Fuchsia Dragon | [email protected]
Gloves on, pickers out, bags full of garbage - these Jasperites are cleaning up the park.
Sean Prockter, owner of Jasper Hikes and Tours, has spearheaded a wave of informal cleanups around Jasper. He is a regular volunteer for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and organizes twice yearly litter-picking days up through his business.
This year, like usual, Prockter started picking up litter once the snow started to melt, revealing how much was there.
鈥淥ur business is shut down and I have all this extra time, we don鈥檛 need to do this biannual cleanup we can just do it more frequently,鈥� said Prockter.
鈥淭here are usually people hired to do this but no one is able to do that now so it鈥檚 almost imperative for us to volunteer our time.鈥�
So far, guides have cleared popular locations like Maligne Canyon, Pyramid Lake and Island and the Transfer Station (twice), but the project is an ongoing effort.
鈥淭he whole reason to clean up stems from a desire to give back to our home and our place of work,鈥� said Prockter.
鈥淢aligne Canyon we guide every day in the summer and winter and once we do a cleanup at the canyon, we come back and can see the difference before and after.鈥�
Prockter said most of the trash is 鈥渦nintentional litter鈥� like small candy wrappers or tissues that fall out of people鈥檚 pockets, and cigarette butts - especially by benches.
And at the Transfer Station, ravens ripping into garbage for bones, meat scraps and single-use peanut butter packets make a big mess.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 compost that stuff and it鈥檚 really delicious to a raven,鈥� said Prockter.
鈥淣ot a lot of people choose to litter but everybody unintentionally drops something and doesn鈥檛 realize.鈥�
At the informal litter picks, volunteers are taking their own gloves, litter picks, buckets and garbage bags.
The group picks started with guides and their significant others, but since their efforts have been posted online Prockter has been inundated with messages of support.
鈥淚t鈥檚 starting to evolve to just anyone who is caring,鈥� said Prockter.
鈥淚 have started to notice people walking with garbage bags in their hands while walking their dog - it just takes 30 seconds to take a bag before you leave the house.鈥�
And the cleaner-uppers have been rewarded for their efforts too. At their last pick, a guiding client donated a $50 Coco鈥檚 Cafe voucher for coffees for the volunteers, and Avalanche Spirits has donated beers for the next cleanup.
