[Note: Lefthand Canyon is north of Boulder, Colorado and west of Longmont, Colorado in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.]

On April 30th, 2000 over 100 volunteer from the motorcycle, ATV, and four wheel drive community spent a Sunday morning removing trash and spent casings left by irresponsible target shooters on public lands near Jamestown, Colorado.

This years event, even with the usual cool weather, drew a large number of volunteers. There were members of the Northern Colorado Trail Riders, Rocky Mountain Enduro Circuit, Mile Hi Jeep Club, Trailridge Runners 4WD Club, Big Thompson Four Wheelers, Hobo Jeepers, Hillbillies 4WD Club, Go 4's 4WD Club, and CSU Big Wheels.

The three main shooting areas along the start of the Lefthand Canyon 4WD road were full of targets and garbage again this year. Our group began filling the trash bags donated by Honda and loading them into pickup trucks to be hauled to the large roll off dumpster donated by Western Disposal. Two groups of 4WD vehicles headed up to retrieve an abandoned Volvo and a Scout. The Scout has been below ‘five points' for a few years now, and last years attempt at retrieving it was not successful. This year the team from Big Thompson 4WD Club came prepared with torches and cut off saws. After some winching and dragging, both vehicles were hauled down to pavement to be removed.

By eleven o'clock the majority of the trash had been hauled to the roll off and lunch was being prepared. Tom Kyle of the Hillbillies 4WD Club was our chef for the day cooking up the hotdogs donated by The Parts Place in Fort Collins. By noon the roll off was over flowing and the area was once again cleaned up.

By the end of the day, the "No Shooting" signs placed at the illegal shooting area had been removed. This is an indication of the lack of management that this area has received to date. In a high use area of an urban forest like the Roosevelt National Forest, the lack of management direction, enforcement, and signing will lead to resource impacts.

Prior to our cleanup Martha Moran, Recreation Officer for the Boulder Ranger District, and Jack Placchi, Colorado State Parks Off-Highway Vehicle program, visited the area and are beginning meetings to develop a management plan that intends to solve the impacts. The goal will be to develop a motorized system that incorporates many different types of challenges while eliminating the trash and proliferation of illegal hill climbs and user created roads.