To establish effective partnerships, they must be actionable! This is precisely what the teams from Tread Lightly! and Front Runner Dometic accomplished by organizing a highly successful trash clean-up the day before Overland Expo West commenced in Flagstaff, Arizona

The annual Overland Expo West is more than just the premier event for adventure travel enthusiasts in the USA; it is a must-attend gathering for those who share a deep passion for exploring and preserving the planet we inhabit, where hundreds of exhibitors showcase the latest gear and vehicles.

Front Runner Dometic plays a crucial role in the global outdoor gear market, harnessing innovation to improve sustainability by developing new, longer-lasting products. They have recently partnered with Tread Lightly!, a non-profit organization that leads a national initiative to promote the responsible use of motorized vehicles while enjoying outdoor recreation. This effort is realized through various well-supported initiatives, including trail maintenance, cleanups, education, and outreach.

Front Runner Dometic has also supplied Tread Lightly! with roof racks and equipment for several of its key operational vehicles. Michelle Ramos, Arizona program manager for Tread Lightly!, is thrilled with the partnership. “Getting to our project sites safely and efficiently is critical to the success of our mission to protect motorized trails and public lands.”

While Front Runner, Dometic, and Tread Lightly! both exhibited at the 2025 Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, they decided that the day before the show would be an excellent time to organize a nearby cleanup, followed by some off-roading, of course. I can envision this event becoming a pre-Expo West tradition, with approximately 20 rigs and 40 people participating in the cleanup at the nearby Winona Shooting Area, a site identified as problematic by the ranger for the Coconino National Forest.

Several friends and collaborators from Front Runner Dometic and Tread Lightly! also joined the cleanup. We were fortunate to have such a large group, as the shooters who frequent this site certainly left it in disarray. According to those familiar with the area, it’s common to find trash and dumping along Arizona’s heavily used off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails.

While shooting is legal in some parts of the forest, people often bring trash to use as targets. These items may include old refrigerators, abandoned cars, and various random household goods like TVs. Shooting at these targets, along with the discarded shells, creates a significant mess and an overwhelming amount of micro trash! While shooting is very popular in the OHV community, cleaning up after a shoot is clearly not. One way to address this issue could be to educate shooters and shooting clubs. Imposing substantial fines might be another approach.

While we all need places to go shooting, camping, off-roading, hiking, and mountain biking, the key is to leave the locations where we engage in these activities in better condition than we found them. Everyone present received a pair of gloves and a heavy-duty black bag, and the great cleanup began. I spoke with some attendees who had driven several hundred miles for the show, and they told me they had participated in this type of cleanup before, but closer to home, where a similar issue of littered trails exists.

It didn’t take long for the first full bags to be loaded onto one of the two trucks that would transport them to a proper rubbish dump once we finished. The spring sunshine shone brightly, and anyone who has been in this part of Arizona knows that the sun here feels much harsher due to the high altitude. Fortunately, we could also use spades and rakes to help clear the hundreds of thousands of shell casings that littered the area we were trying to clean. As the black bags began to pile up on the two trucks, the smiles on the faces of the park officials in attendance grew wider and wider.

It was undoubtedly challenging, but incredibly satisfying work, as we could see the difference we were making immediately. I remember chatting with someone at a children’s charity I support, asking them what the best way was for me to make a difference. They quickly replied that giving your time is more important than donating money, clothing, or toys. As I tossed another full bag onto the truck, I reflected on that conversation while surveying my surroundings. We had only been at it for a few hours, but the positive impact we had made on the landscape was quite significant. Sometimes it’s so easy to blame the government or authorities; other times, it’s just easier to roll up your sleeves and clean up the mess yourself. This was undoubtedly one such occasion.

I ask Michelle about other ways that trail users can get involved. “The best way would be to join Tread Lightly!, but they could also check our website and social channels for upcoming stewardship projects in their area. After about three hours, both trucks were filled to maximum capacity with black bags. We later discovered that we had collected over 4,000 pounds of trash. More importantly, we had cleaned up a sizable section of the Winona Shooting Area, thanks to all the people who kindly volunteered their time for a couple of hours.

It doesn’t matter where you live or where you go off-roading; giving some of your time to help organizations like Tread Lightly! to do their much-needed work, is one of the best things you can do to keep our trails open and pristine. To sign up, see https://treadlightly.org. With the hard work done, it was time to enjoy the trails for ourselves. We certainly deserved it.

Quotes from those who took part:
Nekkies Smit (Cape Town, South Africa):

I travelled all the way from South Africa to attend Expo West. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be helping pick up trash in the countryside. I thought we were going off-roading! Still, it was interesting to see that we face the same challenges in Africa as in the United States. We can learn from each other and apply those lessons in our own regions. At the end of the day, we just want to off-road in clean and beautiful places.

Stan Scooby (Luton, England)
Unlike in the U.S., we don’t have many 4×4 trails on public land to enjoy. I hope Americans appreciate what they have. It’s great that organizations like Tread Lightly are working to keep it that way. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you come from; we all want the same thing: to take our trucks off-roading in beautiful areas.

OutdoorX4 Magazine – Promoting responsible vehicle-based adventure travel and outdoors adventure