Program to Offer Campsite ‘Adoptions’

The Keep the Sespe Wild Committee is seeking volunteers for an “Adopt a Campsite” program to help keep the county’s rugged back country free of litter.

Under the program, people would sign up to collect litter around campsites about once a month.

The U. S. Forest Service empties trash barrels at the Lion and Beaver campgrounds, but cigarette butts, broken glass and bits of plastic are often left behind on the ground.

A number of campsites are available for “adoption,” including 42 at the Lion campground, 10 at the Beaver campground, six at Pine Mountain and four at Reyes Peak.

The committee, which has worked to preserve the area through which the 55-mile-long Sespe Creek winds in northern Ventura County, decided to develop a program after vandals trashed a campsite at the Lion campground Aug. 20.

The Forest Service had planned to dedicate the new 18-mile Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca National Recreation Trail the next morning, but found that its trail head sign had been used for firewood and that beer cans had been left in the fire ring.

Anyone interested in adopting one or more of the sites should contact the committee at 646-5960 or by mail at P.O. Box 715, Ojai 93024.