Image: Derrick Kramer / This trailer was towed into the Chilliwack River Valley roughly three months ago, and has now turned into an abandoned mess. A Chilliwack resident has emailed the FVRD board chair and B.C. government personnel asking for a solution to encampments like this.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Abandoned homeless camp

Trailer towed into Chilliwack River Valley earlier this year turns into an abandoned mess

Oct 17, 2024 | 10:08 AM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack cleanup volunteer Ross Aikenhead says a trailer that was towed into the Chilliwack River Valley and dropped off earlier this year has now turned into an abandoned homeless camp rife with junk and unsightly blight, prompting him to ask regional and provincial authorities to step in with some kind of solution.

Aikenhead, a longtime Chilliwack resident who contributes to cleanup efforts in the Fraser Valley in his spare time, says the abandoned trailer is located just off Chilliwack Lake Road on Ford Mountain Forest Service Road.

“I’m just a frustrated old guy trying to make a small difference,” Aikenhead said.

In an October 15 email sent by Aikenhead to Fraser Valley Regional District board chair Jason Lum and Ministry of Forests staff, Aikenhead says the trailer was dropped off by Wally’s Towing on Bench Forest Service Road on July 27, 2024. He says the owner of the trailer then hauled it up to the beginning of Ford Mountain FSR and had been staying in it up until recently.

Image: Derrick Kramer / Interior of an abandoned trailer just off Chilliwack Lake Road in the Chilliwack River Valley.

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“I was there yesterday (Sunday, October 14),” Aikenhead wrote in his email, “and it looked abandoned. A friend investigated it today and sent me the pictures. I’m attaching the GPS coordinates as well.”

Aikenhead says a truck associated with the homeless camp is now at the unlawful long-term encampment on Bench Forest Service Road across the river from Xàws Shơ:lha (Ford Mountain Correctional Center).

“I’m sure volunteers can arrange something but an official solution would be appreciated,” Aikenhead wrote in his email.

Image: Derrick Kramer / Garbage and junk inside an abandoned trailer in the Chilliwack River Valley.

Pictures supplied by Derrick Kramer show piles of junk, garbage and other personal effects stashed inside the trailer.

Fraser Valley Today has reached out to the possible owner of the trailer for comment.

The Chilliwack River Valley isn’t the only area in the Fraser Valley where unlawful homeless camps have been established at the detriment of the environment.

Recent volunteer-led cleanup initiatives in Hope have done wonders to transform unsightly encampments into cleaner, healthier venues. Volunteers utilized an excavator, loader, bobcat, tow truck and bins to clean up multiple homeless encampments stationed along Silver Skagit Road south of Hope earlier this month. Roughly 420 man hours went into the cleanup effort spearheaded by volunteers like Dusty Smith, coupled with contributions from 15-plus businesses from Hope and the surrounding area.