Dear editor,

鈥淚f the Comox Valley is the Recreational Capital of Canada, why do your citizens dump their garbage in outdoor recreation areas?鈥�

Maybe because we have a few Neanderthals living here along with the dinosaur bones discovered in our valley.

That was the only explanation I could give to visitors attending a recent public event at the Courtenay and District Fish and Game Protective Association. About 175 people attended the event from all over Vancouver Island and elsewhere.

A few weeks prior we hosted delegates from Vancouver Island Region 1 of the British Columbia Wildlife Federation and they got an unsightly eyeful as well.

They were able to view what has been purposely dumped along Colake Road and Bevan Road on the way out to the Fish and Game headquarters at Comox Lake.

It is downright disgusting! Even people with lawn and garden waste are not even ensuring they deposit far off the road; it is encroaching on the road in some places.

I encourage people to take a drive out and see what some of your possible neighbours are doing to your outdoors. Maybe you will even recognize a couch, truck canopy or boat!

As well as the summer Outdoor Recreation Show, BC Family Fishing Weekend, Region 1 Kids Camp, and Showdown in the Valley events, Courtenay and District Fish & Game will host delegates from all over the province for the British Columbia Wildlife Federation AGM and fundraiser in 2012, and I cringe at what scenic sights they will get of the Comox Valley.

Added to the carnage is people continually partying (this past weekend as well) on the Comox Lake Bluffs Ecological Reserve next to Fish and Game property on Comox Lake. Trees are cut, illegal fires lit, beer bottles broke and signs advising of private property are destroyed.

When fires are burning and people are drunk and they just don鈥檛 give a damn, the potential for a rampant forest fire is imminent.

Do as Fish and Game members try to do; slow down and observe vehicles loaded with garbage that are loitering on side roads and note their licence plate numbers. If they feel you are watching them, they just might be forced to carry on to the dump.

Someone will eventually clean up the mess; but it is the responsibility of Comox Valley citizens to make sure it does not continually happen.

Gail Eggiman,

Comox Valley

Editor's note: Gail Eggiman is a Courtenay and District Fish and Game member.