A group of concerned residents in Hope, B.C., got together recently to take part in a huge community cleanup.
For two days, more than 50 volunteers and more than a dozen businesses teamed up to clean up homeless camps that the RCMP had cleared out on Silver Skagit Road, south of Hope.
They used their hands and heavy equipment to remove everything they could.
Dusty Smith, owner of Silver Skagit Mechanical and a district councillor, has lived his entire life in Hope.
“In the last eight years, I’d say this is just growing into a bigger problem in all these three different areas that we just tackled,” he said.
“Once we got our heads in, there was crazy how much stuff we’ve seen.”
Smith said there was some criminality going on in the encampments and the group wanted to be part of the cleanup of what was left behind.
He said they ended up getting it all cleaned.
“It’s just unreal on how many people came together and the weather wasn’t great yesterday, so getting people out and staying out here with us was phenomenal,” Smith added.
He said they probably have one more day’s work ahead of them to restore the area for residents and visitors.
Smith said part of the issue is the land is located within the regional district but it’s on the edge of the District of Hope and B.C. Parks land.
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“But it seems like provincial government and all the governments don’t want to touch it because, again, of the costs and everything that’s involved in it,” he said.
“So now it’s coming down onto the private sector a little bit, which is fine, but we want to get in here and cleaned up so that people can start using this area more.”
Smith said the community has been positive about the operation, and those who couldn’t volunteer their time, donated or helped with food and coffee.
“I can’t thank volunteers enough,” he added. “It’s unfortunate it comes down to volunteers to have this situation get cleaned up. But if you don’t get on top of it now while you have the opportunity, it’ll just keep compounding.”
Renee Coghill, who has lived in Hope for about 17 years and is a fishing and hiking guide in the region, told Global News that she wanted to help clean the area.
“Once you actually got into the forest here and saw what was piling up, it was kind of devastating and sad, really,” she said.
“I think (Tuesday) the initial reaction was overwhelming. We really kind of looked at everything and looked at each other and we were like, ‘are we going to get this done?’” she said.
“But, you know, people were working together, smiling, getting it done. And every time we chipped through another section, you know, it kind of encouraged you to keep going and finish up.”
Coghill said there were some stolen items found in the forest, which was disheartening.
“It’s hard to see this kind of stuff in our backyard,” she added.
Daryn Barry, a maintenance manager at Valley Helicopters, also said the situation was “overwhelming.”
“I’ve driven up here quite a bit and you could look in over the banks and see how bad it was,” he said.
“But until you came in and really saw the impact on the natural environment, it was pretty upsetting.”
Barry asked the owner of Valley Helicopters to help out and said they were happy to do it.
“When we showed up, everybody, it seemed like everybody there just had the same love for the environment, same compassion needed for the people that were affected,” he said.
“There was no real issues going on between the groups of people and everybody just got together and kind of had the same thing in mind to get our nature back to where it is and try not to impact the individuals involved as much as we can right now.”
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