Riverbank cleanup kudos

Dear Editor,

While visiting Merritt a few days ago, I was very pleased to see a river cleanup along the banks of the Nicola River near downtown Merritt taking place.

In speaking to the group, I was told they were from the Rotary Club of Merritt and they do this from time to time in an attempt to keep this important Nicola Valley waterway clear of garbage and trash as much as possible, thus preventing it from being washed down river as well as impacting fish and wildlife habitat.

I know personally such volunteer work can and does make a difference to our communities as we have done similar cleanups since 2002 and have taken close to 95 metric tonnes off the riparian zone on Chilliwack’s Vedder River over this period of time with 43 cleanups. The last was BC Rivers Day (World Rivers Day) where we had 300 plus volunteers involved.

You can read about our work at cleanrivers.ca.

BC Rivers Day actually first started in the Thompson region in September of 1980.

Mark Angelo, an internationally celebrated river conservationist, organized a major cleanup of the Thompson River that year and this initial cleanup is now celebrated in 100 countries worldwide.

I would like to once again commend the Rotary club for their recent work and hope maybe Merritt will organize and hold, in Merritt, a BC Rivers Day event in 2015. More information on BCRD can be found online at http://orcbc.ca/pro_bcriversday.htm.

Chris Gadsden

Chilliwack