HAYDEN LAKE - Volunteer cleanup crews each spring that tackle makeshift shooting areas in the Hayden Creek drainage seem to be changing the culture there.

Cleaned up and gone are the shot-up and obliterated appliances, computers and other trash and debris that had littered that part of the Panhandle National Forest. New junk hasn't been appearing in such quantity to replace it.

"I think we've begun to make an impact on people," said Bob Balser, a Rathdrum resident and former lumberjack who has been organizing cleanups for several years. "I'm just happier than all hell. It's not the God-awful mess it once was."

He has been organizing weekend cleanups since the U.S. Forest Service began considering closing the area to the public because the mess was getting so far out of control. Balser organized a cleanup effort four years ago that led to a haul of 3,882 pounds of junk from the gravel pit area along Hayden Creek Road. That was his first major effort.

"There's nothing big showing up this year," Balser said Tuesday. "I do believe it's beginning to soak in."

Trees are still being shot up, he said. People put target in trees, shoot at them and the trees eventually split and break off in the wind. There are a lot of stumps that remain.

Shotgun shells, bullet casings, broken glass, shot-up cans and paper and cardboard targets still litter the area.

Balser and Athol resident Brian Bunch have scheduled another cleanup for this Saturday.

"There's changing attitudes," Bunch said Tuesday. "It would be wrong to come up here and throw a refrigerator out or a TV now. It wouldn't feel right."

Since the area can't be policed, it's important that people's minds change about how to treat it.

Bunch sights hunting rifles in the area and does other shooting there.

"My dad (Dale Bunch) and I come up here," Bunch said. "This is our spot."

This is the first time Balser and Bunch have made their cleanup efforts on the same day.

Those who want to volunteer for the cleanup can meet them at 8 a.m. Saturday, at the Super 1 Foods at 240 W. Hayden Ave. Volunteers just need good shoes or boots and a rake.

Bunch and some volunteers will work the upper reaches of the Hayden Creek area. Balser and other volunteers will work the lower Hayden Creek area along Hayden Creek Road that includes the old gravel pit shooting area and another makeshift shooting area nearby.

Every year there has been less junk to haul out, Bunch said.

Four years ago, the first year Bunch organized a cleanup - which was separate from Balser's - he hauled out eight massive truckloads.

"This year it might be one," Bunch said.

When the makeshift shooting ranges were at their worst, people didn't mind piling on and adding to the mess. Not any more, he said.

"It belongs to all of us - we all own a little chunk of (the forest)," Balser said. "If we don't keep it clean it will be closed."

Information: Brian Bunch can be reached at (208) 659-5014.