Feature Story                                                                         Thursday September 29, 2011

Trading Trash For Treasure

Chilliwack-Vedder River Clean-up a sparkling success

Craig Hill/Voice photos

CVRCC Director Don Lanford (C) and staff explain the importance of keeping the rivers free of garbage to families Sunday at the annual cleanup.

leaning up someone else's garbage doesn't sound like a lot of fun but on World Rivers Day about 250-300 plucky people made it so by scouring the banks of the Chilliwack-Vedder River and turning their trash into treasures like great food and prizes.

On Sunday, the Chilliwack-Vedder River Cleanup Coalition (CVRCC), who were celebrating their 10th Anniversary, organized their annual trash pick-up event at the Fish & Game Club in the Chilliwack River Valley.

At the end of the day the 2,330 kg was picked up off the river.

All types of things came back to the bins including nasty car and motorcycle batteries, burned-out camping equipment, toxic TV sets, rusty dishwashers, mottled and moldy sofas and even bags of recyclable pop cans.

The garbage is left behind by careless river users throughout the year and the community is left to clean it up.

In light of that, two or three times a year and with the help of generous sponsors, the CVRCC takes it upon themselves to organize and recruit people from the Chilliwack area to help erase the blemishes on Mother Nature's face with the river cleanups.

Displays were setup inside the F&G Club building and around the grounds including a display of several different types of freshly-harvested salmon from a local hatchery.

The food centered around the barbeque where FVRD Area D Director David Lamson was happily flipping burgers alongside CVRCC Frank Kwak who was rolling hot dogs on the barbeque.

Inside, kids waited patiently with eyes as big as ingots for the two large cakes top be cut and both depicted the Chilliwack-Vedder River and surrounding countryside.

A table sat in the corner loaded with dozens of excellent prizes like gift certificates for Boston Pizza, the Pantry and White Spot among others. There was also an assortment of fishing rods, Kinkora Golf Course passes, clothing and even waterproof maps.

Chris Gadsden offered a box of his old floats that he'd scavenged. "Some pretty good ones there," he quipped.

Folks mixed and mingled to the sounds of local band Work in Progress while waiting for the prize draws to happen.

Organizers did a wonderful job with the event and CVRCC Director Gerry Dickey, who's been a director for the last two-years, took a moment to speak with the Voice saying he was encouraged by the turnout.

"To see people willing to come out and look after our environment, and they're all happy people and doing a good job, and they're proud of what they're doing, is such a great thing."

When asked if he thought the Chilliwack-Vedder River was messier this year Dickey said that he hadn't been out much because he was busy on the Fraser River.

Dickey's retired now and says his history has been more with the Fish and Game Club for the last four decades.

"I've been a member of the Fish and Game Club going back to when we had our meetings in the Chilliwack City Hall," he said.

CVRCC Director Chris Gadsden told the Voice that the event was made possible through grants from Fisheries and Oceans, the City of Chilliwack and Fraser Valley Regional District.

"They always support us with money each year and that's the only way we can make this happen," said Gadsden.

He also gave credit to those in the trenches and others involved with the group's efforts.

"Of course if you don't have the volunteers, this wouldn't happen and we've got directors who've been here with us since the beginning and I've worked at a lot of organizations in Chilliwack, since I came here in the middle of the 60s, but this is the best group of people that I have worked with."

"George Shaw from Tim Horton's Chilliwack has been great since day one as well donating all the coffee and the doughnuts and things like that so it's much appreciated the work that they have done for us," he said.

The hamburgers and hot dogs were paid for from the CVRCC's reserve funds.

The City of Chilliwack has partnered with the CVRCC for the Adopt-A-River program. For more information visit here. 

Trash Collected in the 2011 Cleanup

Blue Heron Metal 40 kg

Blue Heron Garbage 900 kg (includes pallets that were taken out for composting at Parr Road)

Chilliwack Fish & Game Garbage 1,090 kg

Chilliwack Fish & Game Metal 300 kg

Total: 2,330 kg of materials
 

The Coalition was formed in spring 2002. The founders were anglers, birdwatchers, conservationists, biologists and concerned local residents. It unites a group of individuals who are concerned about the increasing amount of garbage being left along the Chilliwack/Vedder River.

The society has two major objectives:

• By using an "Adopt-a-River" model, to organize groups and individual volunteers who wish to clean up the river.

• To educate the public on the value of the river and the need to keep it clean.

The society has accomplished the following:

• Since 2002, CVRCS has hosted over 30 group clean-ups, including nine World Rivers Day celebrations.

• Over 4,000 volunteers have participated and each clean-up is four hours long, resulting in around 18,000 hours of volunteer work!

• Currently there are 25 groups involved in the Adopt-a-River program.

• Since 2002, over 60 tonnes of garbage have been removed from the Chilliwack Vedder River riparian areas.

For more information visit: www.cleanrivers.ca

To book Work in Progress for your event visit: www.wipbc.com

See the photos below.

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