Dear Editor:
Kudos to the Jeerer who spotted the slowly growing stack of tires at the edge of the Wilmer wetlands. No worries, its temporary.
Last autumn, as part of a larger cleanup of the area, Wildsight volunteers consolidated more than 200 tires at waters edge below the old unofficial Wilmer dump site along Westside Road.
This winter Tom Hoyne and I have thus far man-hauled about 60 of them across the ice to a staging area below Wilmer from which well transport them to the proper dumping grounds in springtime.
Note to jocks: man-hauling tires is great cross training, and there are around 140 left that you can include in your regimen!
Our Jeerer is right to be concerned about the proliferation of household and industrial garbage on the benchlands to the west of the wetlands. And even though that area is officially protected under the jurisdiction of the Columbia Wetlands Wildlife Sanctuary, motorized nature enthusiasts continue to joyride everywhere.
When they drive off-road, the tires on their noisy, stinking machines shred the delicate topsoil of the benchlands, kill native vegetation, and contribute to the spread of noxious weeds in the valley.
Pat Morrow
Wilmer
