Quadratec, Tread Lightly! ’50-For-50’ Big Island Jeep Club Cleanup — Island of Hawaii, Hawaii

by Matt Konkle
Managing Editor

The Hawaii islands are usually considered the stuff of dreams for most people. Lush forests, beautiful beaches — a tropical getaway widely viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

And yet while many think of Hawaii as a destination spot, there are over 1.4 million people who call the state of Hawaii home. The Island of Hawaii itself has more than 206,000 residents.

Sure, the vast majority are going to clean up after themselves following picnics or time spent in the forest, but some — just like on the mainland — approach the woods like a trash can.

Illegal dumping, campsites left strewn with refuse. That kind of thing.

So the Big Island Jeep Club recently decided to do something to help out the environment. And they utilized one of Quadratec’s 50-for-50 Trail Improvement grants to accomplish their task.

The club sent out 37 volunteers last month to spruce up an unnamed trail on the Big Island of Hawaii that has been burdened with illegal dumping.

Throughout the day, the group dragged out all kinds of stuff like mattresses, stoves and washing machines. In all, the volunteers filled up more than 250 55-gallon trash bags over the course of four hours on the trail — a total of 7,000 pounds of garbage.

“For our event we did a cleanup on an off-road trail,” said Big Island Jeep Club member Jenn Corso. “We hauled a minimum of 250 bags of trash as well as six loads of large miscellaneous items. We had 34 adult Jeepers and three kids come out to do the cleanup, used four Gladiators for the bagged trash and used an F-250 to load up appliances, mattresses, and other large scrap metal items as well as furniture.

”Unfortunately we lost count of how many trips we made to the transfer station but it was a lot. We made a huge dent in the area, and it was very rewarding for all of us. There were several people that saw what we were doing and stopped to thank us which was really nice also.”

This Big Island Jeep Club Cleanup project was the 34th of 50 trail and public land restoration events Quadratec will help sponsor in each state by April 2024.

So far through its supported projects, the 50-for-50 Stewardship Grant has accumulated 6,224.50 volunteer hours with a total value of $186,728, pulled away 113,720 pounds of trash and improved 741 miles of trail.

Quadratec’s ’50-for-50’ stewardship grant fund helps project managers pay for equipment, fees, volunteer support, food, fuel, signage and other miscellaneous costs.

Quadratec has been a supporting partner of Tread Lightly! for more than 20 years, and a longtime fundraiser for Tread Lightly!’s stewardship programs. The company has also promoted Tread Lightly! and other trail restoration efforts through its Quadratec Cares ‘Energize the Environment’ program.

Clubs and individuals are required to be active, supporting members of Tread Lightly! to be eligible to apply for ’50-for-50’ grant funding. To learn more about the Quadratec ’50-for-50 program, visit Quadratec's 50 for 50 Trails Stewardship Grant Initiative.