To the Jerk That Dumped a Treadmill at Hyalite

We are all incredibly fortunate to live in Montana. Some people take it for granted and ruin it for the rest of us.

One of my biggest pet peeves is people that litter. It is always frustrating when you pull up to a campsite, and have to clean up piles of trash before beginning to set up camp. We are all responsible for protecting our public lands, and if we want to continue to enjoy them, we all have to do our part.

I'm writing this because over the weekend I saw something on Facebook that made me really sad. A picture was posted of a treadmill that was dumped near Hyalite Reservoir. When I first saw it, I couldn't understand why someone would make the effort to drive up to Hyalite simply to dump off their trash.

I'm still baffled by it. What kind of person does something like this? Seriously, it only costs $10 to drop it off at the Logan landfill, and it wouldn't take much longer to get it there instead of leaving it in a place that many people use on a daily basis.

I hope that the person responsible gets the message and is embarrassed by their actions. To be honest, I'm embarrassed for you. You have to be a pretty irresponsible person to feel that dumping your trash for others to deal with is a good idea.

While this particular incident is an extreme example of how not to be a steward of our public lands, it is also a reminder that we all need to make a concerted effort to make our community and Montana a better place than when we found it.