This is the small mountain of 260 old, worn out tires that had been illegally dumped in rural Chippewa County recently. (Photo courtesy of U.P. Tire)

KINROSS — The small mountain of old, worn out tires illegally dumped in the woods and found several weeks ago near Chippewa County’s Kinross off M-80 almost certainly were put there by someone associated with a commercial enterprise.

That’s the conclusion of the owner of U.P. Tire of Sault Ste. Marie, the business that stepped forward and took care of the mess in the woods — on its own dime.

“It certainly seems that way,” said Tony Brown, owner of U.P. Tire, located at 1129 E. Easterday Ave., in Sault Ste. Marie. “I’m not pointing any fingers, of course” but where else would 260 tires come from other than a business of some sort?

That’s how many tires — 260 that were principally passenger tires — were found in about mid May on a recreational trail by a trail user. It’s estimated the tires had been there several weeks, Brown said.

Illegally dumped tires are a threat to the environment for several reasons, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which, with the Kinross District Police Department, is involved in investigating the incident.

To start with, it is illegal to dispose of tires in Michigan landfills, the DNR says, noting run-off from scrap tire fires can contaminate water and are an ideal habitat for the breeding of mosquitoes carrying disease such as West Nile Virus.

The trail user who initially found the tires posted about it on social media, which is how Brown and U.P. Tire learned of it. Brown and U.P. Tire went into action, collecting the tires from the woods, bringing them to his business before paying an Indiana contractor $5 per tire to dispose of them appropriately.

Brown estimates the disposal fee plus the overtime he paid his workers to do the work has cost his business about $2,000. Community involvement and support were the main reasons he and U.P. Tire got involved, he said.

“It’s always been important to us as a business,” he said. “Especially in a small town.”

Officers with the Kinross police and DNR could not be reached for comment.

Bud Sargent can be reached at 906-228-2500. His email address is bsargent@miningjournal.net