Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Outdoor Activities => Northern Ireland Camping and Bushcraft => Topic started by: nematode on April 26, 2010
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I stumbled upon this last week:
(http://www.chemistrypanel.co.uk/pics/leavenotrace.JPG)
It was in the woods north of Fofanny Dam. It was at least 3 weeks old. This is beyond words.
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The throw away society we live in sucks big time no respect for anything . The mess can be cleared but they. Have butchered the trees and acted only as vandals . Came across the same thing in Donegal near where I fish one morning . Luckly they were still there and were told to clear up there mess or they would not get their cars out :)
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Tents so cheap you can leave them behind has its downside. Can't imagine what the point of the damage to the tree was.
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Some times all you can do to counter this is to try to leave the places you visit/stay in better condition than you find them.
Bring a spare plastic bag, pair of latex gloves (or use a dog pop bag if you are a dog owner) and pick up some of the litter, tea bags or banana skins (http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Banana-skins-ruining-Ben-Nevis.5660759.jp) you find at your lunch spot.... ...or if you are skilled with your dunny hole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunny) shovel replace the grass burnt by fires/disposable BBQs with grass from a less obvious area.
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It's a problem all right. We have come accross a number of abandoned camps with almost everything left behind, Tents, mats, etc etc etc. usually it has been shredded so it can't be used by anyone else. At all of them, there is the signs of drinking to excess, as well as loads of litter and wanton vandelisism. I guess they manage to get to the woods with all their kit and drink, but are too hung over the next day to be bothered to clear up their kit and as it's cheap, they just leave it behind.
Hopefully the work the NIBA are now doing with young people, educating them about the importance of leaving no trace will pay off in the long term. I know we can't teach them all, but if even a few think twice before leaving a disaster area like the one above, then it's been a sucess.
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I guess they manage to get to the woods with all their kit and drink, but are too hung over the next day to be bothered to clear up their kit and as it's cheap, they just leave it behind.
To be honest, I dont think not clearing up has anything to do with the hangovers. I think they fully intend to leave their tents and kit behind afterwards. Lets face it, you can buy a "festival pack" from most outdoor stores that give you a tent, sleeping bag and mat for less money than you would pay to stay in a B&B for the night. Question is, in a throw-away era do the manufacturers and sellers of these festival packs need to shoulder some of the responsibility?
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It is disgusting, although i'd never leave anything like that I'll admit I'm guilty of the old bananna skin over the shoulder toss. If some of you guys were up for it we could head up with some bin bags and go through an area clearing up.
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I guess they manage to get to the woods with all their kit and drink, but are too hung over the next day to be bothered to clear up their kit and as it's cheap, they just leave it behind.
To be honest, I dont think not clearing up has anything to do with the hangovers. I think they fully intend to leave their tents and kit behind afterwards. Lets face it, you can buy a "festival pack" from most outdoor stores that give you a tent, sleeping bag and mat for less money than you would pay to stay in a B&B for the night. Question is, in a throw-away era do the manufacturers and sellers of these festival packs need to shoulder some of the responsibility?
You're probably right.
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Question is, in a throw-away era do the manufacturers and sellers of these festival packs need to shoulder some of the responsibility?
Same could be asked of the shops that sell disposable BBQs.
In my humble (but admittedly rather cynical) opinion it will take a public outcry and the needless suffering of small creatures (http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/hedgehogs/Big-Mac-helps-out-a.2358319.jp) for retailers to take steps.
But realistically what could retailers do?
The more 'responsible' ones already get involved with local initiatives (eg. Tiso & Mounre Mountain Rescue). If they also stopped selling these disposable items another company would just step in to fill the gap...same would go if they increased the prices.
Despite my cynicism I still hold firm that there are more 'sensible' people in this world than muppets. Small actions by us 'sensibles' can reduce the muppet's effect.
(side note: Google just showed me that BRA does an annual Mournes tidy up (http://www.belfastroyalacademy.com/news.asp?n=323) and has been doing it for the last ten years...good on them...).
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Fair play to them for keeping it up.
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Shocking Damage on the trees. No need whatsoever!!
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It's a shame this sort of stuff is allowed to happen, but what could the ranger or warden do if he catches these people in the process of making this mess? If he calls the police how long will it take for them to be able to respond and if they think it will be serious enough for them to use there resource's on something like this, what I mean is, the police are probably thinking that the people causing this mess are at least not causing any trouble on the streets when they are in the middle of a forest somewhere, plus the fact the only people they can start fights with are themselves which isn't a bad thing.
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I blame our mad rush into being a litigious society. Years ago men and ladies ran youth groups, took kids away camping for weekends and were know locally and trusted.
Now days if you haven't paid for a NI Access check, been on a course, paid for insurance, paid for more insurance just incase a parent decides to sue you, hired a bus, provided a tv and video/gamesconsole etc etc done all off the above plus more, parents won't let the kids go cause they wrap them up in cotton wool.
Society is to blame in general for this situation but the media in particular, for hyping stuff up to such an extent that people just believe it all and don't actually question what is right and what is wrong.
Who needs 24 hour news focusing on one topic or another to the exclusion of everything else these days, scaremongering it used to be called.
Now we just call it the news. :(
HoU
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Tried explaining to my kid when on a walk last week that we should bring down more rubbish that we go out with, should have seen the look on his face when he was asked to pick up someone elses discarded plastic bottle :o
then an hour later he realised he had dropped his own water bottle, hopefully he then got the point of picking up litter, not all rubbish is left intentionally and if we all lift a bit at a time it won't take long to clear the mess
a technique i use with groups is that when they pick up litter it goes into someones elses rucksack (keep a side pocket empty for this purpose) then they are more willing to pick it up as it won't have to go in their rucksack ;)
although glad we didn't come across the mess of that campsite, its hard to imagine the selfishness of leaving that mess there :'(