Another good deed accomplished by our group in October 2021. The Ruisseau Jackson (RJANP) team and many volunteers cleaned up four illegal dump sites near Ruisseau Jackson. The sites were right next to municipal cross-country ski trails. Some of them were dating back to the 1950s!
These dump sites are a scourge, and there are thousands of them in North America. We cleaned out illegal cannabis plantation materials, old car parts, old refrigerators and other household appliances, scrap metal, plastic containers and tin cans, bitumen roof shingles, tires and more.
A great example of cooperation between citizen groups and municipalities. Illegal dump sites: an all-too-common issue in the Laurentians.
These sites are a scar on the landscape and can contaminate the soil and waterways. There are over 5,000 of them in Quebec.
The cleanup was especially meaningful for Mathieu Régnier, President of RJANP and nature lover. “It’s amazing to know that we can count on the team and the volunteers who showed up for the day. I’ve been seeing these dumps for years but couldn’t do anything about them on my own. As a team, however, we were able to meet the challenge. The forest is cleaner and the natural environment is healthier! We could see the results after just a few hours of work.”
There are thousands of this type of dump in Quebec and their numbers have grown during the pandemic because the ecocentres have had to close. Dumping is illegal and those who engage in such activity are subject to major fines, but they have to be caught and its not an easy task for provincial authorities. Moreover, in this case, the trash we found was mostly from a fairly distant past.
The project was led by Martin Gauthier, Vice-President of RJANP, and was completed in less than half a day. It took many weeks of preparations, though, and the RJANP team had been working on it since the start of summer.
Special thanks to Mathieu Fillion for lending us some equipment and to the Municipality of Morin-Heights for its support and for its crane and very large truck!
Lastly, we must also be thankful to a handful of passersby who had collected garbage along the trail a few weeks before the cleanup and left it piled on the edge of trail, ready for pick-up. “This is a wonderful example of community solidarity and a testament to how much we all love this fragile environment,” stated Mathieu Régnier, who plans to organize similar activities in the years ahead.
Photo gallery (cleanup day)
Une partie de l’équipe de Ruisseau Jackson aire naturelle protégée (RJANP) le matin de la corvée.
The RJANP team heading for the four illegal dump sites near Ruisseau Jackson.
Illegal dump site in the Ruisseau Jackson protected area.
Soil contamination from old roofing tiles.
Champion volunteer at an illegal dump site. Thank you Martin Gauthier—our very strong vice-president!
The Ruisseau Jackson team assessing the cleanup work to be done at an illegal dump site. In the foreground, the carcass of a truck from the 1950s.
Victorious volunteers at an illegal dump site. Special thanks to Mathieu Fillion for the equipment loan.
Spoils of the cleanup of October 24, 2021!
A job well done! Now the forest can breathe.
RJANP team at work at an illegal dump site in the Ruisseau Jackson protected area.
Welcome assistance from the Municipality of Morin-Heights! Many thanks!
Invaluable assistance from the Municipality of Morin-Heights! Thank you!
Illegal dump site in the Ruisseau Jackson protected area. Carcass of a truck from the 1950s.
Artifacts found in an illegal dump site from the 1950s. Ruisseau Jackson (RJANP) plans to auction them off in a fundraising campaign in a year or two.
One of the sites before the cleanup by RJANP volunteers.