Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Rodney on January 29, 2005, 05:04:16 PM
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I will keep this fairly brief for now because we just arrived home not long ago. The turnout and support of the first Vedder River Cleanup was beyond our expectation today. Normally, for the January cleanup, we would see around 60 or so participants. Today, we had 130 enthusiastic volunteers who spent around 3 hours cleaning from the Chilliwack Salmon Hatchery to the Hwy 1 Bridge! The directors of CVRCC would like to thank and congratulate everyone for their hard work.
Before everyone headed out to the cleanup at 9:30am, a short presentation took place to recognize our five new river adopting groups. They are Pacific Developmental Pathway Ltd., Chilliwack Fish and Game Protective Association, Fraser Valley Regional District Parks, Chilliwack River Valley Ratepayers Association, Abbey Therapeutic Services. Doug Wilson from Fraser Valley Regional District presented our newly made signs to these groups. The signs will be posted up at their adopted sections very soon. The Adopt-a-River program is free, but we require adopting groups to attend our four cleanups per year.
Between 9:30am and 12:30pm, participants were assigned to different sections of the river to do the cleanup. The number of people assigned to each group depended on how messy the area was (our directors surveyed the area yesterday).
I was out with a small group of volunteers and we managed to sweep through sections of the river bank between Wilson Road and Tamahi. Most of the river banks were very clean, but most likely due to the recent high flood we had. The parking area, trails were a different story. Litters were scattered all over the place as usual. In the end, our group managed to collect around 8 bags of garbage as well as two bags of recyclable items.
One alarming trend was the number of abandoned car tires that were collected today. Volunteers also reported that parking lots such as the one at Lickman Road, were especially dirty.
We would like to thank Tim Horton's for donating dozens of donuts and coffee to reward our volunteers. We also like to thank KMS in Coquitlam for donating two dozen pickup tools, which made our older volunteers' life easier today. As usual, the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve was once again being a great host, otherwise we would not have a centralized meeting area. Finally, without the support of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, City of Chilliwack and Fraser Valley Regional District, our program would not be as successful as it is today.
This is certainly a great start of 2005. We're very overwhelmed by your support. If you continue to attend our cleanups, we will work hard to keep the Chilliwack Vedder River pleasant for all recreational users.
Photos from today
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-01.jpg)
Tim Horton's donut and coffee station with our display.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-02.jpg)
New river adopting groups.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-03.jpg)
Filling up the stink mobile!
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-04.jpg)
Loading up the Fraser Valley Region District truck!
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-05.jpg)
Why are these volunteers so happy? :o ;D (Provided by Pepsitrev)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-06.jpg)
Still very happy.... (Provided by Pepsitrev)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-07.jpg)
A small portion of all garbage collected.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-08.jpg)
More garbage...
More photos to come later.
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While cleaning our section, we ran across this on the beach:
(http://www.blogontheweb.com/images/blogontheweb_com/dragonspeed/1846/r_2%20Steel.jpg)
That and about 3 garbage bags full of line, newspapers etc. and a bag of unknown contents that would have knocked you over if you kept it open too long.. :-X
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So... Did you take home those Costco farmed steelhead that someone disposed by the riverside? ;)
More photos!
Our garbage were disposed at two sites:
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-09.jpg)
Dumpsters at Chilliwack Fish and Games Club.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-10.jpg)
Dumpsters at Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve.
Every year, there will always be one or two unusual, mysterious, or even scary finds... Today, someone came across a bag of passport, medicare cards, cheques.... They were handed over to the RCMP this afternoon.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/member/pic/pic050129-11.jpg)
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Nice marijuana pictures.
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O what a great day it was for the Chilliwack/Vedder River Cleanup Coalition as we had so many anglers and other users of the River attend today. Lew will give an actual count but I think it was close to 140, a record for our cleanups other than BC Rivers Day which we have over 200.
It was a long day for the directors as George and I just back from taking the bottles into the depot, he will post the amount we took in with his photo's later. I think most directors put in 12 hours from the time they got up this morning. I know George was up at 3 am, so excited I guess about the cleanup, he was like a youngster waiting for Christmas Day. ;D ;D
It is great to have our new young directors George and 2:40 Gordie pitching in with us seniors. Also I admired Milo for coming out to take part even while recovering from his injury and he had to use a cane to take part, well done Milo and hope the spot I told you about got you a fish, you deserved one thats for sure. ;D
It would be great if those that attended today would post their thoughts and observations for the day and any suggestions to make it better, if that was possible after today.
Many thanks once from all the CVRCC directors and of course from our precious Chilliwack/Vedder River to you all that came out today to make it so successful. It was great as usual to meet so many old and new friends from FWR and other forums.
Those that could not make it to the cleanup this time we hope to see you for the next one in April, stay tunned for the date and we will try to get more donuts next time as we ran out today. ;D ;D
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Chris et al,
Thanks for organizing - you guys did a bang up job. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. The only thing I would suggest is more and/or bigger dumpsters! We didn't even get as far as the old couch we were supposed to pick up - my truck was full already. :-X
Guess it'll have to wait for the next one.
Nice to meet a few people from the board. I'm sipping a Pepsi as I'm typing this. ;D
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more doughnuts yummy for my tummy
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Nice marijuana pictures.
Funny I was thinking the same thing.
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Nice reports Rod and Chris :)
I thought todays cleanup went very well and it sure was nice to recognize some faces I only know from this forum :)
A few interesting things were found once again, as you can see in pepsitrev's pics above :o
As Rod mentioned, the RCMP came by to pick up some of our garbage for us. :D
(http://members.shaw.ca/Pimmetje/CVRCC%20Cleanup%20RCMP.jpg)
Sure makes one wonder how that stuff ends up at the river side.
(http://members.shaw.ca/Pimmetje/CVRCC%20Cleanup%20Lunch.jpg)
After a pleasant lunch with Terry, Rod, Nina and Aaron, Chris and I picked up the last of the bottles and cans and cashed them in at the bottle depot. We had guessed we had probably around $50 worth on the truck, so we were pleasantly surprised when the final total came to a whopping $78.30 :D
I also learned that Chris is quite the expert at sorting out bottles, between him and one of the depot employees they had them done in no time!
(http://members.shaw.ca/Pimmetje/CVRCC%20Cleanup%20Bottles.jpg)
A big thanx to all the folks from FishBC and Screaming Reels who showed up as well, you guys are making it happen!
Hope to see many of you there again next time. :)
Cheers
George
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Thanks to everyone who participated and special thanks to all of those who worked hard to make it happen!
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I guess my one major thought for the next one would be "Can you keep the weather the same?" ;D That was great timing!
Funny thing about those Fish sitting at the riverside, when I went to toss 'em in the garbage bag to clean up, I almost got beaten upon ::)
After cleaning up, we went up to the Hatchery to look around, and found a Kingfisher stuck in the netting over a smolt pen. We managed to get a hand over it's head and eyes, and it took about 10-15 minutes to get it free from the net. We were sure it was going to die of a heart attack. It wasn't happy at first, but then calmed down. When we finally let it go, it flew off, like nothing had been wrong. Tough bird! It had wraps around its legs and wings multiple times. It looked so pitiful.
We talked to the gentleman from the hatchery who was there, and he said that they only get stuck in the net about every 3 months or so. They are apparently excellent fliers, and can zoom right THROUGH the mesh, in and out.
I was glad that the scout that volunteered to help had the chance to help clean, and to help free a trapped bird. He had a great time. If we hadn't had a camp the weekend before, I'm sure we'd be able to get out more kids. We'll have to see next time.
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Thanks Brian for your report and for bringing the scout out with you. This is the way I feel we will beat this thing, get the young generation to appreciate the environment and look after it.
I know I was taught at a very early age not to throw anything on the ground.
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A job well done by all!
I know the Buck_kids quite thoroughly enjoyed themselves today, tromping through the mud and grass.....the youngest two even got their boots stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by mom. ::) Kids will be kids I guess, was tempted to leave the kids in their clothes and throw the whole works in the washing machine when we got home ;D ;D
I didnt know kids could get so excited about picking up garbage. Hopefully they didnt disturb the golfers with every excited shout they made, over something else that they had found ;) :D (Now if they would only be that energetic and excited about cleaning up their bedrooms) :-\
oh btw, "thanks for the frisbee you found for us, Mr.G" :from the kids. :) :) :) :) (at our mini cleanup on thursday)
See you all at the next cleanup!
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Thanks very much guys for a job well done in Fulcrum_Country. ;D ;D
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I had a good time on sat. I was sent with three other guys to the lower end and we managed a truck full of garbage.A couple of guys were bar fishing by a fire and seeing us picking up the garbage also picked up a bag full.Nice to see and appreciated.We missed the "adopt a river"part, congrats and thanks to the new guardians.Fished the bar at Lickman with Peter for a couple of hours no steel but great day anyways.Home early for Haggis and Scotch.I will be back. Cheers all, Todd
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Thanks lowtech for taking part. The story you related is part of the Adopt a River Program as we hope when others see our volunteers picking up garbage they will pitch in and help. As welll maybe some others will think twice about throwing stuff down along the river and the parking areas.
Another dream of the CVRCC directors is for other groups to do the same thing on others rivers across BC like we have on the Chilliwack/Vedder River.
I know they had a cleanup on the Coquitlam and the Cowichan a while back but I donot know it they got another one going. I also heard some anglers were trying to get one going this weekend on the Alouette.
It takes a lot of work of course and dedication to organize a committed group of directors to make it happen and keep it going which we are so lucky to have. As well we have a great core of volunteers and many sponsors that come out and support us. Without them we would not be able to accomplish what we have in the last 2 plus years and I must not forget our great web page maintained by Rodney.
Thanks again for coming out and we hope to see you again on April 23 at our next cleanup. Please mark it on your calender.
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sorry i was un-able to make it...had to work :-X
i was wondering if you guys have considerd applying for a government grant, or have already done so?
We are funded by FOC and support is also coming from the City of Chilliwack and Fraser Valley Regional District.
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sorry i was un-able to make it...had to work :-X
i was wondering if you guys have considerd applying for a government grant, or have already done so?
If it is on a Saturday I ould try to attend. I hope you can get it going and it would be great if you could follow the same route as CVRCC as it would then make at least two other rivers with Adopt a River Program. Does any one else know if there is other groupgs maintaining litter pickup stewardships programs on a ongoing basis in the Province.
With the CVRCC booth at the Sportsman show we hope to spread the word how worth while this type of projects are.
It would be excellent if every fishing forum would take a river under their wing so to speak. However as I said earlier it takes a lot of work to make it successful.
In Chilliwack we have a lot of anglers that fish the river all the time and do not even bother to come to our cleanups which I guess is their choice but makes one wonder why they choose not to help preserve the river they seem to enjoy so much. ::)