Please recreate responsibly

It is no secret that Elmore County is an outdoor recreation dream. Here in Mountain Home we are surrounded by, in my humble opinion, some of the most beautiful country anywhere and most of us would like to keep it that way. Though my family and I are trying to distance ourselves during these unusual times, we do manage to try and find ourselves little isolated areas in our outdoors to get outside and have some fun on the weekends. As many of you who have being trying to do the same have noticed, our hills have been very crowded this year with people coming into our county to do the same. If you are like my husband and many of our friends the sight of people from other counties filling our county is quite irksome. To me the most irritating part isn’t necessarily where people come from, but the way in which the public land around here is being treated. People are packing into every available space, sometimes leaving cleared areas and damaging the vegetation and land that should not be trampled upon. Other’s treat the land as their personal dumping space, leaving trash everywhere and not cleaning up their refuge. This is not how I was raised and it was not how many of the locals around here were raised either. Please be good stewards of the land, pack out what you pack in and leave our public lands in better condition then it was in when you arrived there. Please remember that while you enjoy your weekend visits to our outdoors, it is other people’s permanent homes and where they make their livelihoods.
The small mom and pop shops in the Anderson Recreation, Area survive off of tourism, but that doesn’t mean that they should be treated like they owe you for being there. It is one of those times when the best rule to go by is one taught to us as Kindergartners “treat others as you would like to be treated.” Treat our public lands as you would want your own yard treated, because in fact, the public lands of Elmore County is just that: our own backyard and should be treated as such.
If you see someone dumping on public land or abusing them in other ways please contact Elmore County Dispatch at 208-587-2100.