Bart Hunter is a volunteer land steward who cares for Wilton’s historic Heald Tract, and he is tired of cleaning up other people’s trash.
During the last week of September, someone drove into a trail in the conservation land and discarded a truckload of garbage. This was among the biggest recent dumps, but was part of an ongoing trend in which people are depositing things there illegally.
“Stupid thing is the dump is right a mile and a half away,” Hunter said. “It’s kind of amazing that you organize your life so you have to dump trash here.”
The Heald Tract is located in the western part of Wilton and is the oldest settled part of the town. It composes of roughly 400 acres and 10 miles of trails maintained by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire’s Forests, which conserves 185 properties across the state. Hunter has been a volunteer land steward here for 20 years.
“This happens frequently but in irregular intervals,” he said.
In the past few years, illegal activity at the Tract has increased. Just this year, an illegal trash dump led to charges after investigators found identifying mail items in the discarded load. Four ot five years ago, according to Hunter, trespassers resulted in a building fire. All that was left, he said, was empty alcohol containers and a chimney.
“Unfortunately it’s one of these things we have to deal with,” Carrie Deegan, the Forest Society’s volunteer and communication engagement manager, said. “Part of our mission is to make sure our conservation land stays pristine.”
Last month’s dump included vehicle oil, furniture, a car seat, a medicine cabinet, and an air conditioning, among smaller items. Around the tract, one can also find empty cans and shotgun shells.
Deegan says tires are a huge problem in forests across the state, along with construction waste like shutters.
“It depends what certain places charge for,” she said. “It’s usually larger items that you pay to dispose of.”
Hunter likes showing visitors the historic cellar holes in the Heald Tract, which are remaining basements and foundations of long-gone houses, but even they have been dumped into.
He also likes to show off a recently constructed walking bridge that was made by a local boy scout troop, to put a positive spin on things.
“There are good people here who’ll build stuff like thing, as opposed to the jerks who’ll burn buildings down, leave their trash,” he said.
Deegan says, “It’s reached a point where we can’t ignore it any longer.”
She says that local land stewards do a lot of work to clean trash from their forests, but that the society spends nearly 15 to 20 work days every year helping out.
The recent dump in Wilton will require a dump truck and interns and workers from the Forest Society.
“It should take an hour or so if we can get some strong bodies,” Hunter said.
His daughter, Skyler, chimed in to add, “And then we’ll wait until next month until they dump stuff again.”