Fernley Deep Sand Swales

Preservation and Cleanup - 2011

Text and Photos by Tom Fee

The annual cleanup and preservation of the Fernley Deep Sand Swales of the California Trail takes place on the first Saturday of October. The October 1, 2011 event was the 12th time the CA-NV Chapter sponsored the cleanup. The first occurred in the summer of 1998 and annually since 2001.

Sixteen people showed up for the October 1st event. Eleven of the volunteers were from Fernley, including two OCTA members, two members from the Fernley Preservation Society, and a Fernley City Councilman. Two volunteers were from Stagecoach, Nevada. Two volunteers are OCTA members from Reno. One volunteer was an archaeologist from the Carson City Field Office of the BLM.

A total of 14 loads of trash were taken to the Trash Pros Transfer Station near Wadsworth. The large Fernley Parks and Recreation dump trailer was not available to us this year. The large BLM 1 ton truck was also not available due to being pressed into service for fire fighting duty. We did have a small trailer and five open pickup trucks. Richard Velarde, from Stagecoach brought his skip loader on a flatbed trailer and saved us a lot of work.

Left to right are: Melinda Stewart, Linda Sanders, Ed Rajki, Roy Edgington, Anna Marks, Ken Saito, Vinnie Kilmer, Dottie Hester, Keith Brown, Dave Hollecker, Jim Moorman, Denise Moorman, Chris Hansen, and Richard Verade. Linda Sanders has attended all eleven of the annual cleanups. Dave Hollecker has attended ten of the annual cleanups. Nine of the volunteers have attended two or more of the cleanups. Not pictured is Stephen Christy, BLM archaeologist.
	Richard Velarde operates his skip loader while Ed Raiki and Chris Hansen carefully place large rocks in Ed's trailer.
Denise Moorman filling a sack with yard refuse.
	Fernley City Councilman, Roy Edgington, rolling a large tire from near the California Trail.
Ken Saito picking up pieces of a smashed toilet.
	Dottie Hester going after wind-blown paper stuck on weeds.
BLM archaeologist, Steve Christy, tossing roofing shingles in his truck
	Cleared area where the large pile of roofing shingles had been

Updated: 11/29/11