Convenience and Proximity

Every time we patrol the Patch, we walk by a little "cove" of the creek's flood plain, down a slope about 12 feet, that I've wanted to clean out.  Particularly since autumn took away the vegetative cover, the debris strewn across the ground has bugged me. The flooding we had this year has only made the garbage count grow. So, this trip, I wore my rubber boots and took a big garbage bag with us on our walk.

Getting down the slope was easier than I thought from just looking over the edge, making me wonder if animals use the same access I did.  Once down on the lower level, I was astounded at the amount of stuff down there, much more than was observable from the upper level.  Everywhere I looked, I could see more trash.

We have learned from our previous garbage expeditions that about 90 percent of the trash we pick up is beverage containers, and of the identifiable labels, about 90 percent of the containers used to have alcohol in them. This was no different. Cans, bottles, cups, lids (and a few food trays) made up the vast bulk of the trash. I stuffed the garbage bag as full as I thought I could lug back up the slope.  I could see that this was going to require another trip.

Our haul

Walking back to the entrance, I thought about the trade off between the convenience of a "disposable" container and the fact that people dispose of them in the worst possible places. This is Oregon, where we have a "bottle bill" that requires a deposit on beverage containers.  Has its effectiveness worn off?  Is the convenience of tossing overpowering the minimal amount of the deposit? Is there any way to slow the tossing?

Wanting to end on a happier note, I will credit the trash with my closer examination of a tree where I now feel confident owls are nesting.  I had a feeling that the habitat was right and Scott Carpenter's great presentation gave me the clues to look for.  On our last visit I found what I thought was "owl wash" while surveying the cove. My suspicions are now confirmed by the owl pellets at the base of the tree.