Yellowknife (July 09/04) - Officers with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development aren't doing enough to patrol the Ingraham Trail and it may cost them their authority over the popular playground, according to the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

Yellowknife resident Melanie Gueguen crouches next to a tree likely felled for firewood near a Cameron River campsite last week. Gueguen and her friends spent an hour cleaning beer bottles and garbage left on their site by previous campers before they could set up tents. - Lisa Scott/NNSL photo

"We're getting concerned over how people are using the land. If there is no action in the next few years, we may have to step in," says Fred Sangris, a treaty co-ordinator for the Yellowknives Dene.

Sangris is referring to garbage left by campers outside territorial parks, illegal tree cutting and general disrespect for the land along the 70 km trail.

Sangris continues to speak out on the issue after appearing in Yellowknifer earlier this week.

Restricting access to land use outside of the territorial parks that dot the popular trail is one solution, says Sangris, though he didn't expand on how restrictions would be enforced.

"That's the reason the Yellowknives Dene allowed those campgrounds to come into place, is to keep them (campers) in designated areas," he says.

Some sites are worse than others.

Cabin owners and residents on the Cameron River sparked the debate, making complaints to the Yellowknives Dene and writing letters to Yellowknifer about beer bottles, used fireworks and toilet paper routinely strewn around campsites.

Someone has even gone as far as posting signs on trees near sites warning of a "rural crime watch" by RCMP.

When contacted, the RCMP said they were aware of the situation, but had not authorized the signs.

RWED not doing enough

Officers with RWED aren't doing enough to stop the desecration, says Sangris. "If I was a wildlife officer I would be on patrol there," says Sangris, who laid a complaint with RWED a few weeks ago.

"There's something that's lacking," he says.

He is calling for more authority for parks officers to charge offenders, but also for parents to take more responsibility of their teenagers, who are being blamed for much of the destruction.

Because reserving a site in a territorial park requires someone 19 or older, the row of unmanned campsites at the Cameron River attract the city's youth.

With 10 officers in the North Slave split amongst renewable resources, forestry and parks (which are seasonal) divisions, RWED just doesn't have the manpower to do what Sangris is asking for, says Raymond Bourget, senior wildlife officer.

"We have a lot of responsibility, a lot of legislation and land that we cover. It's very difficult to cover everything," he says.

The officers are also responsible for policing squatters and bear problems, as well as licenses and permits for the North Slave region.

Wildlife officers responded to a complaint about a bag of garbage a number of weeks ago at the Cameron River, but didn't find anything in their investigation, says Bourget.

RWED is aware of the problem and is coming up with a plan, he says.

Current legislation states that anyone caught littering, or cutting down live trees or deadwood without a permit or littering faces a maximum fine of $1,000 or 12 months in jail -- or both. Fines for garbage disposal under the Environmental Protection Act are much higher, ranging into the tens of thousands of dollars, says Bourget.

RWED has not laid any such fines on the trail recently, he says.

As for the threat of restrictions from Sangris, Bourget stands by the job his officers are doing.

"Everybody is entitled to his own opinion. He's just expressing his opinion," he says.

Allister McCreadie and his friends have been camping at the Cameron River since they were kids. The 16- and 17-year-olds think the threat to restrict access "sucks."

"There are some people who want to fix the problem," says McCreadie, who, along with his campmates, had to clean garbage off their site before they could set up tents on the Canada Day weekend.

Their group says young people use the area because they can't camp in territorial parks, but they agree teens should still be expected to be responsible. "It gives an opportunity for young teenagers to have a good time," he says. "If they got someone to come and govern it, people wouldn't come so much," Melanie Gueguen says, though the area is not a designated camping area.

For now, Sangris is waiting for a response from his complaint to RWED. In the meantime, he hopes people start respecting the land and treating places like the Cameron River as sacred areas.

"The river is important to all life," he says.