Free Press staff
Humans and trash go hand in hand, but some passionate Elk Valley citizens spent their time cleaning up after others at this year’s Shoreline Clean Up.
On Sunday, September 24th the Elk River Alliance (ERA) celebrated World Rivers Day with their annual clean up event. According to ERA this year was the biggest ever, with 580 participants extracting over 7,500 pieces of garbage from shoreline areas–a considerable increase from last years’ 5,000 pieces.
This year, ERA extended the clean up into the week preceding World Rivers Day to engage Elk Valley schools. 475 students from Fernie Secondary, Sparwood’s Frank J Mitchell Elementary, and Elkford Secondary participated.
“We’re really grateful to have had such enthusiastic school engagement,” said Evgeni Matveev, Outreach and Education Coordinator for ERA. “Events like this not only serve to clean the ecosystem, but double as educational experiences for young people. It helps them realise first-hand how much trash is in our environment.”
Erin Webber, a Fernie Secondary teacher and ERA board member, agreed with this sentiment.
“Our students spend a lot of time recreating outdoors, and this is a great chance for them to give back to the spaces they use,” said Webber. “Building a strong foundation of stewardship is very important in places like the Elk Valley.”
During the official event, 105 eager cleaners braved a rainy Sunday morning and worked to care for the watershed. In addition to snacks, gloves, and garbage bags, ERA handed out data cards to collect information on the trash in the valley. According to the data, the usual culprits ended up in the top 5: cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic pieces, and paper.
Zanele Chrisholm, an ERA volunteer from the Canadian Wildlife Federation, is new to the Elk Valley and said it was a great introduction to the community.
“Watching people work together to clean the environment was a really positive way to start my time here,” said Chrisholm. “It really demonstrated the fantastic community spirit, and the extent to which people love nature here.”
ERA expressed gratitude to Tourism Fernie’s AmbassadorWILD program.
“The Ambassadors really helped us out this year,” said Matveev. “They not only ran the Fernie Secondary School event, but used their electric truck to haul garbage from Fernie to the transfer station. We’re also grateful to Canyon Raft for helping haul garbage to the transfer station.”
ERA expressed gratitude to Big Bang Bagels for sponsoring the event, and all organisations that provided prizes and materials: Canadian Tire, GearHub, Mark Locki, Rooftop Coffee Roasters, Board Stiff, Big Bang Bagels, and Eldho’s Your Independent Grocer.