HAYDEN LAKE — The bullet-blasted refrigerators and television sets are gone, but cleanup efforts are still needed in the upper reaches of the Hayden Creek watershed.

"It has gotten better year after year," said Athol resident Brian Bunch, who - along with his father Dale Bunch - has scheduled a cleanup on Saturday, May 31.

Bullet casings, broken glass, electronics and other riddled garbage clutter makeshift shooting areas along Hayden Creek. Shooting trees also continues to be a problem.

"They're already shot full of lead," Bunch said of the trees. "They're going to go down, so people will keep shooting them. It is kind of disturbing."

His cleanup effort will include leveling the stumps off so they're not such an "eyesore," he said. Trees that are shot-up but haven't fallen in the wind are hard to saw into because they're so full of lead, he said.

"It's gotten rampant," he said. "There really isn't a very good solution for those trees - it's a waste of timber."

The Bunches organized a cleanup effort for the first time three years ago out of necessity, he said.

"The Forest Service was threatening closure of the area if the situation did not improve," he said.

Bunch hunts and picks huckleberries in the Hayden Creek watershed.

"The first year we hauled eight heaping truckloads of junk out of the upper reaches of Hayden Creek, including a big refrigerator, a few television sets and trash bag after trash bag of broken glass, spent casings and debris," he said.

The following year, more people volunteered to help and there was less mess to clean up, Bunch said.

"It's becoming more about awareness," he said.

There has been a great response to the cleanup efforts.

"When the area was messy it was easy for people to pile on and not think about it," Bunch said. "By simply being in the woods and taking the initiative to do something positive, a change of culture is taking place up Hayden Creek."

He said he has a few people already lined up for the volunteer day. The shooting areas they'll be cleaning are at three turnouts along the East Fork of Hayden Creek just down from the Hells Canyon trailhead in the Panhandle National Forest.

More volunteers are welcome, Bunch said. On May 31, volunteers can meet at the Hayden Super 1 Foods at 8:30 a.m.

Bunch recommends volunteers bring rakes, trash bags, shovels and gloves.

For information, contact Brian Bunch at (208) 659-5014.

Also that Saturday, Bob Balser has organized a cleanup effort for the old gravel pit shooting area along Hayden Creek Road and an additional makeshift shooting area nearby.

Balser organized a cleanup effort three years ago that led to a haul of 3,882 pounds of junk from the gravel pit area.

"That was our first major effort," Balser said.

He said tree shooting is also a problem at his cleanup sites.

"They shot off a couple of trees, and now the wind has blown them down," Balser said.

Like Bunch, Balser said there are far fewer instances of large items being shot.

"It think we've made them realize you can't do the big items," Balser said.

His cleanup is also open to any volunteers willing to give up part of their Saturday. They can meet at the gravel pit around 8:30-9 a.m. Balser asked that volunteers bring rakes and gloves.