More eyes are searching out illegal garbage dumpers in the forests around Kelowna

Donations are pouring into the Okanagan Forest Task Force as it ramps up its efforts to not only clean up illegal dumpsites but to capture the perpetrators in action.

Last week, Big White Ski Resort donated $2,000 for them to buy more cameras and Curtis Sanderson donated a handful of maybe-functional trail cameras.

“No idea if they’re operational, but at the very least they’ll make good decoys,” he posted on the task force’s Facebook Page.

“They might be functional,” task force spokesman Kane Blake said. “If they are, we’ll use them. If they’re not, we’re still going to use them.”

In the past, cameras were usually shot up before they could record illegal dumping but, this year, a new strategy has been developed on their use so there has been useful evidence sent off to conservation officers to investigate and issue fines.

Part of the new strategy is to also put old, broken cameras into the forest as decoys.

They are now also using drones to try to capture evidence of illegal dumping and task force member Robin Bloch used his drone to film cleanup efforts along Beaver Lake Road this past weekend that even attracted Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray who helped with the cleanup.

A video and statistics on how much garbage was collected will be released shortly.

Earlier videos can be viewed on the Okanagan Forest Task Force Facebook page here.

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