Kamloops environmental activist Parker Morrison stands in metal trash along the Thompson River between Westsyde Centennial Park and the Thompson River.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jason Hwang

A young Kamloops woman is taking initiative to get a mess of rusted cars removed from a dyke along the river, a mess that has been increasing over the decades as the bank has eroded causing old metal parts to stick out of a public path and spill onto the beach. 

Parker Morrison, 18, is on a mission to get a roughly 600-foot swath of land that edges along Centennial Park and the Thompson River cleared of the debris and restored, in her project called Restoring our Riverbanks.

“It’s disgusting, so compact, eroded and sharp with all this metal jutting up from the ground and beaches,” she said. “It’s unsafe and shows a lack of care.”

The initiative started with a school project where students do research, get mentors and deliver presentations as a way to investigate possible career options. Morrison presented her river cleanup project, but then decided to take it further on her own initiative around January.

She’s been getting support from Jason Hwang, the vice president of the Pacific Salmon Foundation, a non-profit based in Vancouver that works to rehabilitate salmon and look after salmon habitat. Hwang met Morrison when he was doing a presentation on the effects of climate change on salmon at her school’s climate action club and she asked him what could be done to clean up the cars.

“How can you say no to her big smile, energy and enthusiasm?” he said. “Sometimes what it takes is someone to be a catalyst. She (Morrison) steps in with determination to be that catalyst and is getting things started with her activation within my orbit.”

Hwang used to be a public servant for the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“I felt a bit guilty because I worked for the federal department for decades and live close to the dyke and see the problem all the time,” he said. “I always thought I should do something about it but I never did."

Metal trash on land between Westsyde Centennial Park and the shores of the Thompson River in Kamloops.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Parker Morrison

Hwang reached out to people he used to work with and met with the Secwepmec Fisheries Commission who expressed an interest in getting involved.

Morrison said she’s been in touch with a biologist, reached out to locals to collect information and has prepared a proposal for the City of Kamloops. She has also been raising money for the project, doing fundraising through her school, collecting personal donations, applying for government grants and making proposals for other potential investors. 

“I've reached out to engineers to get the area assessed," she said. "Then we can get excavators in, get the cars taken out and repair the banks. There's a lot of community interest in this, lots of people want these cars out." 

There are two rusty car dykes in Kamloops, the other one is located near the airport, but for now Morrison is focussed on the one in the Westsyde neighbourhood. The dykes are made out of flattened cars and were installed in various locations in the province in the 1970s and 1980s to stop the bank from being eroded.

Residents have spoken up about the unsightly mess and associated safety concerns in the past, but when it comes to cleaning it up, there is a jurisdiction issue.

Hwang said the property is owned by the City but the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans have authority when it comes to salmon and habitat and there may be other authorities sharing partial responsibility.

“It’s normal when there’s city owned property on an inland waterway to have a divide of jurisdiction where there are a multiple authorities,” he said. “The results today are from activities that happened a long time ago and it’s not easy to say there is one entity responsible. There are other entities like the First Nations who may want a say in any work that is being done.”  

Hwang said sometimes these kinds of cleanups don’t get action because they can be costly, or can be a risk in terms of potential for increased erosion or a threat to private or public property. If no one wants to be the one to take it on, the messes can sit there “kind of stranded.”

He believes Morrison’s enthusiasm will change that.

“With her being a catalyst, a number of other things are activated and there is a momentum building,” he said. “I’m hopeful with her energy we can do other projects to help restore the river banks.”

Parker Morrison of Kamloops on a beach alongside the Thompson River and Westsyde Centennial Park surrounded by pieces of metal trash.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jason Hwang

Morrison reached out to the City and others for help and funding. She said she’s waiting to hear back from the City while she continues to plan and spread the word about her project. She aims to get the work completed by fall of this year, or next spring at the latest when the river levels are low.

“There’s always potential to find something you don’t expect, we don’t know what’s behind those cars,” said Hwang. “If it’s what it looks like on the surface it’s quite reasonable it could be done by next spring, at least the first phase. You then need to let the river go at it, see what it does, and do a fine tuning.”

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Part of the plan is to install a natural riparian restoration system which will protect the environment and prevent further erosion.

“If all you wanted to do is make sure there's no erosion you’d just pour concrete, but what you want to do is work with nature using nature based solutions to help counteract things human development has caused,” Hwang said. “These kinds of things have been there for a long time and maybe they were acceptable back then but clearly not in present day as a practise, our standards of care for ecosystems today is higher.”

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Hwang speculates approval for the project would need to be obtained by the city, provincial and federal authorities and the Secwepemc First Nation.

“If we can get momentum and work with all the entities and start a process we’ll tackle these restoration projects one at a time. It’s good for our city to have the old river banks restored.”

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Morrison is on her way to study biology at the University of Victoria in the fall. She recently won a provincial Youth Climate Activism Award. In her submission she listed what actions she takes to help the environment, what the Westsyde Climate Activism Club she is part of does in the community, and detailed her Restoring our Riverbanks project.

“I’m honoured to have received it,” she said. “It’s a big accomplishment to have my work recognized and hopefully inspire others.”

Kamloops resident and environmental activist Parker Morrison graduated grade 12 at Westsyde Senior Secondary School.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Parker Morrison

She has been passionate about environmental protection for as long as she can remember and plans to pursue more conservation projects in the future.

The City’s utility services manager Greg Wightman did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. 

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