BHCSO announces Nov. 18 BLM land cleanup to counteract illegal dumping

The Big Horn Sheriff’s Office has had enough of people dumping trash on Bureau of Land Management land and is asking local residents to help deputies do something about it.
The sheriff’s office asks residents to meet up with deputies on Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. at Frog Rock on Road 5 in the sand hills between Cowley and Byron.
“Instead of complaining about it and doing nothing, we’re going to have a service day,” Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn said. “It’s easy to complain about things. It’s easy to blame other people for a problem. We all need to stand, say this is wrong, and lend a hand to do something about it.”
Blackburn said dumping on BLM has appeared to increase of late, with the department seeing more examples of trash being illegally dumped on private land and hearing more complaints from residents regarding the problem.
It isn’t the simplest problem to solve through the courts though, Blackburn said. First, BLM land is not strictly the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction and while they are able to prosecute in appropriate circumstances, a part of the response needs to come from the BLM as well.
“We have taken a lot of action regarding this problem; it is a concern although it is not our jurisdictional responsibility,” Blackburn said. “We have been trying to get the BLM to respond to some of this.”
Blackburn furthermore said that the standard of conviction for illegal dumping is the same standard as any other crime, being proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and that can be difficult to develop in dumping cases.
“We have prosecuted several cases in the last few years, but a case needs to be prosecutable,” Blackburn said. “Just because someone finds a receipt or an envelope, it doesn’t mean the person identified on that envelope or receipt is the person who dumped. The way to prepare an effective prosecution for illegal dumping is just like in any other case. It needs to be beyond a reasonable doubt. We all need to stand up and say that this is wrong, and if illegal dumping is seen, that needs to be reported. But there are burdens of proof in court, and that is sometimes a little more difficult.”
Blackburn said the Big Horn County commissioners have also offered and are preparing to put up signs on public lands.
What matters the most, the sheriff said, is picking up the trash defacing the landscape. Blackburn said the sheriff’s department has contacted the Big Horn County Solid Waste District which has agreed to take any items produced from the Nov. 18 clean-up free of charge.
“While I recognize how frustrating it can be, we can all stop complaining and start doing something about it,” Blackburn said.