|
FAQ |
Articles (non-tech) |
Product Reviews |
Ride Guide |
SPOT Live Map |
Technical Articles
Advertise With Us | Media Coverage | Privacy Statement | Sponsor List |
Quads.ca Trail Clean-Up: Lost Creek FSRMission AreaNov 5/06 Written by Greg Photos by Greg, Paul Mitchell, Paul.T, and Ray Shum 
Conky organized our first-ever trail clean-up at Lost Creek FSR in Mission. Approximately 50 Quads.ca members and friends volunteered their time, equipment, and fuel to haul out illegally-dumped garbage. We had a wide demographic range participate, from kids to retirees. Most worked a seven-hour shift. For some, this was their first outing with the Quads.ca crew. What a great way to get introduced to the members! After a brief orientation session, we broke into several groups and headed off to different parts of the trail. Side trails were marked with paint; one dot meant "in progress" and two dots meant "completed". Any vehicles found over the embankment were marked with flagging tape up on the road for the tow trucks. Most of the volunteers were filling garbage bags and leaving them at the side of the main road, keeping the metal separate. Others operated trucks, and transported the debris to the dumpsters. One of the crews had the use of an old boat; the boat was lowered down the embankment, filled up with trash, then winched back up where the trash was then loaded into a truck for transport. This method was considerably faster than bringing up individual bags and items. Heavy debris over embankments was hauled up by Singleton and his crane truck, or winched up by one of the RCMP trucks or by Reliable Towing. Any sealed barrels or drums were left in place, and the BC Ministry of Environment HazMat team was called to investigate. Such containers typically contain dangerous chemicals from meth labs, and we were instructed to back away, flag the location, and call the RCMP on the radio. Sparcor (a restauranteur) cooked up steak sandwiches on the spot, and the Explorers ATV Club provided hotdogs (barbequed by Paul Mitchell with assistance from Tammy and Singleton), hot chocolate, and pop. The hot food was definitely appreciated by all! We received assistance and resources from various businesses and organizations, whose support helped make this event possible. They are listed here in alphabetical order: BC Ministry of Forests Coast Restaurant (Yaletown) Coquitlam Crawlers 4x4 Club District of Mission Duraglas Composites (Abbotsford) Explorers ATV Club Glowbal Restaurant (Yaletown) Lower Mainland ATV Club Mission RCMP Paragon Communications (Vancouver) Reliable Towing (Mission) Sanafir Lounge (Granville and Nelson) Valley Trail Riders ATV Club Waste Services Inc We cleaned up 6.59 tons of garbage, filling up two large garbage bins provided by Waste Services Inc. That figure does not include the eight burnt or chopped motor vehicles, or the scrap metal (freezers, fridges, a full-sized Coke machine, car parts, etc.). The District of Mission provided free use of their dump. Conky later advised us that all eight motor vehicles had been reported stolen. The weather mostly cooperated, with an occasional sprinkle of rain throughout the day. It only actually "rained" during lunch, and most of us were under the tents at that time. At the end of the day, the skies opened up and the rain began in earnest. Conky and the tow-truck drivers were still hard at work in the darkness loading up the scrap metal and the motor vehicles, and they got thoroughly soaked. All of this was found within the first 4.5 kms of the main road! There is so much garbage dumped here that we could easily spend every weekend cleaning up this one area for a year and we still wouldn't be done. We found it amazing that so many people just don't care about the environment. Hopefully our efforts will help keep this shared-use trail system open for motorized recreation. Although one of our intended target areas was Davis Lake, the access road is now blocked, so we were unable to get in. I think everything went quite smoothly. The two-way radios from Paragon Communications made coordination a breeze, and we used Garmin Rino GPS radios to see where the crews were located. The only mishap was Treds falling down an embankment, putting a 3" gash in the back of his head, bruising his back around his kidneys, and damaging his left middle finger. Some highlights of the day included: • Paul T. reporting his group finding a skeleton of unknown origin, which turned out to be that of a bear. • Watching Roughcountry happily drag the Coke machine down the road with his flatdeck. • Talking with nearby residents and other trail users about the clean-up, and receiving very positive feedback. • Seeing old friends and meeting new ones. • Hearing that everyone wants to do another trail clean-up. Thanks to everyone involved! Greg Newspaper Articles:• Looking after a local riding trail (By Carol Aun, Mission Record, Nov 9/06) • ATV group coming to clean up riding area (By Carol Aun, Mission Record, Oct 26/06)
|
|||
|
| |||
|
Copyright © Quads.ca. All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced without the express written permission of Quads.ca. |