Littering continues to be an issue in Shoshone County

With the incoming summer season, Shoshone County residents normally must brace for the amount of trash and litter that unfortunately accompanies outdoor activities.

But when several locals recently found large amounts of trash drumped in an open area off of Hord’s Ranch Road near Wallace, many had to speak out.

The discovery of the trash prompted a social media outrage as local residents organized a cleanup effort that took place this past Saturday.

Wallace resident David Sherman was one of the locals who were disturbed by the littering.

“I go up there a lot and had been up there last weekend and there was no trash so it must have happened over the weekend,” Sherman said. “There’s obviously some of the wrong kind of people going up there too.”

This is not an uncommon occurrence in Shoshone County as there have been several cases of excessive littering in the more remote places of our beautiful county, but several factors make this case slightly more concerning.

Among the anomalies that the locals mentioned where things like road conditions, the fact that the area is private property, and how the area has a history of being a place where things are left in hopes of being forgotten.

The road up to the dump site is poorly maintained, making the trek up to dump random garbage seem like more work than it would have been had the offender taken the trash to the county transfer station.

“I know the county has been trying to figure out how to repair the road,” Sherman said, “but as of right now it’s more like an ATV trail.”

The area where the trash was dumped is private property that is currently for sale, but the owners have not spoken publicly about the incident yet.

As volunteers began to speak up about their intentions to go clean up the area, Sherman thought that it was great to see how much people care about the area that they live in.

“It really shows that people care,” Sherman said. “It’s really cool that so many people are responding and want to volunteer to go clean up the mess.”

A few years back, the area was in the local news when a stolen car out of Washington was taken over the embankment and abandoned after being set on fire.

According to Idaho law, the penalty for littering varies based on severity, but could result in fines of $2,500 and up to six months in a county jail.

At this time, no word has been received from the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office concerning if they plan to investigate the incident.