Our area has made many "top 10 lists" in recent years, but now Grand Traverse County has landed on another list, and it’s not one that comes with any pride. The county has the most illegal dump sites in the State of Michigan. There have been 45 identified dump sites here this year alone, according to Ada Takacs, DNR specialist in resource protection. Located in the Grawn Field Office, Takacs oversees dumpsite cleanup across the state.

“We started with 35 in the county at the beginning of the year, and 10 additional sites were added,” she explains as The Ticker visits a dump site in Mayfield Township. “We’ve been working hard with lots of volunteer help to remove these sites over the summer, and the good news is that we’re down to about 20 sites as of right now."

“A few of them, like this one, are fairly big dump sites," she adds, pointing. "Here they dumped mobile homes and stripped them, which is going to take some heavy equipment to pick up. It’s one of the worst in the country. We know who did it, but they are already in prison on other charges. That makes prosecution unlikely and puts the cleanup cost on the state.”

It's just one of more than 700 known illegal dump sites statewide, and the state spends around $15,000 annually just in dumpster fees for the Adopt A Forest program. There’s also the cost of heavy equipment and manpower, which fortunately is often donated. Last year, 55,040 acres of Michigan land were cleaned through the cleanup program.

At another, particularly difficult site in Williamsburg, an effort is being led by retiree/volunteer Jim Heffner and Susan Shipman, the county’s resource recovery manager. Shipman secured a front-end loader from the Grand Traverse Road Commission, and DNR Forest Fire Officer Duane Morse, meanwhile, operates a fire truck with a winch to pull load after load of trash up a steep 50-foot embankment. A fire bulldozer is used later to trench the old well site to make it inaccessible to further dumping.

“There was no other way to get at this trash heap. Wetlands prevented coming in from below, and this bank is so steep, it’s difficult to just get up and down on foot,” Heffner says. “People have been dumping over the embankment for years. That’s about to stop.”

A large trailer is lowered down the steep slope and pulled back up full of trash, which is then transferred to a 20-yard dumpster that cost the DNR $500 to rent.

“We completely filled the dumpster with the help of 17 volunteers, which took a little over three hours,” says Heffner. “It was mess; couches, stuffed chairs, mattresses, years of household furniture, and dirty diapers. It feels good to know it’s been cleaned up.”

“I estimate that as much as eighty percent of this trash could have been recycled and probably for free," notes Shipman. "Now that it's been laying out here for years in the weather it can’t be. What a waste, and it costs to clean it up. I’m going through the rubbish to try and identify the people responsible for the illegal dumping. We’ve found a few items."

Dumping of any material is illegal and punishable by fines up to $10,000 and/or 5 years of imprisonment. Report all dumping to the RAP Hotline at 1-800-292-7800. Anyone interested in volunteering for the Adopt A Forest program can call Takacs at 231-534-5569.