I was out looking at the proposed Trossachs Camping Management Zone with Nick Halls on Monday. Nick is a compulsive litter picker and spotted an abandoned tent on the west shore of Loch Achray so we pulled into the Ben Venue carpark, operated by Forestry Commission Scotland and picked it up.
There are no litter bins in the FCS Ben Venue carpark, despite the £3 charge, and no sign of the Park rangers, despite the Park vehicle, so after failing to work out how to get the tent to pop down we bundled it up and put it in our van.
Two rangers then returned and Nick decided it to ask them if they would take the tent. The reply from the female ranger (her male companion said nothing) was interesting. She said that this was an FCS carpark and it was therefore FCS responsibility, not the Park’s, to take away rubbish. The ranger then said they were under instructions not to put rubbish in the vans before becoming a bit more apologetic and saying we could give the tent to her. When asked what she would do with it she said she would leave it in the carpark for the FCS who apparently clear up litter on a Monday. We kept the tent and found a large bin for it 2 miles down the road at the Woodland Trust carpark (yes, they have bins and these are well used!).
Not far beyond, at the North Loch Venachar site owned by the Park, we found a neat stash of rubbish from the weekend. This was presumably collected by the two Rangers earlier on but, because they are not allowed to put it in their vehicles and because there are no bins, they have to leave it by the roadside.
This got me thinking: if the Park won’t allow rangers to put litter in its vehicles, how can it expect the public to take their litter home in their own vehicles? The answer is its probably going to try to do so by fines – its Rangers are being trained on their new powers to issue litter penalties. While fines can have a place I suspect it would be more effective in the long-term to allow its rangers to lead by example and also to install the facilities that are needed. The Park still has no litter strategy and this was only too apparent in what we witnessed.
What can we learn from others who have been facing these problems for years? http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/camping/campgrounds.htm
I suppose we all know we ‘should’ take litter home if there is no bin but there are always a few that forget the basic rules.
However, the lack of bins at popular sites is quite astonishing and when present they are often full. Full bins at least demonstrate people are using them – but full bins just creates another litter issue.
More bins please. More emptying please.
could I suggest that readers click on to the Baxter State Park site section on camping and downloads a copy of the rules, then consider their applicability to the damned friggin mess of our situation?
LLTNP seem to think their remit includes some form of social engineering and believe their bylaws will somehow exclude or turn every wrong doer that passes the national park boundary into a model citizen. Talking of park boundaries, the moment you enter the park the provision of litter bins in the laybys on the A82 stops, I find this absolutely incomprehensible, A portion of any litter left on the west shore will inevitably find it’s way to the loch and with prevailing winds end up on the east shore. The parks response was it is the responsibility of the council to provide litter collection facilities. Why, with the long history of littering have the national park board not lobbied the councils to fulfill their responsibilities, after all, there is a member of every council on the national park board. If the various councils provide the same level of litter management within the park as the do outside then the problem would be minimised. While there is undoubtedly some flaw in the British psyche it seems clear the majority of the problem is a litter management issue. The solution is simple, it is practiced in every other part of the country, clean up after them, it’s simpler, it’s guaranteed to work and I have no doubt it will be far more cost effective than employing an army of highly paid rangers to further harass the public unless of course as many suspect, there is another agenda.
Ross, further to your points about sorting out matters with local Councils, under the National Park’s Act the LLTNPA can set up joint committees with councils to address certain issues. I suggested to the previous Minister, Aileen McLeod, that she could require the National Park Authority and Councils to set up such a joint committee to address the litter issue but never got a response. I hope that the new Minister, Roseanna Cunninghan, might be prepared to act on this and tell the Councils and the Park its time to co-operate as intended – which as you rightly point out is why Councillors are on the Park Board.