Rio Rancho residents look to rectify dumping, litter lying in desert dirt

Jeep Fay presses hard on the gas as the back wheels of his F350 and the steel open-air attached trailer churn and churn over a pile of dirt and sand. After a few attempts and a cloud of dust that looms for a few seconds, truck and trailer clear the hump and are back on the unpaved terrain of southwest Rio Rancho.

Fay stops his Ford just a few hundred yards down the dirt road and gets out, joined by Carey Plant and Lisa and Nathan Saiz, as they spot a half dozen abandoned tires and quickly pick them up, tossing them into the trailer.

All of them have given their Saturday morning to pick up trash across Rio Rancho as part of the annual Fall Community Cleanup, formerly the “Rally in the Desert”, campaign Sept. 14. Last fall, the city said its cleanup initiative helped pick up more than 18 tons of trash.

According to the city, 20 crews and 650 volunteers came out Saturday morning to help the city’s efforts — 150 more than it initially called for.

Wearing a long-sleeve blue shirt with the city logo and slogan “City of Vision,” Mayor Gregg Hull spent his Saturday on the dirt roads of Rio Rancho helping with the cleanup effort. He said he had already hauled two full beds of litter in his Blue GMC pickup truck by 8 a.m.

While seeming to be in good spirits and happy to see residents take part in the city’s efforts, Hull, who’s resided in New Mexico nearly 40 years, called illegal dumping a “pervasive“ issue statewide.

“You’ve got a lot of lifelong New Mexicans hoping to clean this up to make a difference in our community. So, it's important that we do this,” Hull said. “We'll end up filling probably 10 or 15 of these dumpsters today, easily.”

Those dumpsters range from 20-40 yards long.

After Hull helped a crew load a green 20-yard dumpster, he continued less than a half mile down Westside Boulevard to visit the crew headed by Jeff Galatro.

Galatro, wearing sunglasses, a straw cowboy hat and carrying a black trash bag, paused his work to greet and briefly speak with the mayor.

During their conversation, Galatro did note a concerning piece of garbage he’s seen a lot of Saturday morning than in past cleanup efforts: needles.