A group of Peachland, B.C., volunteers are cleaning up trash and refuse left behind at an illegal campsite by a couple of mail thieves living in a stolen RV.
In December 2017, the RCMP arrested Julian Hoekstra and Kristina Anderson at the site in a forested area near Peachland.
The couple were living in a $37,000 stolen RV in a clearing next to Trepanier Creek, not far from the Okanagan Connector.
When police officers arrived they found it filled with stolen property, stolen mail, pre-paid gift cards and stolen credit cards.
"The motorhome, when I went into it, was just absolutely filthy and just full of stolen items and clothing," said Peachland resident Keith Nixon who lives nearby and had visited the site when the couple moved there in July 2017.
"I met them on two or three occasions and let them know that there were thefts in the area and lots of things going on and that we weren't happy about them here," he said.
"Hoestra promised me, 'Don't worry, we'll be out of here. This is just temporary. We're on the move.' He wasn't on the move at all."
After the arrest the RCMP removed the RV and Hoestra and Anderson were convicted of the crimes and other outstanding charges related to mail theft.
A large amount of refuse, including everything from car parts to chemical bottles, dozens of items of clothing and a broken shed, was left behind in the forest.
"It just looks like a filthy mess," said Nixon.
District pitches in
Since then Nixon has been trying to get the site, which is located on crown land, cleaned up.
The Regional District of the Central Okanagan is providing clean up materials and has arranged for a dumpster to be delivered to the site.
There were bottles of chemicals and about two dozen of propane tanks left in and around the clearing said Rae Stewart, Waste Reduction Facilitator with the regional district, who helped arrange for a hazardous waste collection company to remove the most dangerous material from the area.
"It's pretty clear that there was some sort of drug operation going on there," Steward said.
"There was a number of bottles of various acids and some aerosols and they had to do some air monitoring. There were a lot of propane tanks and lots that were just under the underbrush."
On Saturday Nixon and other local volunteers will spend the day removing the rest of the refuse in order to return the area to its natural state.
"It'll be great," Nixon said.
"This is in our backyard and it needs to get cleaned up."