The first Fernley Deep Sand Swales Cleanup effort was organized by Tom Fee and occurred on June 13, 1998. Tom was joined by Chuck Dodd, Don Wiggins, Shann and Bill Rupp and BLM Archaeologist Gary Bowyer. We rented a U-Haul truck and paid for the dumping at the Fernley Transfer Station ourselves. There was an article on these trail improvement activities on page 2 of the July 1998 issue of TRAIL TALK.

Tom organized another cleanup for May 6, 2001. This time we had the use of a two-ton flatbed BLM truck. We also were able to dump the trash for free after writing to the vice president of Disposal Services. There were three articles in the local Fernley Newspaper, the Leader-Courier. This cleanup process was reported on page 14 of News From The Plains in the October 2001 issue in an article titled, Nevada Swale Cleanup Offers Lessons In Collaboration.

We also did a cleanup of the Fernley Deep Sand Swales on August 4, 2002. A few days later, four of us went back the morning of a scheduled OCTA Pre-Convention Tour so the area would look especially nice for the tour. We later learned the tour went through while we were unloading the trash at the Fernley Transfer Station.

There were Fernley Deep Sand Swales Cleanups conducted in December 2003 and November 2004. We had six Fernley citizens helping out November 4, 2004. There was also publicity in the local paper

The annual cleanup of the Fernley Deep Sand Swales occurred on October 1 this year and is scheduled to be done annually on the first Saturday in October.

Seven CA-NV Members, several Fernley residents, and one BLM employee turned out to help with the cleanup effort. The OCTA members were: Karen Kersh Giron, who served as Cleanup Chair, CA-NV President Jim Allison, D. W. McKenzie, Linda Sanders, Andy Quinn, Steve Knight, and Tom Fee. Jim Allison and Mac McKenzie drove all the way from the Loomis/Citrus Heights area in California.

The event was sponsored by the CA-NV Chapter of OCTA, the BLM, and the Fernley Truck Inn. Truck Inn personnel who joined in were: Mac Potter, General Manager, Karen Giron, Assistant Manager, and Robin Scholl, Comptroller. Vince Giron, Karen's husband, did his share of hard work. Fran Hull drove the large BLM flatbed truck with side rails and a hydraulic rear lift. We are grateful to Waste Management for giving us free dump tickets to the Fernley Transfer Station for the day.

Among the trash and garbage that had been dumped since last year were several mattresses, a sofa, a washer, a fridge, bags of garbage, papers, and magazines. Linda Sanders and her helpers took two pick up loads to the Transfer Station. Andy Quinn and his crew took one very large load in his long, flatbed trailer. Fran Hull and her crew took one very large load to the Transfer Station.

All in all, it was a productive day and we were pleased we had restored these Historic Sand Swales closer to their original state.

Chapter member Andy Quinn and Fran Hull of the BLM bagging dead geese

Andy lifting a goose

Mac Potter, General Manager of the Fernley Truck Inn, loading a mattress onto the BLM truck - with Fran Hull

Chapter members Linda Sanders and Tom Fee placing a pallet onto Linda's truck