Get ready North Fork... it's dumpster season
This was one of the dumpsters that was placed along the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River during 2021's Memorial Day Weekend. More than 5,000 people made the North Fork home over the long weekend which resulted in several dumpsters looking like this one.
Courtesy photo
NORTH FORK –– Cleanliness is next to godliness… and hopefully everyone who visits the North Fork this year remembers that.
Once again Shoshone County will be placing dumpsters along the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River – which has quickly become the summer destination for those looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of pretty much everywhere else.
The dumpsters, which inevitably will become overfilled and then subsequently photographed and used to generate outrage on social media, will be placed near the Bumblebee Cutoff as well as at G & G Riverstop.
With Memorial Day just on the horizon, the expectation is that roughly 5,000 interlopers (kidding… of course) will make their way to the various camping spots that line the river for an extended weekend of camping, barbecuing, and indulging – all of which results in copious amounts of garbage.
At this point, the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners asks that if you plan on making your way into the Silver Valley, that you respect the beauty of the surrounding nature and pack out whatever you bring in, and utilize the dumpster locations.
The BOCC understands that no matter how hard they try, garbage is likely to overflow and potentially will be placed at the dumpsites, but not necessarily inside the dumpsters.
They don't encourage this behavior, but do subscribe to the notion that it is better for the garbage to make it to a dumpsite instead of simply being left in the wild.
“No matter how many we have out there, we’ll always need one more it seems,” Shoshone County Commissioner Jay Huber said.
These dumpsters ARE NOT for locals to use for their everyday trash or as a seasonal respite from taking their trash to the Transfer Station – this is backed up by the fact that these dumpsters and how they are managed through the summer are not funded by local tax dollars, but instead through United States Forest Service Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) grants.
This common funding misconception has resulted in many people using the dumpsters to dump things like household trash, appliances, and other non-camping, non-recreation type garbage despite pleas from the county and the trash service to refrain from doing so.
“People throughout the county don’t seem to understand that they aren't put up there for locals to dump their old furniture and broken appliances,” Huber said. “It's paid for by the RAC Grants for the campers. If you’re a camper and you’re local it’s fine to dump your camping trash, but that’s it. It’s not a place to save them a trip to the transfer station.”
According to Huber, Shoshone County does have an ordinance in place prohibiting the dumping of such items like furniture and appliances and if caught the offender could receive misdemeanor charges.