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Cleanup in forest will cost plenty Feds deal with dozens of toxic messes a year By Paul Fattig PROSPECT � Scofflaws dumped hazardous waste in the Rogue River National Forest over the Fourth of July weekend. Asbestos shingles were found scattered along Forest Road 6400 and in a rock pit a few miles northwest of the Prospect Ranger Station. If you have hazardous materials you need to dispose of, contact the state Department of Environmental Quality or Rogue Disposal and Recycling Inc. Both the DEQ�s regional office in Medford (776-6010) and Rogue Disposal (779-4161) can advise how the materials should be handled. In some cases, they may recommend companies whose specialty is removing and properly disposing of the hazardous materials, said Wayne Kauzlarich, an environmental specialist with the DEQ in Medford. Both the DEQ and Rogue Disposal also sponsor an annual program in which hazardous household materials such as paint and insecticides can be turned in free. It cost Uncle Sam up to $7,000 to have the hazardous material removed Friday. The illegal dumping is one of nearly 50 such incidents � including everything from household garbage containing old paint cans to poisons used in illegal methamphetamine labs � found annually on the Rogue River, Siskiyou and Umpqua national forests, according to Mark Tarantino, chief law enforcement officer for the three forests. "The cost is substantial," Tarantino said, adding that each hazardous material site cleaned, particularly those requiring soil removal, costs several thousand dollars at a minimum. The total cost of removing the toxic messes was not available. "But even an average garbage dump, particularly if it�s scattered across the hillside, costs us a lot to clean up," he said, noting that household garbage dumps are found on a weekly basis in the forests. "We have to send a couple people out to clean it up, then have to pay for the garbage to be disposed of. You�re looking at two or three hundred at a minimum for just getting rid of one incident of household garbage." The Bureau of Land Management spends an average $15,000 a year removing household garbage dumped on its Medford District, said Ted Hass, a soil scientist whose responsibilities include dealing with illegal dumping. "And the hazmat cases we deal with are three to four times that just to get an investigation going," he said. "It�s a major problem. We don�t have the budget to deal with it." Although those dumping materials on public land are sometimes caught, too many get away with it, officials said. "It�s a big forest out there," Hass said. The asbestos dumping in the Prospect district occurred from July 1 to 3, said Steve Rucker, a district employee who deals with hazardous materials. He described it as two to three yards of asbestos cement shingle siding, enough to fill the bed of a large pickup truck. "It began about a mile and a half up the road � it looked like the vehicle had been overloaded and some of it was falling out," he said. "Periodically, there were places where a bunch of it was on the road. "When whoever did it got to the rock pit, you could see where they spun the vehicle around and dumped the rest of it out," he said, noting that the tailgate was apparently lowered on purpose. "You could tell they didn�t want to handle the shingles," he added. The road was closed until the asbestos was removed by a firm contracted to do the work, he said. Although the cost has not yet been tallied, he estimated it could be as high as $7,000. "We were concerned that as people drove up there, the shingles would break up and the asbestos fibers would get into their ventilation systems," he said. A 20-year employee of the district, Rucker said it was the first time he had encountered asbestos dumping. Investigators believe the dumping occurred at night and may have come from a local source. The case remains under investigation. Under federal law, those convicted of a misdemeanor of illegal dumping on federal land could receive a minimum sentence of six months in jail or a $5,000 fine. If it is deemed a felony, triggered by more than $1,000 in damages, those convicted could receive up to 10 years in prison. Anyone found guilty of illegal dumping must also pay for cleaning up the mess. Last year, investigators solved four different illegal dumping cases on local forests, Tarantino said. "The public has been very good at reporting dumping sites as well as illegal dumping," he said. "We encourage anyone who sees something suspicious, like someone taking garbage into the woods, to contact us." Tarantino may be reached at (541) 471-6500. However, he cautioned against anyone intervening or investigating the garbage since it may contain hazardous materials. 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