Couches, old TVs, other garbage illegally dumped in Evergreen forest

EVERGREEN, Colo. -- An Evergreen resident is fed up with illegal dumping in his small mountain community and is now on a mission to clean it up.

"Disgusting that somebody would just dump like this," said resident Tim Eagan. "There's an old saying, I'm not sure who it was, but it says 'if not us, who'?"

Eagan took Denver7 up along Squaw Pass Road to show where the dumping is happening.

"These TVs are even more recent when I was up here the first time, the sofa was there," he said while describing one of the worst sites.

People have also dumped old window shutters, rolled up carpet, and trash at the site.

Eagan believes it is likely construction debris that was illegally dumped by a contractor.

"[They] charge the customer x amount of dollars to take [contruction debris] to the transfer station. [They] put it here and [he] puts the $250 in his pocket," explained Eagan.

Eagan said he stumbled upon the dump site while on his way to Echo Lake with his wife.

"I pulled off on the side of the road, saw the debris and it was a shock," he said.

Once they discovered it was happening at car pull offs, Eagan said they drove up and down the pass and were shocked to find even more sites.

"I've never seen so many carcasses in my lifetime," he said. "The bigger the parking lot, the more the debris."

Eagan didn't stop there.

He organized volunteers with the Evergreen Rotary to help him clean up the sites.

Eagan said more than a dozen volunteers will meet at Buchanan Rec Center on Wednesday morning to head up the pass with tow trucks and trailers and start moving the trash to where it belongs.

"It is disappointing. We all live here, because we enjoy the beauty of Colorado," he said.

Eagan said once the sites are cleaned up, he hopes to work with local state agencies to have signs installed that warn people about illegal dumping and the hefty fines associated with it.

Anyone caught can face up to a thousand dollar fine and 30 days in jail.

"Make them think twice about dumping," he said.