COCHRANE— A environmental oasis located on private property adjacent to Jumpingpound Creek has RCMP and landowners imploring the public to resist trespassing in the area.
The popular Jumpingpound Creek gem sits nestled between Toki Road to the south and a nature conservancy to the north, both of which are private property, said Cochrane RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff.
Over the years Cochrane RCMP has been working proactively to keep trespassers off of the land.
“Over the years these homeowners have dealt with a lot of troubles down this area with people drinking, a lot of garbage, graffiti, and damaging the river,” Savinkoff said. “Every year we try to proactively raise awareness to try and just dissuade people from coming down here.”
Cochrane RCMP will conduct enforcement in the area and in the past, this has included writing $287 petty trespassing tickets. Savinkoff said they are looking to do so again if needed and officers will be patrolling the area periodically to reinforce that the area is private property.
A major concern has been people engaging in cliff jumping into the creek, Savinkoff said and the danger people can face if they are injured.
Last summer a young person was injured while cliff jumping and broke their leg. To remove them from the area safely a helicopter was needed.
“It is a dangerous situation with fluctuating water levels. Nobody can really be guaranteed how deep it is when they are cliff jumping,” Savinkoff said.
He added people have also been known to create creekside fire pits. He noted that if a fire was sparked in the area it would be extremely difficult to access for first responders to fight the fire in the valley.
At the end of the day though, Savinloff said, it comes down to an issue of respecting the homeowners that own the property.
An aggravating factor this year has been graffiti spray-painted onto rocks in the area in general that has poured fuel on to an already inflamed situation, Savinkoff said.
He added painting graffiti on private property is a mischief charge under the criminal code and RCMP can charge people criminally for the act.
Savinkoff said there are two other areas of concern when it comes to trespassing that the RCMP deal with on a routine basis— The Seebe Dam that recently saw an air rescue take place and people using private land in the Bearspaw-Springbank area to access the Bow River.
Seebe Dam sees cliff divers and unfortunately, there have been several drownings.
“It’s a difficult area to access if there needs to be a rescue,” Savinkoff said.
Toki Road resident Val Irvine said at times it feels like she is being forced to police the area around her home near Jumpingpound creek due to the issues that are arising.
On a hot summer day, there can be anywhere from five to 15 people down at the creek.
It is challenging because people are often loud, drinking alcohol and disrespecting the land by leaving garbage.
“There are no washrooms down there so they are obviously using the area for their latrines,” Irvine said.
Broken bottles have been a major issue in Jumpingpound Creek, Irvine said, explaining that two-years-ago one seriously injured her dog Enzo.
“There was broken glass in the water, we didn’t realize, and he had a very severe cut on his paw from stepping on the broken glass,” Irvine said.
She added that her family spends time trying to keep the area clean, especially from broken glass, so it can be kept pristine and the habitat left unaffected.
“This is a wildlife corridor and a nature conservancy so we have a lot of kinds of wildlife,” Irvine said. “They disturb them when they’re there so it upsets the whole ecosystem.”
The cliff jumping is especially concerning, she added, because she worries about people injuring themselves.
Irvine said the 2013 flood transformed the area and made it easier to access causing it to grow in popularity because it created deeper pools of water.
“A lot of the times in the past, they thought it was private and no one could see them. Even now I think that’s the case they think they’re hidden away and no one can see them so when we do see them they're always shocked and surprised,” Irvine said.
