So tribes and homesteads alike are talking about the crowd around the junk piles. The size of the map vs population and lack of land. Here is my take....

There are things that can be done to not force a tribe or homestead to be near a junk pile. This would cause more tribes and new players to be able to get away from the lake some, to spread out and make homes elsewhere. The land is big enough! Go look for a place outside the box!

Here is my recommendation; make the nature skills require less "junk" for example... redo the crafting slightly. A bear bone armor set requires screws and allot of them... why? In the past they did not build heavy armors with screws why are we?

Why does grass armor require junk? The tribes in RL before us didn't have to use junk to make theirs.

Why does leather armor require junk? Early settlers to the western United States didn't use junk in their stuff.

Why do wooden walls require nails? In the past, they would cross notch walls to make them stand up and use nothing other then the wood itself, and some mud paste to fill in the gaps to seal up the walls.

Why can we not make mud paste for our rock walls from dirt and water? Why do we have to have sand? So a rock wall could be limestone rock + mud paste = rough rock wall.

If the crafting / trade skill didn't require so much junk, then I can see the tribes and homesteads finding the super nice little niche areas around the map to settle down in. Instead of everyone crowding around the junk in every corner.

Just a thought .....