CANV Chapter

Modern view of the Colorado and Gila Rivers junction, known
historically as "Yuma Crossing." Photo by Jerry Dwyer, January 2009.

2008 FERNLEY DEEP SAND SWALES
PRESERVATION AND CLEANUP

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY TOM FEE

The annual cleanup and preservation of the Fernley Deep Sand Swales of the California Trail and of the Central Pacific Railroad Bed takes place on the first Saturday of October. The October 4, 2008 event was on the 10th anniversary of the first cleanup organized by event founder Tom Fee during the summer of 1998.

Fifteen people had the courage to show up for the October 4 event, even though rain had been forecast for all day Saturday. Fortune smiled on us in that there was no rain at all and the day warmed up. Five of the volunteers are OCTA members, five are residents of Fernley, two are from Empire, Nevada, and three are employees of the Fernley Park Department.

There had been one bad place of dumped garbage (see pictures 1-3), one dish washer, two to three mattresses, the usual trash at the "shooting range", and many piles of weeds and yard refuse. As always there were cans, bottles and lots of wind blown paper throughout the 130 acre Historic Preservation easement. The dumped household trash, appliances, and furniture was much less this year. However, the illegally dumped weeds and yard refuse has greatly increased.

Our thanks and appreciation go out to those volunteers who helped restore this very historic area to conditions closer to how it was when the emigrants passed through the area. Our thanks also go to Waste Management who supplied Free Dump Passes, to Barbara Corbin of the Wigwam Restaurant who supplied large trash bags, to Karen and Vince Giron who brought their long bed trailer, to Chris Beni who brought his trailer, to Dave Hollecker and to Linda Sanders who brought their pickup trucks. There were a total of eight loads of trash taken to the Fernley Transfer Station.

1. Large pile of garbage few feet North of the Fernley Deep Sand Swales.	2. Anna Marks, Linda Sanders, and Dave Hollecker	3. Restored area showing the work of Dave Hollecker, Linda Sanders, and Anna Marks.
4. Troy Hulsey, Terry Jones, and Rex Albisu of the Fernley Parks Department tackle a pile of broken cement below Central Pacific Railroad bed and above the Swales.	5. Restored area where pile of cement had been.	6. Chris Beni, a volunteer from Fernley picking trash along the Deep Sand Swales of the California Trail, a few feet South of the Central Pacific Railroad Bed.
7. Karen Giron and Barbara Corbin hauling trash from the "shooting range" immediately North of the CPRR bed.	8. Sunny DeForest, a volunteer from Empire, Nevada fighting the wind slightly North of the Central Pacific Railroad bed.	9. Jim Allison, Past President of the California-Nevada Chapter, drove from Loomis, CA to help preserve the historic Fernley Deep Sand Swales.
10. CA-NV Member John Winner, drove from Placerville, CA to clear trash from the California Trail near the CPRR bed. John and Jim met in Auburn and drove in together.	11. Fernley Parks crew member tackling the yard refuse on a road leading to the 130 acre Historic Preservation Easement.	12. Ed Corbin, Vince and Karen Giron, and Barbara Corbin loading Vince's long flat bed trailer at the "shooting range".
13. The Fernley Parks crew decided their skip loader would make the work go faster. They took a total of four loads to the Fernley Transfer Station.		14. Troy Hulsey, Terry Jones and Rex Albisu of Fernley Parks load their large tilt trailer with illegally dumped yard refuse.

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