Provincial conservation officers were cleaning up the mess at a campground southwest of Calgary after reckless campers left behind trash and camping gear.

The random camping area in the Willow Creek forestry reserve, about 120 kilometres southwest of Calgary, was the site of high school grad parties and off-roading in the mud and snow. Some of the campers left behind furniture, camping gear, burned out cars and garbage.

"I think we've got a small population of people here that just don't see the damage they're doing to the environment or care," said Cam Gardner, who grazes cattle in the area.

"And they're doing irreparable damage to the watersheds, the creeks and grasslands and everything else. It's grizzly bear habitat. I don't see how it can be legal to do the damage that they are doing."

Conservation officers also hauled away 20 truckloads of garbage from the McLean Creek site, also southwest of Calgary.

More than 300 charges were laid over the weekend in the Kananaskis and Waiparous regions under the Traffic Safety Act and more than 100 under the Liquor and Gaming Act. Police also seized weapons, such as knives and bear spray.

RCMP are investigating the beating of a man left in the bushes near McLean Creek who is now in a Calgary hospital.

'Very little respect': RCMP

On Monday, some off-roaders at the Willow Creek campsite blamed teenagers, who had already left the campground, for the mess.

RCMP Const. Bill Pringle said the campsite was much busier than usual last weekend.

But some campers seemed to have left "their brains at home," Pringle said.

"There are good folks that are out here to do some good camping and they are very respectful. Then there are others out here from the different high schools doing grad parties and there is very little respect for the environment by them."

Blair Code of the Calgary Jeep Association said his group tries to educate people about respecting the environment.

"Next year maybe we will try and step it up and try going to some of the high schools or something. Try and get more of a word out there that you have to haul out the trash or we are worried about losing the area."

New trail restrictions brought in last year at the Ghost-Waiparous area seems to have moved off-roaders further south. Camper Brandon Marcotte said he came to the Willow Creek campsite because of the clampdown at Ghost-Waiparous.

"It's been a drunken extravaganza, but it's been a good weekend. A lot of parties, a lot of good times with friends," he said.

Gardner, who is worried about what off-road vehicles did to his pastures, says he doesn't want the area closed to campers, but feels there should be more enforcement to keep rowdy campers in check.

"It shouldn't be a free-for-all where it's just a place to bust loose and just destroy," he said. "It's mind boggling. I mean you have to get up there to see it to believe it."