BLM cleanup cancelled after high school volunteers perform cleanup themselves

A Saturday cleanup at Frog Rock organized by the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department has been called off.  A dozen Rocky Mountain students got to it first.
Frog Rock is located on Road 5 in the sand hills between Cowley and Byron.
Last week, Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn said dumping on BLM land has appeared to increase as 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.
But deputy Shane Brost, who serves as a school resource officer at Rocky Mountain Middle and High School, beat the sheriff to the punch, hatching a plot with a dozen Rocky Mountain students to clean up the Frog Rock area well in advance.
“Saturday’s event is off,” Blackburn said. “These kids did such a bang-up job.”
Brost said the effort took him and the 12 high-school-aged kids four hours.
“We got together, we organized, we got a U-Haul to transport to the dump,” Brost said. “We got it done in four hours.”
Blackburn said the effort was a meaningful example of civic duty.
“Those high school students got together, and they wanted to make a difference,” Blackburn said. “Before it even got out in the paper, they volunteered to help clean up. They hauled several loads of trash off the site. It is such an honor to see those good kids do such a good job.”
Brost said it’s important to give youth opportunities to service.
“It’s important that our youth are willing to put in the time to preserve our community and area,” Brost said.
Even with Frog Rock and the surrounding area now trash free, Blackburn said illegal dumping continues to be a problem and a focus for his department. He asks that those who witness it report it and even attempt to record evidence to help in prosecution, such as taking a photo of the license plate of a vehicle being used to illegally dump trash.
“These are our public lands. We should all be concerned about this,” Blackburn said. “We need to take an active interest in our county.”