remaining vegetation.
"It was just a test," Crowley said.
Although the group has long been opposed to most harsh conservation measures such as closures or fencing, Crowley said some patches of fencing might be worth keeping Sand Mountain an off-roaders' playground.
"I'd rather not have to put up any fencing. I'd rather not see it out there. But given a choice between no trail and an open trail, people are going to take the open trail with a fence," he said.
According to Crowley and the BLM, very few off-roaders traveled into the area's "discouraged" areas this Labor Day Weekend, which drew between 2,500 and 2,800 visitors.
"That shows us education really does work," Crowley said.
According to the BLM, the holiday weekend was fairly quiet at Sand Mountain, however one man was killed in a single vehicle accident Monday morning.
Byron Soczek, a 21-year-old sailor from NAS Whidbey Island in Washington state, died from blunt force trauma when he sailed over the cusp of the dune and crashed upon landing at 3 a.m. Monday.
