SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Sherry Mayer reached out to ABC15 concerned about illegal dumping in her north Scottsdale neighborhood.
She wrote:
“I live in north Scottsdale and in the desert, south of my house, there's been a lot of illegal dumping of garbage. I was wondering if you could get on the case. It's a really problem that people are doing illegal dumping at night, and dumping all kinds of garbage in the beautiful desert. I'd appreciate it if you could help. So, hopefully you can call me back. Thank you.”
ABC15 went to an area north of Pinnacle Peak Road, between Tatum Boulevard and Scottsdale Road. That’s where north Scottsdale residents are fed up with illegal dumping.
“This thing was pretty scary,” said Adolfo Girala, who showed ABC15 the nuisance and where some of the trash had recently been lit on fire. “I cannot imagine how big of a fire that was. Actually, it burned that tree.”
Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you!
Connect with us: share@abc15.com
Girala's main concern was the trash in the desert sparking a wildfire.
ABC15 learned the area of concern is Arizona State Trust Land. We reached out and received the following statement:
“We are currently working on developing an improved process for addressing trash dumping on State Trust Land (STL). The Department is ultimately responsible for cleaning up litter and illegal dumping on STL, but there are no routine pickups of trash. This is a complicated matter due to the consistency of dumping around the state, but we are working diligently to address this issue.
The Department has four field investigators who respond to complaints and inquiries around the state (9.2 million acres). We do our best to clean up the area as soon as we become aware of it. We ask that the community please be patient given our limited staff available to respond to complaints. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a timeline for how quickly a field investigator will clean up a site given the vast number of acres they oversee and how frequently illegal dumping has been happening across the state, but they do address all complaints as soon as they are able to.
If anyone wants to report trash dumping or trash that needs to be cleaned up on STL, they can fill out this form on our website, or call us at: 602-542-4631.
We do not have any certified Arizona Peace Officers on staff, we rely on local law enforcement jurisdictions to assist with individuals engaged in unlawful activities, such as dumping trash. Local law enforcement has every right to take enforcement action on STL, including enforcing local ordinances.
If an individual is camping on STL (with a permit) they are responsible for removing their own trash. Additionally, we are identifying ways to improve accountability for ASLD recreation permittees that violate the terms and conditions of their permit by leaving trash behind.”
RELATED: Desert turns into dumping ground, raising concerns over trash and dead animals
