'What lies behind the trees': Okanagan Forest Task Force documentary debuts Wednesday 

What lies behind the trees

With the 10th anniversary of the Okanagan Forest Task Force approaching, this volunteer-run backcountry clean up team will be featured in a documentary that makes its debut on YouTube Wednesday evening.

The documentary was produced by Eli Coburn of Coburn Media.

“Our hope in doing this is just to shed light on what is actually happening in the backcountry. Like I say in the documentary, a lot of people sit in an office and they look outside and see the beautiful hills around us, and don’t realize what’s actually going on,” said OFTF founder Kane Blake.

“Whether it’s encampments, illegal dumping, all kinds of stuff, you know. And it’s disheartening and disgusting.

“A lot of this pollution ends up in our waterways, our drinking water. It’s affecting people and wildlife."

Over the years, partners have come on board to help OFTF deal with the tons of debris found in our forests. Blake stopped by ABC Recycling this week to pick up a donation cheque for $12,075.

“We have a donate-at-the-gate program that all of our locations have. Basically, it’s a bin at our scale where the customer doesn’t necessarily want the money for that material they’re bringing in. It goes in the bin, we weigh it up and we track it, and that’s where this money came from,” said Mike Jenkins, general manager of ABC Recycling in Kelowna.

Support for OFTF is growing, not just locally. Blake said the documentary will reveal a partnership with the federal, provincial and municipal governments for an upcoming major cleanup project.

Thanks to the OFTF app, more people are reporting dump sites in the wilderness. Unfortunately, Blake doubts there will come a day when the group’s work is fully done.

“There’s always going to be somebody who thinks it's cheaper or easier to go into the backcountry and dump garbage, but with public awareness we can at least make a dent in it, and make people think twice before they do it,” he said.

Watch What Lies Behind the Trees on the Okanagan Forest Task Force YouTube channel or through its website.