<font size="4">I've had many great times around the Snake down by Lower Granite Dam, and this trashing of the Dunes by what it appears was mostly a young crowd of partiers, is disgusting, a commentary on the attitude of these youth, which I won't explicate... You can guess! Moscow Mountain has also become more of a garbage dump than it was a few decades ago, no doubt in part because of the increase in population, much of this from increased U of I enrollment.</font><br>
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Progress!</h1><p><a href="http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/aug/31/illia-dunes-cleanup-continues-after-3000-partiers-trash-shores/" target="_blank">http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/aug/31/illia-dunes-cleanup-continues-after-3000-partiers-trash-shores/</a><br>
</p><h1><a href="http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/aug/31/illia-dunes-cleanup-continues-after-3000-partiers-trash-shores/" target="_blank">Illia Dunes cleanup continues after 3,000 partiers trash shores</a></h1>
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Posted by <b>Rich</b>
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<a href="http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/aug/31/illia-dunes-cleanup-continues-after-3000-partiers-trash-shores/" target="_blank">Aug. 31, 2012 1:49 p.m.</a>
<br><br>PUBLIC LANDS — Cleanup continues at the Illia Dunes area along the
Snake River downstream from Lower Granite Dam after last weekend's
college-crowd of about 3,000 left the popular recreation site marred
by trash.
<p>
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Snake River
shoreline in that stretch, closed the area until it can finish the
cleanup, including getting glass out of the water area and testing
water quality.</p>
<p>
Signs warn that glass is prohibited but that rule, among others, was not observed last weekend.</p>
<p>
Corps spokesman Bruce Henrickson said volunteers have offered to help
clean up the mess, but for safety reasons the Corps is using only
volunteers it has organized.</p>
<p>
No decision has been made as of 1:30 p.m. Friday on whether the area will be open for the Labor Day Weekend.</p>
<p>
Corps officials said they will be reviewing whether they should adopt a policy of prohibiting alcohol use at the site.</p><p>
Summary as of Friday morning, Aug. 31, 2012:</p>
<p>
By Bruce Henrickson, <font color="#000000" face="Calibri">U.S. Army Corps of Engineers</font></p>
<p>
REOPENING PLAN: We haven't yet decided when to reopen Illia Dunes. We
can't reopen until a) cleanup is done and b) water quality samples
indicate it's safe to enter the water. We took water quality samples to
test for water contamination, but I haven't seen test results yet. Maybe
we'll have them this afternoon. We can't open the beach up until water
quality samples are returned and water is considered safe for public
access, and the underwater portion of the beach is cleared of bottles
and other debris (which we should be able to do tomorrow with a
volunteer crew—see below).</p>
<p>
Our Lower Granite Natural Resources office is working with WSU Center
for Civic Engagement (CCE), which is a single-point coordinator to
provide WSU student volunteers from fraternities and sororities. CCE
offered to provide 60-75 student volunteers and bus them to Lower
Granite for the cleanup.</p>
<p>
We decided to work with a single organized group of volunteers for
operational/supervision efficiency and in order to keep those volunteers
safe. For example, we asked their coordinator to ask each student
volunteer to wear sturdy shoes or boots; hat; sunscreen; insect
repellant; gloves; bring water (and we'll provide more drinking water).
We also asked them to bring swimwear or shorts for the in-water cleanup.</p>
<p>
Keeping Illia Dunes and other Corps recreation areas open long-term
will be a joint effort of volunteer help, responsible use of Corps parks
by visitors, and Corps management of those public lands. We appreciate
public and volunteer support in that effort to keep Corps recreation
areas open.</p>
<p>
First priority was for our staff and grounds maintenance contractor to
clean the shore area of the Dunes. That's because we didn't want that
trash to blow around the area and cause even more problems.</p>
<p>
What still needs to be cleaned up are three miles of ditches between
Illia Dunes and Lower Granite dam, and the underwater portion of the
beach. One of the reasons this area is so popular is because it has
several acres of shallow water.</p>
<p>
We collected an enormous amount of garbage during the first three days
(Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)—3,000 pounds of garbage so far including
hundreds of Styrofoam coolers left behind. Garbage is being taken to the
Asotin County Landfill. It was a mess.</p>
<p>
Knowing that a large volunteer crew was arriving on Saturday, we
decided to conserve our staff resources and not continue trash
collection yesterday (Thursday) and today.</p>
<p>
This year's peak recreation season at Illia Dunes will soon come to an
end as we begin our normal seasonal raising of the (Little Goose)
reservoir water level at Illia Dunes.</p>
<p>
We're reviewing what happened and looking at options for preventing
similar events in the future. Because the peak recreation season is
almost over at Illia Dunes, our efforts to prevent similar incidents are
aimed at next spring.</p>
<p>
Alcohol is not banned at Illia Dunes, but we are reviewing the
situation. Banning alcohol, or not, are options available to us. Most of
all, we ask our visitors to drink alcohol responsibly and not leave
trash behind, not take glass containers on the beach, and enjoy their
visit without breaking any laws or offending other visitors.</p>
<p>
The District commander has authority to ban alcohol. Most medical
response calls at Illia Dunes are alcohol-related. We currently have
alcohol bans at Greenbelt Ramp, Chestnut Beach, Swallows Park in
Clarkston and we have a alcohol ban on the Little Goose Esplanade
(usually referred to as “the Wall”) at Little Goose Lock & Dam.</p>
<p>
A typical summer weekend crowd at the dunes is 100-300 visitors.
1500-2000 visitors at Illia Dunes has been our largest in the recent
past, and usually on holiday weekends or just before school starts. The
crowd of 3,000 is the largest crowd our park manager has seen since his
arrival in 2001.</p>
<p>
We don't know specifically where our Illia Dunes visitors come from,
though many cross Lower Granite Dam to reach Illia Dunes. Many appear to
be of college age.</p>
<p>
The Corps did not receive any specific requests for group events Aug.
25-26. In the past, we have found a few advertisements for unauthorized
“events” at the dunes.</p>
<p>
We ask for the public's help in several ways. First, glass containers
are not allowed at Illia Dunes. That is well-posted at entrances.
Second, we provide free trash bags and ask that visitors take their
trash home with them; federal recreation budgets have been cut, and we
can manage to keep recreation areas open, but we need help from visitors
in removing their trash. We THANK our visitors for their assistance.</p>
<p>
The current Illia Dunes closure is indicated by traffic cones and signs
at the site. We ask that the public stay out of the area until
further notice.</p><p>------------------------------------------</p><p>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett<br></p>
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