To the Editor,

This past weekend I was up in the hills after registering  with the gate guard and following the rules to access the lake I wanted to fish.

After reaching the lake, I found a group of people who were camping on the far side of the lake.

For almost an hour while they were breaking camp, they had their ATVs, trail bikes with no mufflers and trucks all running and revving. When they finally left and it was quiet again, I happened to look over at where they were camping and saw smoke wafting up from a fire they left to smoulder out on its own.

After 10 trips from the lake with the bailing bucket of water to the fire they left on the ground (not in a pit or even ringed by stones), the logs were cooled down enough that there wasn’t any chance of a forest fire.

On top of this, they left what would amount to three or four large garbage bags of garbage, cans, gun shells and broken glass.

After inquiring with the gate guards on our way out, they informed us that the campers had not checked in at the gate and had found a back way to the lake.

Acts like this are prime examples of why TimberWest closes the backcountry to us campers, fishermen and ATVers.

If you want to be idiots in the backcountry, buy your own chunk of land and go hard.

But if it’s not yours and you’re trespassing to begin with, then respect the land, keep it clean and usable for other people and do it safely.

Mark Fisherman

Duncan