By Mary Currie / ADOT Communications

Melissa Owen of Rancho Sierra Vista de Sasabe calls the Altar Valley home. She is passionate about the pristine Sonoran Desert grassland region surrounded by Madrean Sky Islands of southeast Arizona along State Route 286. This part of the country to her is one of the most beautiful places she has ever been. Why someone would throw trash out of the car window into this scenic surrounding is a mystery to her.

As a testament to that, Melissa along with Kyle Thompson of the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance organized the, All the Way to the Border Highway Cleanup, litter clean up event on recent sunny morning in January. Sixty volunteers, including friends, family, neighbors, local groups, businesses and a couple traveling in from New Mexico met at the Three Points Community Center to begin the litter clean up. This year Trico Electric Cooperative and the San Fernando School Parents Association provided food for the volunteers throughout the day.

Bags of trash picked up.

Eighty bags of litter and a couple of bicycles were picked up on a twenty-five mile stretch, that’s more than half of the roadway between Three Points to the north and Sasabe at the southern Arizona/Mexico border.

Melissa’s goal is a one-day clean up along the entire SR 286 route. She admits that organizing 60 volunteers is doable, but the estimated 200 required for an endeavor of that size would require more assistance from the community.

Asked what advice she would give to potential Adopt a Highway volunteers, Owen says cheerful enthusiasm and being a nag! People want to help. Communication is important, so monthly emails are sent leading up to the event date.

Melissa praised James (Andy) Moore of the Arizona Department of Transportation Tucson District Office for his enthusiasm and support during the permitting process. Walter Urbina and Edward Leon of the ADOT Maintenance office in Three Points were a great help by organizing and clearing brush for the volunteers. Moore says this litter cleanup was a joint effort between the permitting and maintenance groups. He believes this could be a good thing as others see what Melissa has done. It could start a new trend in keeping our roadways clean. Because of her effort, we also picked up three more Adopt a Highway permits from people that joined in the big clean up.

Tireless bike found.

Thank you to the following groups and organizations who participated, and other individuals who joined in as the day progressed. Melissa Owen, Kyle Thompson, Rancho de la Osa, The Bland Family, Matt and Katy Foscue, Rancho Sierra Vista de Sasabe, Sierra Vista Hunt Club, Friends of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Santa Margarita Ranch, Humane Borders, Dan and Monica King King’s Anvil Ranch, Altar Valley School District, GVR Hunting and Fishing Club, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, Diamond Bell Ranch Volunteers.

For more information about the ADOT Adopt a Highway Volunteer program please visit azdot.gov/adoptahighway.

By Patricia Powers-Zermeño / ADOT Communications

It’s a cool and bright November morning in southern Arizona’s Altar Valley when a large number of volunteers begin picking up litter along 45 miles of State Route 286. This two-lane state highway leads to Sasabe, one of the lesser-used international ports of entry.

Jesuit missionaries in the 18th century followed a trail that is now SR 286 and used by ranchers, wildlife refuge volunteers and those traveling to and from Mexico. It winds through the western edge of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and the eastern edge of the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, passing Baboquivari Peak and Kitt Peak along the way.

Ordinarily ADOT writes Adopt a Highway volunteer program permits for a time period of two years and a minimum of two-mile sections along ADOT roadways. Melissa Owen of Rancho Sierra Vista and Kyle Thompson with the Alter Valley Conservation Alliance approached ADOT's South Central District with an idea: Would ADOT write an Adopt a Highway volunteer program permit for one day and 45 miles? The answer was yes.

The result: Almost three-dozen people picked up a lot of trash – close to a thousand pounds, along with a truckload of tires.

Asked why he thinks this diverse group works well together, Thompson says they are all passionate about what they do. He notes that the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance’s goals include being collaborative and working with other agencies.

Owen, a rancher who has been organizing cleanups along this route since 1997, calls SR 286 the most beautiful highway in the world.

When you think about picking up trash off the side of the road, I suspect you don’t think of it as a great way to spend a weekend morning. That might not quite be right, as at least three folks involved in this event requested information about adopting their own section along SR 286!

For more information about the ADOT Adopt a Highway Volunteer program please visit azdot.gov/adoptahighway.

By Patricia Powers-Zermeño / ADOT Communications

What do you get when you add 35 retirees to 35 miles of roadway for 35 years?

You get Prescott Litter Lifters, an intrepid group making that part of northern Arizona beautiful since 1981 by picking up roadside litter.

Don Edick, the group's coordinator, said he got involved back then by picking up litter on Earth Day with his family.

As ADOT's Adopt a Highway manager, I visited the Litter Lifters on a sunny August morning, when Don, Trudy, Sherry, Don and Lillian were picking up litter at the Downtown Depot Plaza.

When I asked why a group of retirees would choose to volunteer to pick up other people’s trash, Lillian Murphy said, "But where else can we spend time volunteering outdoors, breathing and moving?"

Listen to a podcast of this story:

In the first six months of 2016, the Litter Lifters picked up 572 bags of trash. At an average of 11 pounds a bag, that’s three tons of trash!

These days, members of the Litter Lifters are picking up fewer cans. Volunteer Don Hornby said that’s because people are recycling them. He says 85-90 percent of the stuff they pick up is plastic wrap and bottles.

The other 10-15 percent is the unexpected. That includes bowling balls, golf and tennis balls, an iPad and an iPhone. They’ve picked up forks and spoons, a mailbox, lots of hubcaps, a chess set, a fishing pole, bungee cords and much more.

Items the Litter Lifters collected.

Prescott’s motto is "Everybody’s Hometown" because most everyone who visits says it feels just like home. Just like your hometown, this one has a library. In August, the Litter Lifters collection was on display at the Betty Ritter Viewerie at the Prescott Public Library. Some of the items displayed are at right.

"The job they do is critical," Prescott Librarian Normalene Zeeman said. "People come to Prescott for the scenery, and if it’s trashy it reflects badly on all of us."

It seems the Prescott Litter Lifters are like most ADOT Adopt a Highway volunteers: They love Arizona and want to see this state at its best.

ADOT Communications

Don’t trash our state.

This powerful message, shared by 10-year-old Macy Moore on the cover of the 2016 ADOT Safety Calendar, is worth remembering throughout the year and especially with Arizona Pollution Prevention (P2) Week underway.

That makes this an opportune time to remind you that ADOT offers ways for you to help keep Arizona litter-free.

Adopt a Highway volunteers can apply for two-year permits to clean up roadside litter along particular stretches of highway. Through the Adopt a Highway sponsor program, businesses may contract with maintenance providers to clean up roadside litter in an area.

For more information on these programs, please visit azdot.gov/AdoptAHighway.

And if you see a driver littering along state highways, please call the Litter Hotline at 1-877-3LITTER to provide the vehicle’s license plate number and other details. Or fill out the online form available at Keep Arizona Beautiful’s website at kazb.org. All information provided is confidential.

If the information checks out, ADOT will mail the owner a letter noting that someone in that vehicle was reported tossing litter out of a car window. The letter explains how trashing our highways costs us all and notes that the fine is up to $500 for those caught littering by law enforcement.

By Patricia Powers-Zermeño / ADOT Communications

I explain what I do by saying, “I talk trash.” I manage the ADOT Adopt a Highway Volunteer program, so I really do talk about trash all day long.

And there is a lot to talk about. Roadside litter is a problem all over the world. Departments of transportation, nonprofits and philanthropic groups spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year trying to prevent it, get rid of it, reuse it or recycle it.

In Arizona, more than 10,000 people help address this problem by participating in the ADOT Adopt a Highway volunteer program. When ADOT asks volunteers for comments about the program, we sometimes get a thank you for the opportunity to pick up roadside litter in remembrance of a loved one.

This is a story about one volunteer recognizing a loved one, and an ADOT employee whose love of serving the public is making the world a more beautiful place in Sonoita.

Bob and Nancy Skaggs

Recently, we received a letter from Nancy Skaggs in southern Arizona. She wrote to tell ADOT about what she referred to as the “privilege of cleaning Hwy 82 (State Route 82) between mile marker 34 and 35.” She explained this was a special place for her because it was where her 23-year-old son Courtney was killed by a driver who was unable to slow down.

Nancy said that when she and her husband Bob (shown at right) adopted the spot two years ago, they thought they would be picking up litter by themselves. But when the sign went up, people asked if they could clean up too.

The group has grown so much that now Nancy serves sweet rolls before they begin cleanups and Bob cooks up lunch when the work is done. In her letter, she says it is a pleasure to be a part of the program and that James “Jimmy” Lewis, an ADOT employee based in Nogales, is a big reason why. As a permit inspector, Jimmy was an ADOT contact for volunteers to notify when scheduling their cleanups.

PODCAST: Listen to the author describe her story:

Nancy has never met Jimmy (shown at right), but she praises him as being helpful with planning the events and pickups once the work is complete. She says he “always has the scoop on the weather ... and (road) conditions to expect.” She adds, “Thank you Jimmy for being so understanding when a mom cries when she talks of her son.”

ADOT Employee Jim Lewis

Jimmy, who has been with ADOT for 11 years and now leads ADOT’s maintenance operation in Nogales, says the ADOT Adopt a Highway Volunteer program is especially impressive in rural Arizona. People start out with one or two in a group, and then it grows up to a dozen people including family and friends.

“These are good groups,” he says. Why does it work so well? “It’s about helping Arizona stay beautiful.”

In her letter, Nancy says that while it’s a hard job, her son was someone who would volunteer as well. “Thank you for the opportunity to make our area look clean and neat and to bring so many friends and relatives and neighbors together to remember Courtney,” she says.

When I tell Jimmy Lewis that in my years with ADOT Adopt a Highway I’ve never received a letter so filled with praise ‒ and that I agree with Nancy that he’s a special man ‒ he shakes his head no. “Mrs. Skaggs is a real special lady,” he says.

For more information about the ADOT Adopt a Highway Volunteer program, visit azdot.gov/adoptahighway.

By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

We all know it’s good for the environment to recycle, reduce, reuse. Just because you want to do what’s right for the environment doesn’t mean it’s always easy, especially in rural areas.

That's why a partnership involving ADOT Adopt a Highway, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Keep Arizona Beautiful is connecting citizens to resources that improve rural communities.

The Environmental Resources Roadshow empowers citizens to take responsibility for the environment through litter abatement, recycling and community beautification. Check the roadshow schedule to see if it will be rolling through your town this year.

Adopt a Highway volunteers make quite the impact…

Last year alone, they picked up 12,240 bags of trash along 1,800 miles of Arizona highways!

Check out the infographic below for even more stats. If you’re interested in volunteering, be sure to visit our Adopt a Highway page to learn how you can help to keep our highways litter-free. Find additional details on the program and our volunteers by taking a look back at some of our previous videos and blog posts.