The San Juan County Sheriff’s Department is trying to determine the identity of the person responsible for dumping as many as 60 tires on a beach on the west side of San Juan Island, at Deadman Bay.

The mass of tires was first reported to the county Community Development and Planning Department and the agency’s code enforcement officer March 12, according to county Communications Manager Stan Matthews.

County workers used a Public Works boat like a landing craft and had to rappel down a steep embankment in order to remove the illegally dumped tires from a remote beach.

The tires proved a challenge to retrieve because they has settled on a rocky shoreline at the base of a bluff in the Land Bank’s Deadman Bay Preserve, on the west side of the island, just south of Lime Kiln State Park.

The Public Works boat was brought in Friday, March 21, because of its hauling capacity and ability to operate in shallow water. Its retractable launch-gate made it possible to load the tires directly on to the deck of the boat.

Land Bank Land Steward Doug McCutchen put his rappelling skills to work, recovering tires hung up in trees and caught on rocky outcroppings.

Staff from four county departments – the Sheriff’s office, Public Works, Community Development and Planning, and the Land Bank – participated in the cleanup.