Image: Supplied / This homeless camp (pictured) in the Chilliwack River Valley could be dismantled this week, just days after a homeless camp occupied by three people near Thurston Meadows was demolished and removed. A contractor working for the provincial government has been given the green light to remove the contents of this abandoned homeless camp, located about two kilometres from Riverside Campground. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack River Valley homeless camp

Another Chilliwack River Valley homeless camp slated for demolition, removal

Jan 10, 2024 | 9:12 AM

CHILLIWACK — Another homeless camp in the Chilliwack River Valley will be dismantled soon, just days after a homeless camp occupied by three people near Thurston Meadows was demolished and removed.

According to Chilliwack resident and cleanup volunteer Ross Aikenhead, an abandoned homeless camp not far from Riverside Campground is scheduled to be demolished soon by Wayne Furness of F.H. Forestry, a private contractor, but not Thursday, January 11 as might have been planned.

Furness was involved in a 2-day cleanup effort that resulted in an occupied encampment near Thurston Meadows being dismantled. Furness operated an excavator that loaded hundreds of pounds of debris and other items into a yellow garbage bin. The three occupants of the camp have reportedly left.

The dirt road leading up to the former homeless camp near Thurston Meadows has since been dug up, thereby preventing any vehicles or trailers from accessing it for the purpose of setting up another homeless camp.

Image: Supplied / The dirt road leading to a former homeless camp near Thurston Meadows has since been dug up so that trucks and trailers can’t access it for the purpose of setting up another homeless camp.

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As for the next camp cleanup, this abandoned camp is located about two kilometres east of Riverside Campground. It’s an abandoned camp consisting of a trailer and a tarp and possibly other belongings. It’s nowhere near as big as the homeless camp near Thurston Meadows, but once it’s been removed, it’s one fewer homeless camp in the Chilliwack River Valley that never had permission to be there in the first place.

Image: Supplied / Remnants of an abandoned homeless camp east of Riverside Campground in the Chilliwack River Valley. It’s slated to be demolished as well.

About 1.5 kilometres west of this abandoned homeless camp is an occupied camp where a veteran has lived for approximately seven years, Aikenhead says.

While the camp cleanup near Thurston Meadows was a step in the right direction towards restoring the pristine beauty of the Chilliwack River Valley, a trailer belonging to a former occupant of the camp was towed to the dirt road leading to Chipmunk Caves, just north of Chilliwack Lake Road. Aikenhead said the trailer was towed by its female owner Tuesday morning, January 10.

Image: Supplied / This trailer has been relocated from the former homeless camp near Thurston Meadows to a dirt path leading to Chipmunk Caves, just north of Chilliwack Lake Road.

Chipmunk Caves a popular site frequented by visitors and locals alike for its limestone caves, the rushing river that runs adjacent to the caves, and the leisurely hike leading up to it.

As of Thursday morning (Jan. 11), there are now 12 homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley, of which two are abandoned, according to detailed GPS coordinates and descriptions provided by Aikenhead.