I'm with Rod, but a much simpler suggestion. Accountability. Technology is cheap enough now to hook up cameras in the trees with solar power to transmit video data wirelessly to a server nearby. Problem solved. Max fines and tickets for those who litter.
Holding some of these people accountable can be satisfying. I get it, we all want to see those who lack respect having a chunk of their bank account chewed away, but it will not solve the problem. You'll never eliminate illegal dumping at the massive scale. The type of people who do this is criminal and jail time is in fact more appropriate than a large fine IMO. You might deter some potential violators, but what it will do instead, is drive those few who are determined to dump further into the woods where cameras are absent. And it is those few people who are causing most of the mess. Law enforcement is important, but it's only a small part of the solution.
As for the scattered littering you see at the parking spots and river banks, that takes a change in attitude which will take a long time to achieve. There's something seriously wrong when people can bring a chair, couch, sleeping bag, tent to the river and feel like they can afford to leave it behind and buy a new one later simply because it's too complicated to carry it out. Organized cleanups can begin this educational process. Take Chilliwack River cleanups for example. The goal is not only to remove garbage from the watershed, but to ensure all the young cleanup participants understand the importance of a clean watershed, and the value of their and public properties. Hopefully that spirit will be carried on in ten, twenty years from now when they become regular recreational users.
Currently the cost of recreational access to our waterways is ridiculously cheap in comparison to most developed parts of the world. When fishing in Northern Europe, it costs me $20 to fish a section of the river for a day and a printout is given to me about rules (some fisheries even suggest tangled lines on trees are required to be reported). Access to these fisheries are equipped with information board on daily quota, maps of accessible section, and garbage cans that are regularly maintained. In this province, we buy a cheap licence/privilege to access more rivers and lakes than you can visit in one year. Information is not delivered to you, instead you are expected to find it yourself. Parking spots are road side. Access to the river is hidden more often than not, and no garbage cans or proper washrooms are installed. There's no sense of ownership, so everyone just does their own thing so it shouldn't be a surprise to see a mess left behind after a fishing season.
As for demanding better vehicle access at Stave River, this is how you go about it. If you haven't done so, join the Fraser Valley Salmon Society (or BC Federation of Drift Fishers, or an organization which you feel represents recreational fishermen best). Attend the AGM, bring up this issue and recommend to have a director in the organization taking on the task. Contact Destination BC's visitor centre in Mission (funny enough, the head banner of
Destination BC's section on Mission is three fishermen doing what many do when sockeye salmon opens, so they must think fishing is important in that region right?
) and voice your concern. More likely than not, Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce will agree with you and begin that dialogue with the city for you. Contact the other organizations which have members who use the Stave River, have your organization's representative set up a meeting with the other organizations to outline the problems and solutions which we want to recommend. Attempt to set up a meeting with the city/mayor with representatives of all regional recreational fishing organizations and chamber of commerce. If the mayor see value in this dialogue, then maybe something will come out of it. If not, then you can say it has been tried and there's no interest for the current city council to accommodate recreational fishermen more than what it does already.
BTW, the current mayor of Maple Ridge wanted to begin a "dialogue" on this discussion forum during her mayoral election campaign as she is "supportive of sport fishing and its importance in Maple Ridge" but I felt that it was inappropriate to do so at the time. Now that she is elected, some of you Maple Ridge anglers may want to communicate with her and see what her plans are on improving sport fishing in her city. I seem to remember reading something about the lack of shore access along the Fraser River in that area for pink salmon fishing recently...
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Topic: Stave Question (Read 13103 times)