by Matt Konkle
Creative Content Managing Editor
For Dakoda Baker, off-roading is a great way to relax and unwind. To spend bonding time with his daughter, while teaching and creating memories. To hang out with friends, gain more experience and create relationships.
And for the past two months, it has also provided a platform to give something back to the very environment he loves.
Baker, who resides in Casselberry, Florida, is a Tread Lightly! Tread Trainer and recently oversaw a clean-up project in the Withlacoochee State Forest northeast of Tampa. The event involved his off-road club, Florida Trail Stompers, as well as Venture Unknown and saw 40 volunteers pull 1,200 pounds of trash from 50,000 wilderness acres.
”I felt the need to take point on this project because I wanted to give back and I knew that this was feasible,” Baker said. “I had never participated in a cleanup effort before but I had seen the results of them on Instagram from across the country, and had just recently seen a cleanup event out in California and knew we could do that here.”
”I identified Citrus WMA because of community familiarity. Everyone starts their off-road journey in Florida at Citrus. Then I rolled right into working with the local community. Calls to waste management companies, establishing a relationship with the Florida Forestry Service, FWC, and rangers, working with Citrus County, reaching out to businesses to get volunteers fed, and making sure we had somewhere to put the trash. Once I knew it was feasible, I applied for permits as well as grants through Tread Lightly! and Quadratec.”
The volunteer cleanup group came across all kinds of stuff across several tracts of land including computer monitors and other equipment, stereo systems, a rusted-out car trunk and other sheet metal parts. Everything was either bagged up or dragged out and tossed into a waiting trash hauler.
While Baker said not knowing an official attendance number was one of the biggest hurdles when planning this clean-up, he was humbled by the turnout.
”Unless it is a ticketed event, it can be hard to estimate,” he said. “It could be you and two other guys, it could be you and 20 other guys. We had 40 volunteers.
”The event was originally to cover the two main roads through Citrus WMA, but with such an incredible turnout, I spun the event in a way that we covered nearly 50,000 acres. Thirty rigs came out, some with entire families. At the end of the day, we pulled out 1,200 pounds of trash from the forest. I wish it could have been more.”
Baker first became familiar with Tread Lightly! earlier this year after taking part in the Florida Trail Team Challenge — a three-day expedition scenario off-road competition. From there, Baker and a few other leaders in the Florida off-road scene entered Tread Lightly!’s training program and became Tread Trainers.
”(This event) seemed like the right place to introduce the community to TreadLightly! and the importance of giving back,” Baker said. “We (TreadLightly! members in Florida) have been trying to work with the Florida Forestry Service for months now on a signage/kiosk project. But our biggest roadblock is the FFS's due diligence. They have to perform ecological impact studies for each kiosk we install so it's been bogged down. I saw how many of my friends were fired up about that and I didn't want us to lose momentum while we waited.”
This clean-up was the fourth of 50 that Quadratec will sponsor over the next 20-plus months all over the country.
The company kicked off its first trail maintenance project earlier this year at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah, helping install fencing and create pathways to better protect petroglyphs on the Kane Creek Trail.
So far, through its supported projects, the '50 for 50' Stewardship Grant has generated 788 volunteer hours, cleaned up nearly 8,000 pounds of trash and improved more than 340 miles of trail and land tracts.
The ’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.
”If there's one thing I took away from this, it's how easily we can all be deceived about the condition of the forest,” Baker said. “There might be trash scattered just far enough apart that visitors might think ‘oh there isn't that much trash, someone else will pick it up’, and because it's spread out it won't look that bad. But as soon as it's collected and bagged you realize just how much disregard and damage there is.”
Participating in the Citrus Tract Trail Cleanup:
- Florida Trail Stompers
- Venture Unknown
- Coney Island Food
- Florida Forestry Service
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- Withlacoochee Forest Service
