CLEAN DEZERT OFF-ROAD CLEAN-UP

story and photos: Shaun ochsner

Clean-Dezert hosted a clean-up event at Hodge Road in Barstow, California. The area is a popular hot spot for offroaders and people to come from the city and shoot guns. People bring whatever targets they can get their hands on. A large percentage of those people leave the shot-up targets, spent shell casings and other trash laying in the desert.

The Clean-Dezert organization was founded 15 years ago by Adam Filbin and Ray Regno. The duo wanted to give back to the community. The pair were part of the “1450” or “white fender” crowd. Those who ran in those circles typically were given a bad rap by the rest of the off-road community for not caring about the deserts. A few bad apples left trash, and simply had a bad attitude. Filbin and Regno wanted to change that persona and soon had hundreds of volunteers showing up at their annual clean-up events.

The Hodge Road clean-up was different than most of the events Clean -Dezert has hosted. Because the area is an active shooting spot, the event was held in the cooler nighttime hours for safety. The event was also held on a Friday night, so the organizers weren’t even sure they would get people to show up. At least 100 volunteers arrived with shovels, rakes, trucks, and trailers. One volunteer even brought a small skip loader with different

front attachments for picking up large metal objects. Two dumpsters were filled to the brim with trash left in the desert.

LED light bars lit up the area as volunteers worked for over 2 hours filling trash bags, pick-up trucks and trailers. Lowrance Motorsports hosted a BBQ filling the bellies of the volunteers. Sponsors donated product for a raffle held at the end of the night. The event was a huge success and the organizers are looking forward to their next event in November– an annual clean-up held at the popular Outlet Center Drive OHV area in Barstow, California. That event attracts 650 volunteers who spend the better part of the day bringing in loads of trash from the desert.

For more information visit www.clean-dezert. org