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Chilliwack vigilante tracks down garbage-dumper

Truckload of garbage found last Sunday tossed down a steep embankment over Slesse Creek
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Jim Kolisnyk of Chilliwack was furious.

He was hiking in the back country of the Chilliwack River Valley last Sunday when he came across a truckload of garbage dumped down a steep embankment above Slesse Creek.

“I’m a hunter who loves the bush,” said Kolisnyk.

That someone would be dumping trash over a pristine creek not far from a fish hatchery, is nothing short of disgusting to him.

“I was furious. I went through bags and bags of this old garbage to get an address. It was pretty gross,” he said.

There was an old chair, a toilet, buckets and truck canopies all tangled in a huge pile of garbage.

Not only that.

Kolisnyk followed the paper trail back to the original address of the house on Interprovincial Highway in Abbotsford, where the garbage came from. He even managed to track down the owner and former owner of the property.

Kolisnyk said he felt compelled to confront the individual who had most recently purchased the property the garbage came from, to ask him about it.

“I wanted to offer him a chance to get it cleaned up before I called the B.C. Conservation Officer Service. After all it’s you and me who are going to pay for this cleanup as taxpayers,” he said.

An emergency cleanup of garbage near a waterway could cost more than $2000.

But the person who Kolisnyk tracked down denied outright he was the garbage-dumper, and was angry about being contacted.

Kolisnyk said he is following it up, nonetheless, after making reports to both RCMP and the BC Conservation Officer Service about the illegal dump site.

There is history of dumping in the CRV that has spurred elected officials and volunteers alike into taking action.

READ MORE: Asbestos dumped in the CRV

READ MORE: Dumping common in the getaway spots


 

@chwkjourno
jfeinberg@theprogress.com

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Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering the arts, city hall, as well as Indigenous, and climate change stories.
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