I just need to vent a little - we returned from a weekend a Delaware Seashore State Park and I can not believe the amount of trash that people leave behind at the walkway! There are all kinds of unused bait, remains from gutted fish, coffee cups, beer cans, fishing line and cigarette butts throughout. Doesn't anyone have respect for our campgrounds or state and national parks?
My thought is it has more trash due to it being at the beach. If it was a campground in the middle of PA with nothing around it, you would get campers there. Since it was the beach you got vacationers, not campers. They do not respect nature, throw garbage around, have loud radios, and are in general inconsiderate. That is also my theory for Holiday weekends and why they suck. The people camping at the beach or near some other major vacation attraction are not campers. They go out once or twice a year and follow no rules.
Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer. Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.
its the same at french creek.. the pier was littered with Baby diapers and cigs beer bottles/cans and trash.. and the People with NO fishing lic using a stick and rope killing snapping turles... ( if ur eating them fine but for sport? and no PA LIC?) Playing Loud music and speeding..
Ok I feel better... lol
I would like to tell you about a recent trip to Pittsburgh, PA.
I had never been there before and this spring my youngest DD had received an internship with the National Aviary.
I had heard many times what a dirty, filthy city Pittsburgh was. At one time, I understand it was that way.
That was not the case, in fact many cities in our Country should take a lesson from Pittsburgh today.
The streets were clean, even the older areas of the city were well maintained.
The Pittsburgh city parks had trash barrels with liners along the road about every 200 ft. No trash was evident anywhere on the ground.
They had signs up in the old neighborhood my DD was staying in regarding street cleaning every third week I believe.
I know in my State, they have a carry in, carry out rule in most parks (not CG's).
That just doesn't work and people dump the trash everywhere.
I guess my point is that a lot of people are lazy and by providing them with an easy means to dispose of their trash. They seem to do so.
Hi, Here2stay,
We also were at DSSP from 20-23 July (site 339)!
I will enthusiastically join you on your soap box about the trash left along the inlet walkway leading to the beach - it's absolutely disgraceful >:(
We've been going there for years, and, unfortunately, it seems like this has always been the case.
The park provides free 'carry-out' bags, but I often think that maybe if they just had trash cans (or increased the availability of the free-bag stations) they might have better results. The hosts do a good job driving by and trying to pick up every morning, but I think the volume of littering visitors is just overwhelming.
The litterers are total slobs who have no respect for the environment or other people (or themselves, for that matter, as they are obviously content to sit there and fish while surrounded by litter).
It also seems that some fishermen/women feel that since unused bait is technically biodegradable, it's ok to leave it littering the sidewalks, not caring that it draws flies, wasps, and that unsuspecting people may step in it before the seagulls swoop in and forage (though even they do not eat everything (green crab claws are an example)).
Not disposing of fishing line is horrible too - I've cut a cormorant free from being strangled in improperly discarded fishing line; I've had many improperly discarded hooks get lodged in the soles of my shoes.
I know this sounds petty, but this is how mad it makes me: on one trip there seemed to be an especially large amount of waste that had the logo of a certain supermarket, of which there are only two locations. I emailed the supermarket, told them what I'd seen (and where) and asked them if they could please remind their customers not to litter. That's how mad the littering makes me.
One more thought - I've also observed many of the litterers in the act, and have noticed that many of them are tossing their catches into 5-gallon buckets whose labels indicate that they are purchased for restaurant/commercial use (I've never met a homeowner who purchases condiments by the 5-gallon bucket). When these people leave, I don't think it's a coincidence that waste unrelated to fishing (vegetable peelings, meat and poultry scraps) is sometimes left. The authorities have been made aware of this.
And cigarette butts - UGH! I smoked for many years, but NEVER ever littered the butts (always carried a 35mm film canister or Altoids tin - also, the beer and soda cans that make up a lot of litter are great for disposing of butts too). It's just plain lazy, that's all it is.
I realize that sometimes littering occurs by accident (such as the wind blowing stuff out of your hand to places where you can't pick it up, fishing rigs breaking off because of newbies forgetting to release the tension on the line, or by small children who might throw something off a scenic overlook before their parents can stop them).
I respectfully disagree with Lone Lock in that vacationers (as opposed to campers) leave more trash, though my experience is confined to Delaware's SP ocean-access campgrounds, Assateague National Seashore, and Maine's Lamoine SP. I've encountered both trash-ridden and spotless sites at all of these places; I've seen occupants of sites at all of them either patrol the site and pick up whatever trash they can find or be determined to ignore whatever trash they might find. I personally believe that a person who tolerates litter (define that however you choose) at home will tolerate it at the campsite, as well as the opposite. Every time I camp it's a vacation; to me personally, camping and vacation are the same.
I have the utmost respect for all of the park/campground personnel who can deal with such lazy litterers day after day and still not lose their sanity.
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