The Hayden Creek shooting pit has seen better days.

Garbage fanned across the public range on Friday, as if a fountain of crud has sprung up in the center. Contrasting the surrounding vegetation of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, the dirt pit was carpeted with red and blue gun shells, shards of orange shooting targets.

Toward the back sat the shot-up skeleton of a car frame. Behind it, trees were split in half, shot clean through.

And that wasn't even a bad day, said IPNF spokesperson Jason Kirchner.

"We were just out here two weeks ago and cleaned things up," Kirchner said, scanning the litter spree off Hayden Creek Road. "Every year we have a big clean-up day. (This year) we removed tens of thousands of pounds of garbage, from this area and up the road."

And it's getting worse, he said.

With increasing incidents of illegal dumping, shot up trees and other abuses of public land, the Forest Service is poised to shut down the Hayden Creek access to the national forest unless the situation improves, Kirchner said.

"It's a place where we are pleading the public to start policing themselves," he said.

The issue has been cluttering the Forest Service's priorities for years, he said.

It's not just visitors failing to pick up after themselves, but also going to lengths to junk up the area. Some have toted out washing machines and fridges they shoot up and leave behind, he said.

The impromptu junk yard poses both a financial and environmental problem, said Mary Farnsworth, forest supervisor.

Periodic cleanup of the pit diverts Forest Service staff from their regular duties and sometimes requiring a dump truck, she said, which she labeled as misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Staffed cleanup of the area can cost up to $1,000, according to Dan Scaife, acting district ranger for the Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District.

There's also the destruction of trees, Farnsworth said, and the heavy metals draining from shot-up appliances into the Hayden Creek and Hayden Lake.

"It gets to the point it's not a pleasant place to be," Farnsworth said. "People are going to start not wanting to come out here for target practice with their families."

Johnny Monnier took a break unloading a hand gun at the range to shake his head at the waste.

"I don't like it," said the Hayden resident, who shoots at the range once a week. "Only because this is a free place we're allowed to use by the state. They could easily take this away from us."

He thinks he can recruit a group of friends to spend a day cleaning up, he added.

"I've seen big metal bins, bumpers," he said. "It's still nice land that we should take care of."

Still another issue is a half-mile drive down Hayden Creek Road, where vandals have repeatedly ignored signs and proceeded to four-wheel across a quarter acre of wetland.

The swath of green is striped with bare, muddy sections torn up by deep tire marks.

"We had signs up, but the signs have been shot and torn down," Kirchner said.

He pointed to a foot-long ditch the Forest Service dug to prevent vehicles from crossing over. Someone has filled in a section, bridging access for jeeps and ATVs.

The driving tears open outlets to drain the wetland, he said. The kicked-up sediment drains into Hayden Creek, rushing several feet away.

"We've tried to close this off," Kirchner said, added that the problem has occurred at several areas in the forest. "We can't keep the vandals out."

Farnsworth noted that the Forest Service would like to restore the wetlands, but doesn't dare to.

"If we did that, we'd spend a lot of money and it would be destroyed by the next weekend," she said.

Both the Forest Service and the Sheriff's Department plan on patrolling more frequently in the area this season, Kirchner said.

Those caught committing misdemeanors could face up to $5,000 fines and 6 months in jail.

A real difference will come out of citizens policing themselves and others, though, he said.

Folks can report misuse by calling the Sheriff's Department dispatch, or the Coeur d'Alene River Ranger District at 664-2318.

Kirchner also suggested taking down vandals' license plate numbers.

"We can't do it alone," he said.