Image: Contributed / Chilliwack resident and cleanup volunteer Ross Aikenhead says two more homeless camps have been discovered in the past week in the Chilliwack River Valley, adding to an already extensive list of encampments that are harming the environment. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Homeless encampments

More homeless camps found abandoned in Chilliwack River Valley

Dec 4, 2024 | 8:49 AM

CHILLIWACK — When it comes to encampments in and around Chilliwack, nothing surprises Chilliwack cleanup volunteer Ross Aikenhead anymore, especially after seven years of calling into a provincial hotline that supposedly deals with environmental polluters got him nowhere.

That level of frustration around addressing homeless camps, or lack thereof, was exacerbated this past week after the discovery of two more homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley.

Aikenhead tells Fraser Valley Today one homeless camp was located on Bench Forest Service Road about 1.5 kilometres off Chilliwack Lake Road. It contains an RV, piles of wood, multiple jerry cans, chairs, junk, a generator, multiple tupperware containers and assorted junk.

Image: Contributed / A homeless camp on Bench Forest Service Road, located about 1.5 kilometres off Chilliwack Lake Road.

Aikenhead believes the camp is abandoned and a man named Mikey is responsible the encampment. He provided a picture to Fraser Valley Today showing the name “Mikey” on the side of what resembles a GMC or Chevrolet-style SUV at the camp. Aikenhead described the amount of encampment debris as “typical.”

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When asked whether the RAPP (Report All Poachers and Polluters) hotline results in any kind of enforcement against environmental eyesores like these backcountry messes, Aikenhead wasn’t optimistic.

“There is no enforcement at all,” he said. “I reported things like that for 7 years and absolutely nothing was done about any of it so I don’t bother anymore.”

The lack of provincial enforcement means volunteers or members of the Chilliwack-Vedder River Cleanup Society might be tasked with remediating the abandoned camps because they can mobilize faster and often have connections to individuals with excavators and other heavy equipment.

A second homeless camp was recently located at the start of Chipmunk Creek Forest Service Road.

Image: Contributed / An abandoned homeless camp at the start of Chipmunk Creek Forest Service in the Chilliwack River Valley.

There is an abundance of junk, debris and household effects located inside an older trailer.

Image: Contributed / Interior contents of Chipmunk Creek FSR homeless camp.

At last count, Aikenhead estimates there are 22 recreational vehicles, one tent and five vehicles stationed in the Chilliwack River Valley. This doesn’t include the numerous camps in the vicinity of the On The Way Store on Chilliwack Lake Road.

In November, Aikenhead told Fraser Valley Today about an abandoned motorhome that was found burned on Middle Creek Forest Service Road (GPS coordinates 49.09124, -121.61418). He said the motorhome wasn’t insured, and its vehicle identification number was burned off. It hasn’t been reported to the RCMP.

Image: Contributed / A burned motorhome on Middle Creek Forest Service Road in the Chilliwack River Valley.

“It wasn’t stolen, someone was living in it for months,” Aikenhead said.