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[allwaysfishin]

this crap of closing all the access on the vedder/chilliwack in farkin ridiculous. We pay taxes.... pay habitat fees with our liscences........   what next.... parking meters at all the places we can park and access?
chilliwack council sucks balls .... they can approve massive riverside housing developements..... which in the end will probably be worse for the river than a few 4x4's and junkies stealin metal.

[allwaysfishin]

junkies will just tie a stolen shopping cart to the back of thier stolen bicycle and cruise right on by the dyke gates..... and continue to steal metal....... 4x4's ?? , they should have enforcement, even one bylaw officer on call, with signs with his/her direct line posted at the access points to the dykes.... with a municipal/city bylaw which seizes guilty vehicles for 30 days...... all possible, and easily enforceable.

[BwiBwi]

fisherforever you also forgot an important point.  A method that's relatively cheap to implement.  Right now closing the access points is cheapest. Cost of the gate, and that's all it takes.

[troutbreath]

If the metal gate is worth a few bucks some some bozo will steal it anyway We have put up a gate at work to keep people mud bogging off part of the property and they damaged it. So we can't use it anymore. Which means we can't get in there unless we pay to fix it. Better to just catch and fine the people responsible, and make it a big fine to pay for enforcement.

[trutta]

Yet again we see the majority of reponsible taxpayers punished  in having their access to the river ruined by a few who trash the place and have no respect for the environment, as for motorcycles causing damage to weaken the dyke is laughable . Over the past two years the gentlemen in Ottawa and Victoria have lightened my wallet by over 40 K in taxes   and All we have is more  Restrictions, Next time around i hope to come back with a Status Card and have fun .

[dennyman]

With regards to the Abbotsford side being closed to ATV, motorcyles and vehicles.  I noticed today while going over the Highway 1 bridge that there was  an ATV being driven by some kids on the Abbotsford side of the dyke. Isn't this side supposed to be closed to vehicle use?  If vehicle access is going to be denied to everyone then everyone should have to comply with the new rules and restrictions.  Especially aggravating since it was ding dongs like that who were probably responsible for the gate going up in the first place.

[Bobber]

  It was just a matter of time before they were forced to put up barricades, gates etc. But lets be honest, have any of you seen trucks pulling trailers, unloading motorcycles, quads, families with kids coming from all different areas to the Vedder to create a gong show. No you haven't and I'm just saying the motor vehicle end of it, not the garbage. Locals with the dirt bikes, quads etc. are to blame. People who I would think would police this problem, not cause it don't give a s---t!!!

[penn]

 Being a local living in the area close to train bridge as well as being an avid fisherman myself I would like to give my opinion on this too. Many of you like to come to river for the great fishing and I'm sure the very fact you are on here posting about this would be an indicator that you are responsible ,well intentioned people who could be trusted if the dykes were open access like they used to be . But the fact is there are  larger numbers of people who are not .
I think the locals are all in favour of the what it is now and if you lived right here you probably would be too . There are limited access's now and you can pretty much reach any part of the river you want. It is a compromise that we can all live with .
Reason's for closure's have already been listed , partying ,garbage dumping,  4x4ing etc. Yes lots of local kids do dirtbike on the dykes and they always will . But open the dykes up and that will expand greatly as other riders will truck in their bikes and atv's( as well as drive their trucks all over the dykes as well) .
The way it is now partying is limited to a couple of locations instead of all over place and the city seems to be content to leave it that way . On any summer Friday or Saturday night we can hear it from our place in the distance and they aren't ever shut down. As anyone knows the partiers will just go else where if you shut them down , so we're resigned to live with it in a few select locations.
One thing not mentioned is that the dykes , when they were wide open , were used by B&E artists to gain access to properties after dark along the river and made great escape routes  for them . Since they've been closed it has really improved on that front.
 For many  , you only see what goes on here when you come for a day trip , but if you live here , you'll see much more goes  on all the time . And the barricades are to there to keep all the crap  out (as much as reasonably possible anyway)  and us locals will fight to keep it that way . It is cleaner and more peaceful than it used to be , cheers and tightlines.

[penn]

  It was just a matter of time before they were forced to put up barricades, gates etc. But lets be honest, have any of you seen trucks pulling trailers, unloading motorcycles, quads, families with kids coming from all different areas to the Vedder to create a gong show. No you haven't and I'm just saying the motor vehicle end of it, not the garbage. Locals with the dirt bikes, quads etc. are to blame. People who I would think would police this problem, not cause it don't give a s---t!!!

 The reason you see only local kids dirtbiking is because the barricades are doing their job keeping the rest out . If they weren't there , then you would see much more.  Are you there everyday to see what all goes on? It used to be a real gong show at the river until they closed those dykes. And it's not the job of the locals or anyone else other than the police ,to police the place.

[dennyman]

This is a response to the last comments by Penn. I am a resident of Chilliwack. I am a property owner, and pay my fair share of taxes. I for one would be disappointed if more access to the river were shut down. However, what irritates me, is the feeling that somehow people who live very close to the river, namely the "locals" should be granted special privileges.  Excuse me, but I thought once laws and rules are set up that they should be followed by everyone and not just by a select few.  For instance, I am a local that lives by the river and that gives me special rights and privileges to ride my ATV up and down the dykes- give me a break.   And here is another example, let us say on the Abbotsford side of the dykes, there were a bad accident involving some motor bikes or ATVs.  The people involved in the accident are badly injured so paramedics are dispatched.  However, they cannot get to the injured parties because of the locked barricade. So they have to wait until the lock gets cut.  The decision to put the barricade was made for a reason. We should all follow it, otherwise if not, then the barricade should come down.

[penn]

This is a response to the last comments by Penn. I am a resident of Chilliwack. I am a property owner, and pay my fair share of taxes. I for one would be disappointed if more access to the river were shut down. However, what irritates me, is the feeling that somehow people who live very close to the river, namely the "locals" should be granted special privileges.  Excuse me, but I thought once laws and rules are set up that they should be followed by everyone and not just by a select few.  For instance, I am a local that lives by the river and that gives me special rights and privileges to ride my ATV up and down the dykes- give me a break.   And here is another example, let us say on the Abbotsford side of the dykes, there were a bad accident involving some motor bikes or ATVs.  The people involved in the accident are badly injured so paramedics are dispatched.  However, they cannot get to the injured parties because of the locked barricade. So they have to wait until the lock gets cut.  The decision to put the barricade was made for a reason. We should all follow it, otherwise if not, then the barricade should come down.

 And i never implied anything you are attributing to me . Point out where you think I'm saying "locals"  should have any special privledge. I don't ride any sort of off road vehicle along the river other than maybe a bicycle. I have to walk just as far as anyone else to any spot on the river ... so give me a break . As for what i said about local kids riding their dirtbikes , you obviously are reading something into it. The point is, that local kids get around the barricades ... and what are you or anyone else going to do about it? But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't control off-roading or some of the other already mentioned activities when it is possible. How about if we allow 4x4ing in a park in your neighborhood?

And I'm not asking for further access closures either. Just ok with it as it is now. The places that have been closed , have been for various reasons , but you can still get in anywhere to fish , so what's your problem with it?

[penn]

 One more thing dennyman , emergency vehicles will get in pretty quick if they have to , they are trained professionals who over come obsticals worse than a locked gate.

[troutbreath]

One more thing dennyman , emergency vehicles will get in pretty quick if they have to , they are trained professionals who over come obsticals worse than a locked gate.

You may not be right, but your hearts in the right place. At my workplace it will be a lawsuit for the taxpayer if the emergency vehicles don't get through to save some mud boggers a=ss. That's the way these things work with the lawyers in all.

Beyond that happy hog many, I don't mean hedgie's tearing up the dike.

[Bobber]

  Penn you just admitted the fact that most of the problem is with the local kids, well I guess its like anything else that is going on these days, if the parents really cared they would put an end to it. Barricades go up for a reason, if my kid, if I cared as a parent would tell him that the dykes are not for motor-crossing, and if he persitted on riding then I would be riding something other than his bike, maybe his my friend, just to get this problem solved!!!

[penn]

 I don't disagree Bobber . The majority now is local kids . And I don't condone it either , in fact we out here have to live with it whether we like it or not. Cops aren't any good at chasing down dirtbikes and don't try as far as I can see. There are still non-locals who do make it in , but it is much more difficult for them to do so seeing as how they have to leave a transport vehicle parked somewhere and then risk getting nailed at their vehicle. But that is where the barricades do help , there would be way more of everything without them. And that's not just the off-roading that I mean. More partiers , garbage dumping and one other group that is now starting to become a problem; squatters.

The squatters who used to camp in Abbotsford at Mill lake now have moved to the Chilliwack river. They were camped just above the Veddar Crossing bridge just before the real cold set in . Fisheries had told them to move away from the river . But they didn't leave for a couple of months after that and only left when it got real cold .The year before there was a bigger squatter camp a bit further upstream , who managed to stay concealed for quite some time. When they got kicked out they left over a ton of garbage including a whole load of car batteries as well as lots of stuff used in making crystal-meth.
 A friend of mine got hit by those guys while he was out fishing close the Tamahi area and found his truck missing the battery at the end of the day. The same guy who seems to be these squatter's ringleader was also the ringleader of the Abbotsforsd camp as well as the ringleader of the group that occupied the Woodwards building in Vancouver a few years back.

Take away the barricades and you give these guys more spots where they can get in . Once in they are very hard to get rid of , and they do make a living at stealing what ever they can , whether it's from your car or the homes of people living in the area .

And before you go feeling to sorry for these guys and their plight , the head guy was interviewed by our local paper and he said he was homeless by choice . They are able bodied guys , they would have to be, to be able to live here at the river , packing stuff back to their camp from where ever.
 At the moment they seem to have moved , but we don't want them back and sure don't want to give them a toe hold in at any spot at the river.