{"id":1320120,"date":"2020-05-20T14:54:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T20:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=996557"},"modified":"2020-05-20T14:54:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T20:54:32","slug":"sprucing-up-the-mesa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/sprucing-up-the-mesa\/","title":{"rendered":"Sprucing up the Mesa"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/rifle-citizen-telegram-1024x538.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"rifle citizen telegram graphic\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/rifle-citizen-telegram-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/rifle-citizen-telegram-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/rifle-citizen-telegram-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/rifle-citizen-telegram.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The novel coronavirus pandemic altered event plans for the annual cleanup at Hubbard Mesa this year. Organizers from Hi Country 4 Wheelers, Rifle Are Mountain Bike Organization, and White River Trail Runners ATV\/UTV Club didn\u2019t let that deter them from joining together, using proper social distancing, to make the Mesa cleaner and safer for the public to enjoy this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The cleanup, which dates back to the early 2000s when members of the Hi Country 4 Wheelers decided to help the BLM out, and clear debris from the popular public land on the edge of Rifle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately our government entities can only do so much, and being that it is public land, we as a jeep club believe public lands belong to public people and therefore we strive to get our efforts out there, no matter where we are,\u201d Hi Country 4 Wheelers President Jennifer Isenhart said.<\/p>\n<p>Isenhart said they were told in April that the BLM had to step back from the event due to the COVID-19 restrictions affecting the county and state.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Generally a big event, the cleanup always included a large gathering and raffle for members of the clubs and volunteers that participated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe decided to go back to the very basics, we had a fabulous person donate a dumpster \u2014 Shawn Parsons of Native Waste Solutions \u2014 and we put a sign on the dumpster that said three things,\u201d Isenhart said. \u201cNo tires in the dumpster, be mindful of what you pick up, and the COVID-19 restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The groups were able to nearly fill the 40-yard dumpster and Garfield County Landfill waived the dumping fees for the cleanup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s public land and I think it\u2019s not an uncommon concern for public lands, I feel like the BLM kind of has their hands tied. They do what they can to manage it, but ultimately it is left up to all these user groups to try and get together, and be good examples and take care of the land,\u201d RAMBO Vice President Alison Birkenfeld said.<\/p>\n<p>Birkenfeld said everyone practiced social distancing, and every individual group spent nearly 8 hours cleaning hot spots of where people have dumped garbage, left behind shell casing, and also campsites left behind by squatters.<\/p>\n<p>Both Isenhart and Birkenfeld agree that there needs to be more education, but it needs to be consistent to help enlighten people to how important it is to keep public lands clean.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish we had a thousand members and we could hit every trail and make them all perfect,\u2019\u2019 Isenhart said. \u201cIt\u2019s (Hubbard Mesa) completely unique and special in that way, and that is also one of the reasons we feel it is so important to keep it clean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:kmills@postindependent.com\">kmills@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/sprucing-up-the-mesa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The novel coronavirus pandemic altered event plans for the annual cleanup at Hubbard Mesa this year. Organizers from Hi Country 4 Wheelers, Rifle Are Mountain Bike Organization, and White River Trail Runners ATV\/UTV Club didn\u2019t let that deter them from joining together, using proper social distancing, to make the Mesa cleaner and safer for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1320120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-07 05:59:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}