Bake Oven Knob: Solutions

Cleaning an area up in most cases isn’t enough. It really is an uphill struggle if we want to take an area like Bake Oven Knob and try to restore it to as close to its natural state as possible and at the same time allow the general public access. It is hard to be optimistic with things that I have seen in the past week, but I do believe it is feasible. 

Law enforcement is key and currently it is there at this location. Citations are handed out on a regular basis at this site during the summer. The problem seems to be that those who come to the knob are tourists from a variety of different places. If it were locals, the word would get around that the Wildlife Conservation Officer is handing out tickets and the problem would subside at least for a little while.

Signs are a nice idea and most of the time they are up. They do not say enough or the right thing and are not big enough for people to read. Have you ever seen or read a gamelands rules and regulations sign? You just about need a magnifying glass to read it. I think signs would work, but they need to be two things, large and simple. Have you ever passed a factory with a sign out front that gave a number and read: Days Since an Accident? I think a large sign like that might work in this case. It could give a number and read: Citations Given this Week for Littering. Change the number daily and make it high enough that people think the area is constantly monitored. I did forget the problem with signs and why they need to be large. Small signs are ripped down and become more of the problem. 

How about technology? You can buy camera traps now that instantly send photos to your phone when they go off. This would not be useful for the bottle thrower, but would allow any parties to be busted. It would also cut down on site time for the WCOs, if they can see what is going on at the site they don’t have to sit around and wait there. I know people that do want gates put up and the parking areas restricted. Before I started I didn’t agree with this. Now I do. What this would mean is that there would be no easy access to the Knob. Those interested in going there still would be allowed, but you would have to earn it by hiking in from another location. Special interest groups, like those who do raptor watches, could be granted keys and the gates could be open at certain times of year when game is in season. 

If these types of ideas above are not considered or implemented the problem will persist. If it does, which I am sure it will, catchments at the bottom should be considered. There is enough loose large rock and cut trees in the main slide to make these. The bottom of any cliff is not a stable environment, but at the Knob currently it is very fluid. As a result of the amount of items garbage, rocks and cut trees thrown off from the top the bottom is ever changing. Catchments would reduce the fluidity, stopping the items thrown from creating slides and producing a greater stability in the lower areas. I am going to stop here. I am really hoping for comments from those of you who read all the way through this. Ideas are great, even the most ridiculous thing might be the one that works.  

This is for hanging in there with my long and wordy post. I took this photo of a juvenile opossum last summer while night fishing.