WESTLOCK – Westlock RCMP, in conjunction with the Town of Westlock and Westlock County peace officers, spent the weekend patrolling the infamous sand/gravel pits in the Echo Lake area, once dubbed ‘a war zone’, and handed out a pair of tickets, plus a handful of warnings.
Westlock RCMP Staff Sgt. Al Baird said the joint effort, which saw numerous weekend patrols in the south-eastern portion of the county, included RCMP Cpl. Dennis Properzi, county peace officer Darcy DeVos and town peace officer Randy Burgess. In total, Baird said they checked 17 quads, two side-by-sides, two motorcycles and one dune buggy and handed out two tickets for improper documentation, while nine people were spoken to while unloading their ATVs, didn’t have proper documentation and sent home. Baird said no one was found shooting at the site, which has long been a complaint of area residents and has, in past years, been blamed for sparking wildfires — the site is regularly littered with all forms of trash, including old appliances and propane tanks, plus thousands of spent shell casings.
“All the people who live in the area were contacted beforehand to let them know we’d be there. It was good, it showed that there are responsible people using the area who want to have fun, but they also need have the proper insurance and registration on those vehicles,” Baird said.
“But this long weekend is just the start of the patrols. We’re going to continue to do these joint efforts throughout the summer. Hopefully by going out there and through a combination of education and enforcement the area will be better off.”
On April 6, county crews were called to the area to douse a 10-acre wildfire which officials say was caused by an abandoned wildfire, while on April 24 residents organized a media event at the site to bring attention to the problem.
Since April the county has issued varying levels of fire bans/restrictions — the most recent May 19 bans exploding targets and tracer rounds, backcountry wood fires on public and private lands and fireworks. Off-highway vehicles are allowed so long as they’re equipped with an exhaust muffler that complies with current Traffic Safety Act regulations.
Enforcement appreciated
Area resident Bevin McNelly, who’s long campaigned for solutions and has raised the matter with local and provincial officials over the years, applauded the county for shutting down the area this past spring following the fire. He was also pleased to hear about the weekend enforcement blitz, but said that effort needs to be ongoing, noting target shooting at the site should be banned before someone is either seriously injured or killed.
“Coming out here one weekend is great, but it’s not going to solve the problem long term so I hope progress can continue to be made. I give the county kudos for putting the fire ban on this spring and basically shutting the area down as that did a world of good. During the dry spell there were no issues,” said McNelly in a May 28 interview.
“All along I’ve said to shut the area down in the spring while it’s dry so the neighbourhood out here doesn’t have to worry about a fire every day. People are so worried here every spring because these guys come out here and they shoot and they quad and start bonfires and they just leave them burning and don’t put them out when they leave.
“As far as I’m concerned, and I’ve said it all along, the quadders and the bikers, have at it. They need somewhere to go and all that area is good for is that. But I still want to see the shooting shut down. When you’ve got quadders and people on horseback and people shooting, someone is going to get hurt … someone is going to get shot.”
Working together
Echo Lake was also a topic for discussion at Westlock County’s May 25 meeting, with reeve Jared Stitsen saying enforcement efforts need to continue.
“I know we get a lot of feedback and there’s been a lot of phone calls, e-mails. Just know that all the staff is doing to mitigate this has been awesome. I have myself driven out there probably three or four times now on the weekends to see what’s happening, and it has been quiet out there,” said Stitsen.
“You can see when we come together with a plan, we just get it off the ground. The attention that the media brought to it just opens people’s eyes to what’s happening out there and hopefully we can deter this stuff from happening in the future. Keep up with it, but never let our guard down because as soon as we do, they’ll be back again.”
Baird said he’s personally satisfied to be able to bring some order to the area and noted that the addition of a new side-by-side to their fleet allows them to get on the trails and into the backcountry.
“The county is getting complaints and we’re also getting complaints, so we talk to each other quite a bit and we worked on a way to tackle this. This is a joint effort between us and our municipal partners, our county partners. We want citizens to feel safe and know that they’re being heard and listened to,” Baird said.
“When I first got here we didn’t have a side-by-side or an ATV and the nearest one was about an hour-and-a-half away and people wanted us to get back there and make patrols. We put together a business case to get a side-by-side and we took delivery of it in December of last year. And I understand the peace officers have taken their ATV courses and had access to ATVs, so this past weekend was just the culmination of all of those efforts.”
Going forward Baird implored the community to continue calling in with complaints which help inform their patrol plans. He noted that they also plan on bringing in the RCMP’s regional boat for patrols on area lakes this summer.
“If we get a cluster of calls about ATVers in an area, well then we know where to head to. We make patrols all over, but it helps when people call in and tell us what they’re experiencing,” said Baird.
