Following Z107.7’s original report and a series of follow-up reports in connection with an expansive illegal dump site near Giant Rock in Landers, community response has been extraordinary. And while the organized cleanup is set for 8 a.m. tomorrow, reporter Mike Lipsitz says changing conditions have led organizers to make some adjustments…
In a survey two weeks ago of the main illegal dump, an abandoned campsite some 50 yards south of Giant Rock, agents from the federal Bureau of Land Management concluded cleanup of the toxic site was too dangerous for volunteers. The BLM then called on a hazardous waste handler already under contract to cordon off the site, preserve any remaining evidence, and properly dispose of the human waste and other hazardous material there. At the same time, in coordination with the Mojave Desert Land Trust, Blight Sites, and the Landers Association, five additional illegal dump sites were identified between Landers Integratron and Giant Rock. So following tomorrow morning’s 8 a.m. BLM briefing at a staging area just east of Belfield Boulevard and Linn Road in Landers, scores of volunteers will set out to remove trash, tires, graffiti, and even sift glass and bullet casings from the sand at the five dump sites leading to Giant Rock.
Back at the toxic abandoned campsite, well-intentioned individuals not affiliated with the organized cleanup thwarted the plan for safe disposal of the hazardous waste and evidence preservation, managing a thorough clean-up of the site. Agents from the BLM tell Z107.7 they already possess sufficient evidence to identify the main perpetrators of the illegal dumping. Arrests are expected.
