 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
Party-goers cut down trees and left litter strewn across this Cameron River campsite, a favourite spot for Hye Paulette and her family, who live nearby. - photo courtesy of Hye Paulette |
Campers trash Cameron River Partiers offer to clean up but then don't show
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 12, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
"I was in tears when I came up on it," Hye Paulette says as she described her family's trip up the Cameron River on Sunday evening.
Tents, clothes, garbage, booze bottles - nothing out of the ordinary during the summer months.
In fact, it's an all too familiar sight for Paulette, 33, who has three children, aged 14, 8 and 3. She grew up near the Cameron River and lives in a cabin there still.
But this time it was too much. The amount of garbage left behind by party-goers, in addition to freshly chopped-down trees and healthy trees with axe marks in them has Paulette wondering who's responsible for looking after the site.
"It has to stop. The land needs to be respected," Paulette said.
Paulette posted pictures of the damage on her Facebook page, calling for awareness and help on the issue. To her surprise, one of the people who caused the damage came forward online.
"Well, I'll fess up: I was there, some of this s*** is mine ... If anybody else who was there, too, on Saturday night would like to join forces and go clean up this crap we left everywhere, it would definitely be the right thing to do," a young man replied in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Paulette was surprised at the confession because she planned on cleaning up the mess herself, as she has done before. The young man and a friend contacted her and said they would clean the site up Wednesday night.
On Wednesday night Paulette and her family drove over to the site and cleaned for three hours, filling the back of their truck with waste until 11 p.m. The young man and his friends never showed up to help.
Johanna Tiemessen, a member of the Ingraham Trail Working Group, said the problem with areas such as Cameron River is when it comes to enforcement. It's out of territorial government's jurisdiction and the federal government won't look after the land, she said.
"People know they can go there and have a fire and cut down trees because nobody is going to come out there to stop them," Tiemessen said.
The Ingraham Trail Working Group was formed in 2005 to educate people about responsible use of land along the trail. Residents, along with representatives from the departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Transportation, Industry, Tourism and Investment and Municipal and Community Affairs meet monthly to deal with issues along the trail. The RCMP, Yellowknives Dene and federal government have been invited to participate but do not have any representatives on the group.
Although there is evidence of criminal activity, such as cutting down trees and littering, RCMP Cpl. Barry Ledoux said the RCMP won't deal with the area unless they can follow up on complaints.
"Has anyone ever been charged with littering, ever?" Tiemessen asked.
"So who's going to enforce it? I can't walk into one of those parties and say don't litter."
Tiemessen said the Ingraham Trail Working Group is trying to get the Department of Transportation to put waste bins near the Cameron River, but in the end, the people who use the site are responsible for their waste.
"We're trying to educate people on common sense. Don't litter."
Paulette, who deals with the noise and litter every weekend during the summer, wants those who enjoy the site to be more responsible.
"It's always been a party spot. I'd just love for peace and quiet and for people to respect the land."
| 
