Increased Illegal Vehicle Dumping In Clatsop State Forest Causes Rising Costs, Public Safety Concerns (Photo) - 11/09/20

ASTORIA, Ore. – Abandoned cars, boats and recreational vehicles in the Clatsop State Forest are an increasingly common nuisance, often posing public health risks and costing thousands of dollars each to remove.

Over the past three years, the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Astoria District has spent more than $42,000 removing, disposing and cleaning up after discovering and removing these vehicles left to the elements. A sampling of some of these cases include:

• A 36-foot motorhome with several hundred syringes and a sawed-off shotgun found inside, costing $8,575 in labor and fees.
• An area with a motorhome, two 5th wheels and a sedan, which cost $12,046 to remove.
• A burned-out motorhome that cost $3,084 to remove.
• Another motorhome with several thousand syringes found on site, requiring a biohazard company to clean the site, costing $5,780.

Other vehicles – boats, cars, and travel trailers, often with plenty of trash inside – are still awaiting pickup, representing thousands of dollars more in cleanup costs.

“Unfortunately, when these vehicles broke down or their useful lifespans ended, their owners pushed the hassle and cost of disposing of the vehicle onto the public,” ODF Astoria District Forester Dan Goody said, adding that the number of abandoned vehicles had steadily increased for the past five years. ODF has not typically budgeted for this high volume of cleanup. Like other state forest management costs, abandoned vehicle cleanup costs are derived from the roughly one-third share of net revenue ODF receives from timber harvests on Board of Forestry lands. This reduces the resources available for other public priorities such as recreational offerings.

Not only are abandoned vehicles unsightly and expensive to clean up, they also pose environmental hazards and public health risks. Oil, battery acid, and other vehicle fluids can leach into the soil and eventually reach groundwater and bodies of water. The vehicles also represent an attractive nuisance for children to play and adults to use drugs or engage in other illicit activities. In the past they have also been a target for arson – a risk that becomes magnified during fire season.

Deputy Shawn Copp of the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office said violators can be charged with offensive littering, which carries up to $1,250 in fines – but that determining a vehicle’s true owner can be tricky by the time it is found abandoned.

“Just because a named person is registered as the owner doesn’t necessarily mean they are the person who actually abandoned the vehicle,” Copp said. “More often than not, the registered owner on file with Oregon DMV is two, three, or even four owners’ ago, especially with the old vehicles who have been scrapped and left abandoned.” 

Even if ownership can be determined, contact information on file can be outdated and makes the owner difficult to locate and possibly cite, Copp added.

Those looking to dispose of vehicles have several convenient options:

Astoria Auto Wrecking and Recycling
34522 Hwy 101 Business
Astoria, OR 97103

Recology
1790 Williamsport Rd
Astoria, OR 97103

Long Beach Recycling Center and Transfer Station
4404 67th Pl
Long Beach, WA 98631