Missouri Wild Horse League and Trail Riders Participate in NoMOre Trash Campaign

Did you know scientists estimate it takes a Styrofoam container around a million years to completely decompose? Or a disposable diaper 550 years? Several members of the Missouri Wild Horse League, local trail riders, and other area residents recently met at Cross Country Trail Rides for their annual trash pick up ride. This year was different though, in that the ride was made a part of Missouri’s NoMOre Trash campaign. NoMOre Trash is an interagency campaign involving Missouri’s Departments of Conservation (MDC) and Transportation (MoDOT). Both agencies spend hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars each year to remove trash from areas under their jurisdiction. The annual April campaign seeks to enlist schools and volunteer groups to pick up litter and report their activities. A website, http://www.mdc.mo.gov/nomoretrash, is also up that provides interesting facts about trash, provides surveys about littering, and has a photo gallery of past groups’ activities. The goal of the campaign is to reduce trash dumping and increase awareness of the impact the seemingly harmless act of littering has.

The Missouri Department of Conservation would like to thank the trail riders and other volunteers who participated. This group rode several miles of local horse trails as well as County Road 203 from Cross Country Trail Rides to Powell Spring and the Broadfoot fields. During the ride they picked up some 35 – 40 bags of trash, a tractor tire, several mufflers, and other miscellaneous trash. Thanks also to the Smiths and Cross Country Trail Rides for dumpster service to dispose of the trash and providing beverages and a brisket lunch with all the trimmings for the group at the Broadfoot fields.