Back 40 Collective's Reason For Existance

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              How Back 40 Collective Started

While elk hunting near Bear Canyon Lake, we came across a campsite buried in trash — cans, paper plates, red cups, and garbage scattered everywhere. Later that night around our campfire, we knew we couldn’t leave it that way. We returned with trash bags and cleaned the entire site ourselves. Standing there afterward, seeing the difference 3 people could 

 The movement continues to grow. While traveling along FR 141 in the Coconino National Forest, Mike stopped to clean another illegally trashed campsite, hauling out multiple bags of garbage left behind in the forest. Small actions like this are what Back 40 Collective is all about — protecting the land, preserving the experience, and leading by example for the next group that comes after us. 

Signs like this shouldn’t have to exist in the middle of our forests. Part of what makes places like this special is the feeling of freedom, ruggedness, and getting away from rules, pavement, and city life. But because people continue to trash campsites and leave garbage behind, the forest now needs warning signs threatening fines and jail time just to remind grown adults to act right. That’s emb