Students at Carihi High School in Campbell River removed some litter behind their school, making it a bit more green.
The forestry program students cleaned up the area that has creeks and wetlands nearby, according to Small Planet Energy co-founder Tara Jordan.
The land is normally used by the forestry class for practices like tree identification, mock timber cruises, traversing, map making, soil sampling and dangerous tree identification.
The items filled the entire dumpster at the school.
“They found several shopping carts, a bunch of construction debris but the large majority of what they found was bear garbage,” said Jordan.
“This forest is near a residential area, we all know that we’re supposed to keep our garbage away from bears but a lot of it has been dragged into the forest, torn apart by bears, and then left because you don’t know where garbage has been dragged to in the middle of the night.”
Jordan reminds you to be mindful of your trash during bear season to prevent these scenarios.
The students also entered the Small Planet Cleanup contest that runs until April 30. Jordan adds this year $4,000 in cash prizes is available for cleaning up trash in Campbell River and the Comox Valley Regional District.
Jordan adds more than 100 people have come to take part and some heartwarming experiences have been highlighted over the last few weeks.
“A girl and her family were out in the forest cleaning up garbage and they came across what looked like debris and she noticed a tiny little tree frog in the garbage,” said Jordan. “So she used a bunch of natural materials like bark and moss to build the frog a home.”
Jordan says this highlights the importance of taking care of the earth and ourselves.
Contest details can be found on the Small Planet Energy website. Jordan says she thanks the sponsors for supporting the contest once again this year.
