In his article, “Cost to volunteer loss,” Lachlan Labere states city staff recommends that existing garbage cans along the foreshore trail be removed and replaced with in-ground containers at either end of the trail.
Volunteers struggled to keep the area around the beaver pond boardwalk tidy until the city placed a large bin at the entrance to the boardwalk at SABNES’ request. This has been 99 per cent effective and the bin when full, mainly of drink and food containers, can be emptied and the bag placed by the west gate for removal by the city. The system has worked well for the last few years, so why change it?
In his letter of March 30, Mr. Peter Robertson states, in part, that “while it is regretted that several SABNES members have now chosen to withdraw their volunteer support as a consequence of their rejection of broader community trail use.”
The people who now use the trail were always allowed to walk the trail, don’t dog owners ever enjoy a walk without their dogs? I don’t believe that dogs give a care where they walk.
Further, Mr. Robertson goes on to say that he is confident that many of the new trail users will step forward to assist. He lives closest to the trail, so maybe he can volunteer to take care of the garbage and clean the outhouse and supply T.P. etc. as has been done by those SABNES volunteers for many years.
I was recently in Buenos Aires and went for a walk on the nature trail around the lagoon close to the city centre. Residents appeared to wholly comply with the signs prohibiting dogs. It seems that a city that many people consider to be in a Third-World country, protects and respect its wildlife more than Salmon Arm does.
Mike Saul
