Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Cleanup campaign wins community support

The Driftwood would like to thank everyone in the community for giving such tremendous support to DW Salty’s Greening Salt Spring litter campaign.

We haven’t heard from all of our participants yet, so we don’t know the total amount collected, but we can report that Rosamund and Patrick Dupuy with Caroline Hickman and friends brought in an amazing 10 bags or equivalent from the Fulford Harbour/Fulford Hall area alone. They were treated well for their effort: Salt Spring Garbage staff at the Blackburn transfer station refused to charge them when they heard the garbage was being dropped off for the campaign.

Salt Spring Sneakers running club also felt the community love while picking litter during their regular run this week.

An email from Janice Dickie sent Saturday afternoon explains: “One of the best parts of the morning was experiencing the reactions of drivers as they passed our group of runners . . . Drivers aren’t always patient with runners, cyclists and pedestrians on Salt Spring’s narrow roads. Today, however, many drivers slowed down and gave us friendly waves and thumbs up. A few even stopped and offered to take our trash bags to the garbage facility. Some neighbours in the area also welcomed us to leave bags at their homes, and a BC Transit bus driver paused the bus to thank us.”

Many people in the community were inspired to take a bag out with them even if they didn’t officially sign onto the campaign. GISS dance teacher Sonia Langer makes it a habit to pick up five pieces of litter every time she takes a walk; she arrived in Ganges on Saturday with a full bag attached to the back of her baby stroller. Meghan Howcroft and her kids Fern and Finn took a similar approach to a wagon ride along Beddis Road last week.

Others are just quietly cleaning up all the time, like our reader Norman Stanfield, and Island Pathways must be thanked for their continuous litter pickup on the Ganges Pathway Network, taking pride in their work long after the construction is complete.

Perhaps most excitingly, many of the people who participated in the campaign have said they intend to continue with their adopted sections indefinitely. The work is certainly ongoing — new beer cans appear daily — but many hands might light work and the island is looking noticeably better already. 

Final thanks are to the Salt Spring Lions for keeping the island litter-free with the help of youth sports teams for so many years.

The full list of people who signed on is as follows:

• Viv Nielsen and son Noel: Vesuvius Bay Road from ferry terminal to Chu An Drive, plus side roads to beach.

• Salt Spring Sneakers: Upper Ganges Road from Central to Robinson Road.

• Tour Salt Spring: Upper Ganges Road from intersection with Lower Ganges Road to intersection to Mansell Road, continuing on Mansell.

• Patrick and Rosamund Dupuy, Caroline Hickman and friends: Fulford Hall to Fulford-Ganges Road/Isabella Point Road intersection, and from the bridge over Fulford Creek to Drummond Park plus the beach.

• Nick Hunt and Celia Duthie: Churchill Road and part of Long Harbour Road.

• Lucy Austin and daughter Bronwyn: Booth Canal Road (entire).

• Driftwood editor Gail Sjuberg: Cranberry Road from intersection with Fulford-Ganges to Blackburn Road.

• Driftwood publisher Amber Ogilvie: Channel Ridge Drive and trails.

• Bishop Green residents: Fulford-Ganges Road from SAR building to town.

• Lloyd-Jones Family: Park Drive, Lakeside and Kanaka loop.

• Bill Goddu: North End Road from Central to Stark.

• Peter Grove: North End Road from Stark to St. Mary Lake.

• Brook Holdack: Charlesworth from Fulford-Ganges to Reid, and both wings of Reid Road.

• Gretta Hildebrandt and Adina Hildebrandt: Long Harbour Road between Eagle Ridge Drive and Quebec Drive.

• Norgard Family and the Hikebabes: Cusheon Lake Road/Stewart Road area.

• Jim Beck and Rosalind Wallace: Lower Ganges Road between Blain and Brinkworthy.

• Kit Lewis: Atkins Road.

• Patricia Calvert and Brinkworthy residents: Lower Ganges Road from Brinkworthy to Central.

• Salt Spring Elementary: Ganges Harbour beach cleanup with SS Adventure Co., plus ongoing green initiatives on school grounds.

• Fernwood Elementary School: Fernwood Beach cleanup, school grounds cleanup and roadside on the way to the beach.

• Salt Spring Middle School: Annual Earth Week activity clean-up of Ganges Village/Rainbow Road.

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