The Old Conservationist : "We know we belong to the land ...."

Our trailer, Nitsitapiisinni, at sunset during the Rubber Tramp
Rendevous.

“We know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is grand . . . .” (the musical Oklahoma)

When you are in the desert with a group of over 3,500 registered units – meaning more than 3,500 people and as many as >7,000 – you expect to see almost everything. For the most part, that’s true. We just saw a moving van that had been transformed into a marvelous motorhome complete with a fold-down deck, wood sash windows and exterior lighting. The lady across from us, who is the founder of Boondockers United, is in a Fleetwood Wilderness just like our Willy, which was 35 years old. There are a number of cargo vans, cargo trailers, Transits, truck-camper popups and other vehicles that have been creatively transformed into nomadic homes. Many people give Pamela and me great praise for all of the little things we’ve done to Nitsitapiisinni (our 20 ft camper trailer home) to make her more comfortable, but they pale at the effort, energy and creativity that has gone into many of these nomadic dwellings.*

The RTR at sunset from our back window.

We all share three things; we love living off-the-grid, we are all stricken with an incurable case of wanderlust, and we have a common aversion to cities. This large RV city in the desert, which our rendezvous has created, is short lived and only annual. You do find almost everything here. There are many of us who have adequate retirement plans and have elected this life style. There are younger people who decided not to wait until retirement and work as needed and wherever to finance their nomadic urges. Then there are those who are out of work and/or down on their luck who elected to live the nomadic life and live in the desert rather than reside in the squalor and crime of a city while they look for employment. Some of them find work among the nomads by installing solar panels and doing odd jobs. It is a growing community of people. The growth is partially due to people realizing how much more fun, healthy, and stress-free this life-style is as well as people being forced by our society to make a choice. I think they “choose wisely.”

Volunteers get their bags and tools as they set out into
the desert to clean up.

Yes, you find almost everything here at the Rubber Tramp Rendevous (RTR). But one thing is, to me, very conspicuously missing. Trash! The RTR camping area is unbelievably clean. Historically the group of people called hobos and tramps were notoriously dirty. That just isn’t true here despite the name Rubber Tramp. Quite the contrary. Pamela and I have stayed in a lot of dispersed camping in the desert. To be exact, we have stayed in 22 different dispersed camping areas in the desert since January 2017. We have never seen a cleaner camping area, which is mind-boggling considering the tremendous number of people who suddenly converged on this small plot of desert. As well seasoned camp-hosts it is second nature for us to pick up any trash, and we’ve been known to police (clean up) camping areas, even when they are national parks. We have been at RTR for a week and we haven’t found one piece of trash to pick up!!

There are multiple reasons for this. Perhaps the most significant one here is that there are a lot of veteran nomads at RTR. We teach the newbees, and respect for the environment is at the top of the curriculum. The vast majority of nomads have a deep and abiding love for nature and will work hard at doing no harm.

Volunteers were from RTR. Some were also members
of Boondockers United.

This was illustrated today by a large group of people who answered the call for help from Boondockers United, a fledgling organization dedicated not only to nomads helping nomads, but to creating a close relationship with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in order to protect and preserve the precious land upon which we live. The founder of Boondockers United put out a call for people to help clean up an area that had been trashed by prospectors and thoughtless people attempting to permanently live in the area. We removed several trailer loads of trash, mattresses, tires and abandoned tents and clothing. The BLM Rangers insisted that only they deal with human excrement. A nasty job. Pamela and I each found a mine shaft that had been filled with trash when the prospectors didn’t strike it rich. The BLM will have to call in a special cleanup team. It is sad that we are forced to use precious funds and resources to clean up after such people. The RTR also has another clean-up planned for Saturday, January 20^th.

BLM officer looking at one of the mines we found filled
with trash and garbage. He will have to call in a special
team to clean it up.

The important thing about such efforts is two-fold: (1) helping the authorities clean-up such messes not only helps them conserve funds and valuable resources, that serve to keep the lands open to public recreation, but it creates a bond of trust and partnership so that we are able to keep these marvelous public lands open for public use. If we don’t help and uncaring people trash the land, the BLM, National Forest Service, or whatever the authority, will have no other option than to close the land to public use. That would be devastating not only to nomads and other campers but the myriad of hikers, hunters, climbers and others who frequent and enjoy our public land. (2) By doing this we help the environment. By helping the environment, we help ourselves. Everything is interdependent. That is not some sort of spiritual hokus-pokus. It can be shown logically and scientifically that every living organism carries in it a part of the beginning of the universe. We witnessed this summer how a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico can impact weather, fires and other natural phenomena a continent away. It can be demonstrated that what happens to this tiny planet in the corner of the Milky Way will impact the entire universe. But most important to all of us is that what happens to the environment is going to mean suffering or happiness, life or death to all living organism including homo sapiens.

A portion of the area we cleaned.

Our public lands are one of our greatest treasures. These public lands are not just here in the west. They are just more obvious because of their sheer size, but there is public land for you to use and enjoy in every State in the Union. If we do not make an effort to protect them and help our government agencies given the task of caring for them, they will disappear. That would be a travesty of the greatest proportions.

To do your part, join at least two organizations – one which works on a national level, like the Sierra Club, and one which is a local hands-on organization, like Boondockers United or Glacier National Park Volunteer Associates or perhaps your local garden club.

“We (all) belong to the land. And the land we belong to is grand . . . . “