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Old 01-14-2020, 10:40 AM   #1
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RVers Boondocking Policy from Escapees

I just got an email from Escapees about this and thought I'd pass along the link for those of you who don't get email from them. This is a good policy for all RVers to follow, to take good care of our public lands and all be able to enjoy them.

https://www.escapees.com/rvers-boondocking-policy/
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Old 01-14-2020, 11:12 AM   #2
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We live in a sparsely populated rural county . Until recently you could camp for free on county forest land . Recently the county has instituted restrictions , rules and fees for dispersed camping on county land . These restrictions are a result of people abusing this privilege

IE
1) Damaging logging roads
2) Cutting down trees and vegetation
3) Dumping of waste - trash on county land
4) Improper dumping of waste water ( Black and Gray)
5 ) Illegal use of controlled substances
6) Neighboring land owners objecting to loud music and noise from generators created by campers
7) Long term camping in areas designated for short term use
8) Violating burning rules / restrictions

Several of the county board members are proposing banning all camping on county lands except in designated campgrounds / camp sites
They have the support of many county residence who feel their tax dollars should not go to cleaning up the mess left by people who are taking advantage of the county’s generosity.
We live close to the St Croix River nature area and it is amazing how much disregard people have for our public lands
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Old 01-14-2020, 11:22 AM   #3
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When you've worked in the forests for years, and have cleaned up after the jerks, you tend to only remember those places and not all the folks who are responsible.

My memorable hauls are picking up dirty diapers and filling up 3 garbage can sized bags with them, having a logger use his excavator to load a saturated tent sized carpet into the back of my pickup, (the same logger who went on a rant about what the heck are people doing in the woods what with all the undies we find along roads) and 3 pickup loads full of sodden, rotting camping equipment. Yup, some people buy super cheap tents and sleeping bags and then just leave them behind. I suspect that was a mushroom picker camp. My "real" job wasn't even cleaning up but I felt if I was passing by, I could pick it up.

I now wonder what kind of impact "composting" toilets will have on camping areas? A bucket of poop is a bucket of poop whether it is mixed with coconut fibers or not.
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Old 01-14-2020, 12:34 PM   #4
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I now wonder what kind of impact "composting" toilets will have on camping areas? A bucket of poop is a bucket of poop whether it is mixed with coconut fibers or not.
If they dispose of it properly, there shouldn't be any impact. Here is a thorough writeup on disposal of the liquid and solid portions of a composting toilet. But pieces of trash leave pieces of trash, so there will always be issues. I'm sure there are folks who have cracked their black tank and headed down the road because they didn't want to pay $5 to dump at a gas station. I guess the moral of the story is: it's not safe for the kids to make mud pies while camping.

Banning camping on public lands won't stop the type of people who already trash them. They know that enforcement is lax. Ratcheting up enforcement costs money. Some of that could be recouped in fines, but the same can be said for enforcing existing rules.

Anyway, this policy is similar to the rules you'll often find posted at trailheads or park entrances. My point being everyone is aware of the "camping best practices." Those who don't comply choose to ruin a shared resource for everyone, and they do so out of malice or selfishness--never ignorance of the rules. This type of person isn't interested in having you explain etiquette to them, so save your breath for a call to LE, park rangers, camp supervisor, etc.
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Old 01-14-2020, 01:13 PM   #5
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I'm sure there are folks who have cracked their black tank and headed down the road because they didn't want to pay $5 to dump at a gas station. I guess the moral of the story is: it's not safe for the kids to make mud pies while camping.

I agree, but I will do that with my gray tank under some circumstances, never the black. Also there are some parks than even direct you to dump gray in places that will benefit the vegetation. That's why I hated the combined black/gray tank on the Parkliner and one of the main reasons I didn't keep it for long.

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Old 01-22-2020, 02:35 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by steve dunham View Post

IE
1) Damaging logging roads
2) Cutting down trees and vegetation
3) Dumping of waste - trash on county land
4) Improper dumping of waste water ( Black and Gray)
5 ) Illegal use of controlled substances
6) Neighboring land owners objecting to loud music and noise from generators created by campers
7) Long term camping in areas designated for short term use
8) Violating burning rules / restrictions


Probably #5 should be #1. I bet it contributes to a lot of the rest. :-(

We have lots of free camping locations on public land around here. BUT they are camping locations. They are setup for this purpose. And because they are somewhat limited the authorities such as the police can and do patrol them. It seems to help with the other issues you list. Not prevent them but sure help. So maybe your county people have the right general idea. If my county had this setup with these issues, I think that I would encourage the no camping except in designated locations thing. But then encourage them to come up with a number of good designated locations, and work with the police and forest police people to setup where would be good for them to patrol. This might make everyone happy.
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Old 01-23-2020, 06:04 AM   #7
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I beg to to differ. Please do not start a negative mindset about composting toilets. They are 100% more beneficial to the environment than what is done with it the conventional way. Once completely composted the results are a great fertilizer and can be buried and is a benefit. There is a lot of poop in the woods from other animals as well and look how that woks. Done right composting is the best way to go.
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Old 01-23-2020, 08:51 AM   #8
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Our home has a composting toilet and it doesn’t require bags
Up in Northern Wisconsin it’s called an outhouse.
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Old 01-23-2020, 08:59 AM   #9
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LOL exactly!!
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Old 01-23-2020, 01:40 PM   #10
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Justus C: Great article that you linked in, thank you so much! I encourage everyone that has or is considering a "composting" toilet to give it a read.
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Old 01-23-2020, 04:05 PM   #11
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That boondocking policy basically amounts to the Golden Rule... guess some people can't figure that out for themselves.
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Old 01-31-2020, 08:41 AM   #12
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My golden rule is:

Would I be upset if someone did this on my front lawn?
If the answer is yes, don't do it.
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:03 AM   #13
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I beg to to differ. Please do not start a negative mindset about composting toilets. They are 100% more beneficial to the environment than what is done with it the conventional way. Once completely composted the results are a great fertilizer and can be buried and is a benefit. There is a lot of poop in the woods from other animals as well and look how that woks. Done right composting is the best way to go.
I bolded a big question for me. I've heard it takes more than six months for human feces to completely compost. That's from the last time you used the composting toilet, not the first time. That's why so many people refer to a composting toilet as a human liter box. What do you do with the "stuff" while you're waiting for those six months... if you camp year-around? What I'm reading is most people put it into a plastic bag and dump it in the garbage. Plastic bag? Really? How is that more ecologically better than the conventional way down a sewer?
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:13 AM   #14
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What do you do with the "stuff" while you're waiting for those six months... if you camp year-around?
Talk to the owner of the campground, they may have a compost pile in which case they may be willing to take your "litter".
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:17 AM   #15
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Talk to the owner of the campground, they may have a compost pile in which case they may be willing to take your "litter".
That's a possibility. But doesn't answer my question "what do you do with the "stuff" while you're waiting...
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:24 AM   #16
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That's a possibility. But doesn't answer my question "what do you do with the "stuff" while you're waiting...

Well figuring that out is part the process. If you have not got a plan then you are not completing the process.
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:46 AM   #17
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That's a possibility. But doesn't answer my question "what do you do with the "stuff" while you're waiting...
The composting process would finish in the campground's compost pile. No waiting involved.
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Old 01-31-2020, 09:52 AM   #18
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Whether you flush your toilet and send your waste into a municipal sewer system or you put your waste in a biodegradable bag , throw it in a dumpster , and pretend you are an environmentalist you are still just kicking the problem down the road for someone else to take care of .
At least the guy at the sewer treatment plant knows what he’s up against and can take precautions . The poor trash hauler just gets blindsided!!
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Old 01-31-2020, 10:08 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by steve dunham View Post
Whether you flush your toilet and send your waste into a municipal sewer system or you put your waste in a biodegradable bag , throw it in a dumpster , and pretend you are an environmentalist you are still just kicking the problem down the road for someone else to take care of .
At least the guy at the sewer treatment plant knows what he’s up against and can take precautions . The poor trash hauler just gets blindsided!!
Trash is filled with poopy diapers from infants and incontinent adults. If a trash haulers aren't aware of that and taking precautions, they've not been adequately trained.

Still, the municipal sewage stream is better equipped to handle human waste in quantity. I think that was your larger point, and I agree.

Uncomposted human waste sent to a landfill is unlikely to compost properly, even if it's in biodegradable bags. Landfills are sealed and compacted, making for a largely anaerobic environment that doesn't support composting of organic material. Even if some of it does, it can't be harvested and put to use.

Sewer treatment plants process the solids in digesters, which accelerate decomposition. Sometimes it becomes fertilizer; the rest does end up in landfills (but with reduced volume and fewer biohazards than untreated waste).

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/w...center_objects
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Old 01-31-2020, 12:06 PM   #20
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Best to understand what the terms "biodegradable" and "compostable" mean before patting yourself on the back.
https://www.pjponline.com/what-is-th...biodegradable/
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