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Wilderness Watch Clean-up Cowichan/Duncan May 2000

Early in the month of May Rob McFadyen, the Island Rock Crawlers events coordinator for 2000, posted a message on the Island4x4.com e-mail list about a cleanup going on in the Cowichan/Duncan area. The post was short notice to say the least. I believe it was posted on the Tue. or Wed., and the event was the following Saturday. Normally the IRC schedules their cleanup events well ahead of time, but this event was being put on by the Wilderness Watch and so we had no control over the timing.	We were sent into an area that was just a hop and a skip from the local waste disposal yard. It was amazing to see the amount of garbage dumped literally yards from the dump itself. We managed to put my trailer to full use, as well as everyone else's trucks. Steve Brown provided his winch for removing some of the heavier items.
Even though it was short notice, I decided to attend the cleanup. This is were I think I accel in my participation in helping keep trails open and promoting a positive image for our sport. My social skills are pretty well nonexistent so I wouldn't be very good at talking to government or business officials, or members of other organizations. Instead I am better suited to working quietly at home alone on the computer or providing my time and effort towards cleanups such as the one Rob had posted.	Back at the dump were we unloaded all the garbage we collected, we saw the full scope of the cleanup. There were all kinds of people and trucks lining-up to unload. This was big. The Wilderness Watch is large enough to have a voice that local media would listen too. The local papers were out, the mayor was out, the local TV was there too.
A few other members of the Island4x4.com e-list decided to show up as well as the IRC members from the mid-island branch in Duncan, and the many others who attended from the Wilderness Watch, various local fish and game clubs, and Timber West etc..	It wasn't the hardest day of work I've ever had by a long shot, but I sure was glad to help out in any way I could. I hope that our club, and our e-mail list can work with these groups more. I feel it is very important for us to understand where they are coming from and visa-versa. That way I think we can do a better job of protecting our right to access of trails throughout B.C.
In total between the IRC and the Island4x4.com e-list, we were able to stage 8 trucks, a trailer, and 11 bodies. Those bodies included list members, Dave Luzzi, Dave Groeneveld, Robert Hennigar, and myself. I was "very" pleased to see such a good turn out from the list. We had only just started the list the month before, and for the four of us to come out and help really made me proud.	If you ever get the chance to help in a trail cleanup event, do not hesitate to do so. Remember, it's only one or two days out of the year, think of all the days you spend 'wheeling, or camping, or fishing etc.. Surely you can take the time to give a little back. With that in mind, Island4x4.com is having a small informal trail cleanup sometime in September. Stay tuned to the calendar to find out when.
We met up with the Mid-island IRC members in a local parking lot, and headed out to the Skutz Falls area to get assigned roads to cleanup. The first area we did was not nearly as bad as we had thought it might be. After all, the IRC members and myself included were used to more of challenge when it comes to trail cleanups. Once we had covered this area we asked for something were our talents could be put to good use.	For more on this cleanup, please visit the Island Rock Crawlers web site for another report. jo-jo

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