Andrea Weissenborn invited town council and the mayor out to her property last week to view the amount of debris carried over from the landfill by wind and ravens.
Walking up to the landfill from Upper Donald Road and onto the Weissenborn’s property, at first there is no smell and no sign of garbage littered all over. A short walk in and the scene changes.
Weissenborn was joined by Mayor Ron Oszust, councillors Chris Hambruch, Leslie Adams, Bruce Fairley, and Wildsight Golden outreach coordinator Gemma Cobb on a walk along her property, which borders the Golden Landfill.
After being approached by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District with their plans to cleanup the property, Weissenborn decided it was time to take a closer look at how the cleanup is approached.
Weissenborn felt it was not the appropriate time to begin cleaning the garbage on her property.
Since the ground was still damp and partially covered in snow, Weissenborn wanted the CSRD to hold off on the cleanup, and work with her to come up with a system that would ensure it is properly handled.
One of the larger issues at hand, other than the amount of landfill debris on her property, is the amount of ravens that have gathered at the landfill. Over the years, Weissenborn said, she can tell the raven population has increased. The sound of their caws fill the air while she tries to speak over top of them.
The ravens drag a lot of the garbage onto her property. Over the winter, while the snow was knee deep in most places, a large concentrated area was completely packed down by their feet, where they had dragged garbage onto her side of the small fence.
“It’s part of our landfill. There’s going to be birds. This number of birds is crazy. I’d like a number and maybe compare this to Salmon Arm,” Weissenborn said. “They compacted the snow. We had knee high snow over there, and here we had compacted snow by little raven feet.”
Councillor Adams suggested that the CSRD should maybe compare the amount of ravens this year to next, and the years to come, to get an idea of how the population is growing, and how to prevent the birds from staying.
“They’re probably raising their young here and staying,” she said. “They stay all year round.”
The ravens are only part of the problem the Weissenborns face with neighbouring the landfill.
Each year, the CSRD organizes to clean up all of the garbage debris that has been taken offsite. In the past, community groups have taken turns volunteering to do cleanup, but Mayor Oszust said it isn’t an appropriate job for them, and some of the materials scattered around might be biohazardous.
“The cleanup wasn’t adequate after the community groups, they actually had to go in with contractors after,” Oszust said. “I’m sure the CSRD’s intent was wonderful [doing the early cleanup], but again you get into that realm of was that appropriate or not? All of it is shredded.”
The little bits of garbage are strewn across the area, and range in size from dime-sized to large bags. There are plastics, cans, chip bags, and bones that litter the pathway. The trees above have been stripped from ravens landing on them. Weissenborn wants to know about soil contamination.
The CSRD is working to install ground water monitoring wells this year, which will ensure the ground water isn’t being contaminated by the landfill. The Golden Landfill has a lifespan of another 80 to 90 years, and is expected to expand upwards as it is filled in.
As the size increases, so do Weissenborn’s concerns.
“Is there going to be any more smell, or is there going to be more litter? It seems like it’s going to get worse,” she said.
