The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says they’re finding way too much litter and trash at the Moses Lake Sand Dunes.
The sandy landscape at the southeast edge of Moses Lake is a popular spot for recreation, especially for off-road vehicle (ORV) enthusiasts.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Kyle Foreman says it’s generally not the regular users of the Dunes who are creating the biggest issues.
“It’s usually not the true ORV enthusiasts who are causing the problems, it’s usually people who are not familiar with the etiquette surrounding the use of the Dunes. There’s also some people who have started using the Dunes as their personal dump site. So what we’re asking, especially if you’re new to using the Dunes, is if you pack it in – pack it out. And if you’ve been using the Dunes as a personal dump site, you need to stop doing that.”
Foreman says there is a mounting variety of discarded items that are being found at the Dunes, many of which are creating a hazard for other users.
“We’ve collected quite a bit of garbage out there over the past couple of weeks and it makes it unsafe to use the Dunes if we have all sorts of trash. We’ve found broken glass, nails, lawn trimmings, appliances, carpeting, and basically anything else that people throw away from their homes they’ve just been going out and dumping it at the Dunes.”
The sheriff’s office has yet to find any hazardous materials being dumped at the site, but there are concerns that if the problem isn’t nipped in the bud, that it might escalate to include such things.
Foreman says anyone caught dumping trash at the site could receive anything from a warning to a citation.
Anyone who witnesses illegal dumping at the Dunes is being asked to call the Grant County Sheriff’s Office at 509-762-1160.
