After 37,000 pounds of trash and metal illegally dumped along Postill Lake Road in the Kelowna area was removed by volunteers with the Okanagan Forest Task Force, wildlife began returning, including this moose seen in an undated photo.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Okanagan Forest Task Force
June 18, 2020 - 9:03 AM
After removing more than 37,000 pounds of trash and metal that had been illegally dumped along Postill Lake Road in the Kelowna area, the organizer of a forest cleanup group was notified that wildlife had returned to the area.
Kane Blake the president of Okanagan Forest Task Force, was sent photos of a moose taken from Nathan Harmel, another local avid outdoorsman, according to an Okanagan Forest Task Force media release.
"This is the location where multiple vehicles were torched and dumped almost one month ago," Blake said in the release.
The clean up efforts that day removed a shocking 29,100 lbs. of scrap metal and 8,311 lbs. of illegally dumped garbage. That's a total of 37,411 lbs., making the dump site one of the group's biggest clean ups.
READ MORE: Okanagan forest cleanup crew pulls 29,100 pounds of illegally dumped metal from the bush
"Many of the vehicles had been there for a year or more slowly getting more destroyed. The people doing this could care less about the environment or the effects that it could have," Blake said. "It is so amazing to see wildlife back in that area and it so clean for them. Without all the amazing volunteers this wouldn't have even been possible."
This is what the area along Postill lake Road near Kelowna looked like before volunteers with the Okanagan Forest Task Force cleaned it up.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Okanagan Forest Task Force
"(Because) of all the hard work from many volunteers this moose is no longer walking through garbage and burnt vehicles to get to drinking water," he said.
The Okanagan Forest Task Force has been working on bringing awareness to illegal dumping and the impacts it has on wildlife and forests. Since 2016, the group has removed more than 233,000 lbs. of illegally dumped garbage and metal.
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