Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: RalphH on April 24, 2024, 02:57:27 PM
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As there was some discussion about what's going on the Squamish Valley here I found this article from the local newspaper interesting. Included are comments from Roger Lewis a member of the Squamish Nation. He also made some observations about anglers who fish the river which may surprise some readers:
https://www.squamishchief.com/local-news/bracing-for-the-summer-season-in-the-squamish-valley-8629543
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I’m going there this weekend bear hunting . We always find abandon camps. It’s really bad when grab happens. We have taken out 100s of pounds of garbage the surrey kids leave. After the grad parties. I’m sure we will be taking out more on Sunday. Also.
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the homeless are really starting to be camped in the bushes all over the valley now. Multiple camps on the lower Cheakamus now plus almost any little nook or cranny has someone camped out in. Sad state of affairs up there from what it once was.
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happening all over region 2 rivers. chilliwack, silver creek. quite a few on the fraser too. some are just pensioners who have no other choice.
not sure if anyone else uses the bradner rest area to drop the black water, looks like i'm in a different country.
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not sure if anyone else uses the bradner rest area to drop the black water, looks like i'm in a different country.
Bradner is a homeless camp now, not a rest stop. I don't stop there anymore. I guess it moves the problem out of the city, but it's a terrible joke to play on tourists who might stop there, not knowing better.
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happening all over region 2 rivers. chilliwack, silver creek. quite a few on the fraser too. some are just pensioners who have no other choice.
not sure if anyone else uses the bradner rest area to drop the black water, looks like i'm in a different country.
always drop blackwater in the interior at the first place possible when leaving for home from a trip. Bradner is a huge crap show I want to always avoid.
Canadian Tire in Merritt is good plus there are other options on the way home.
I do feel somewhat sorry for the working homeless, the addicted not so much.
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always drop blackwater in the interior at the first place possible
Isn't one of the first rules of rv's "don't haul your cupcakes crap with you"? I can't imagine waiting to get in line at Bradner, with or without homeless inhabitants, to empty the tank. Hell, I won't even haul drinking water home.
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The "residents" at Bradner rest stop are being evicted: https://globalnews.ca/news/10375845/abbotsford-encampment-highway-1-rest-stop/
The discussion has taken the usual turn. The Squamish Chief article didn't mention homeless people as part of the problem. When I worked in Maple Ridge there was a similar problem up the Stave Lake Road every spring and summer mostly due to yahoos who camp in numbers for party time and make a big mess. It was all but uncontrollable and had nothing to do with homeless people. The LM didn't have that problem back 25+ years ago.
No one seemed to notice that the person interviewed in the Chief article specifically said anglers are not the problem but part of the solution... sort of missed that as well. I think the situation up there puts the No Trespass sign posted by the Squamish Nation in a different light.
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People have every right to ignore those signs. Leaving garbage behind is another matter entirely. My philosophy is to leave it better then you found it.
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I wish more anglers had your philosophy and I was happy that most people on the Squamish system seem to as well. I understand that negotiations re: aboriginal title over the Squamish Valley will start soon. Ignoring the signs may not be possible for much longer.
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Rest rv stop at Cole road is bad too. Forget about a tourist pulling in there with a big rv. No room.
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Irony is where I live is surrounded by new housing developments. I can look out my front window and see 3 multi story towers close to finished. Below them is a 2 level luxury complex... beautiful homes with large balconies. It's all condos. Condo towers are sprouting like mushrooms all over town. The free market doesn't support the down and out. Affordable rental housing is something they buy to tear down. So the down and out have to camp out in the cold. There but for the grace of good luck go you and I.
I think people need to talk to their Local government and MLAs to get more affordable rental housing zoning and construction.
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I do the plumbing maintenance for bradner and cole road rest stops. When I go to brander I’m supposed to get security. Cole road isn’t that bad. Bradner has lots going on. From the trails behind it that I won’t talk about. (Just don’t walk in the trees) trust me. It has the heads that live there and people working out of it. It’s messed up. But word on the street is it’s getting shut down !!! Way to much crime. And garbage. But back to Squamish vally road I just got home. And I can report no abandoned camps. Other than a First Nation log salvage camp at Km 40 on G main. It’s a mess looks like a grizzly went through it garbage thrown around. Gas and oil cans everywhere. Unless it wasn’t the bears that made the mess !!!!!!
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Ya bradner is extra nasty.
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Rest rv stop at Cole road is bad too. Forget about a tourist pulling in there with a big rv. No room.
After a long day on the road Saturday and heading back home to Chilliwack I needed a pit stop at Cole rd. What a sad state of affairs. Really sad that tourists on the road are welcomed by this kind of crap when simply trying to find a place to REST or rest their bladders while on the road.
We have had to stop at Bradner before as well, and I agree Its even worse for those travelling west in need of a facility.
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Still amuses me. People are always more interested in the freak show.
The problems at Bradner and Cole Roads should be straight forward to fix. There is an 8 hour stay limit at all Highway rest areas so they just need to enforce it. Whose responsibility is it? Highways, Abbotsford Police or the RCMP?
I know of several spots in Burnaby that sometimes collect the Nomad camper van homeless as well as the camp out druggies. City employees move them out. They give them a notice and if they don't go they seize tents. That's what most people want though most of those people don't cause problems beyond the obvious health issues.
Redesign the rest spots. Close Bradner and replace it. It was one of the first. It's too big, there is too much parking, the walk to the john is too long and it's location causes a traffic headache. I don't stop there unless I am desperate as it can be all but impossible to leave coming as it does right after the west bound climbing lanes switch from 3 lanes to 2. Access to brush and natural areas should be fenced - that's what was done years ago at the Johnson Slough stop.
I'd also say we need more highway rest stops particularly given frequent traffic conditions that can strand a driver and passengers in a car for hours. There is no rest stop on Hwy 7 from Vancouver to Hope other than Johnson Slough. But they should be built to purpose and not serve as all day picnic sites or free camping with flush toilets
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Bradner rest area will be worked on as part of this project
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/transportation-infrastructure/contracting-to-transportation/highway-bridge-construction/unofficial-tender-documents/project-no-13253-1001
"Description: Widening of Highway 1 to accommodate new High Occupancy Vehicle, Bus on Shoulder, and Auxiliary lanes; including replacement of the Bradner Road overpass structures. Construction of a new Multi-Use Path adjacent to Highway 1. Expansion and rehabilitation of the Bradner Rest Area and construction of new environmental enhancements at Nathan Creek."
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well thank God they will focus on enhancements for Nathan Creek which is the most important cutthroat spawning & nursery stream (plus coho and chum) below the Mission Bridge. It continues to be threatened by development in it's upper watershed.