The weather at 8:30 a.m. looked to be good for ducks but not much else. By 9:30, the clouds had lifted a bit and the rain slowed to a drizzle, with a bit more light showing in the sky. So the decision was made and we were off to Duck Lake, trailering our quad. Karen and I joined up with 20 other members of the Powell River ATV club to participate in the third annual Trash Bash. This is a community event—planned around Earth Day, that had 218 individuals from 40 different organizations scouring the back roads and trails of the district to find and pick up the garbage littering the countryside. Our club had been assigned the Duck Lake road, from the highway to the sloughs and all spurs and trails leading from it. To accomplish this feat we had 20 quads, five trailers and 30 volunteers.
An astounding array
The trailers were towed by quads and served as mobile collectors, and the other quadders would fill their garbage bags and return with them to the trailers. If a large amount of garbage was found at a site, or items too bulky to handle on a quad, then the trailer would be taken into the site and loaded directly. It was an amazing the assortment of items that was found in the bush, from queen-sized mattresses to tires, rims, assorted plastic containers of every size and shape, auto doors, mufflers, hoods etc. We must have found at least 20 tires, which is really sad, as B.C. has a recycle program that allows everyone to return (to any tire dealer) four tires a year at no cost, with no purchase necessary. If you buy tires, the dealer is obligated to recycle your old tires at no charge. At noon we all met back at Duck Lake bridge junction and threw our treasures into the dump truck that Rick, another club member, had borrowed from a local businessman. All the quads with trailers had already been back two or three times with their first loads.
A job well done
Read and Hannah, the club organizers for this event, had the fire ready and the barbecue hot for the club-donated wiener roast. A good time was had around the fire comparing found junk stories. Our club had filled the truck with 3,000 pounds of trash. The community event as a whole picked up 17 tonnes of assorted trash from the countryside. The regional district recycle and collection site waived all cost related to disposing of the accumulation of trash. All in all it was a good day and now the backcountry is natural again with less distracting items to take away from the beauty of the land we live and play in.
Comments