CALGARY — Chestermere, Alberta is one of the most recent sites where people have been caught dumping garbage illegally onto private farmland.In a Facebook post on Thursday, Shelby Opheim presented photos of a group of men she claimed were "illegally dumping garbage" on her parents' farmland near Chestermere.She claimed she had reported the incident to the RCMP.Opheim shared extensive pictures of the three men dumping what appeared to be mulch or wood pieces onto the property, with one man wearing a high-visibility safety vest, gloves, and safety goggles suggesting they were some type of outdoor workers..She also captured their trucks, stating, "Dumping your garbage on someone else’s property is completely unacceptable. Our farmers and rural landowners shouldn’t have to clean up someone else’s mess."On Friday, Opheim claimed the men were employees of a landscaping company, Ocean Tree Farm Care.The Western Standard has since reached out to the organization, but has not hear back for comment by the time of publication.A spokesperson for the RCMP told the Western Standard the incident most likely occurred in the Rocky View area. .This is one of many cases of illegal dumping being reported on recently, including one reported on Monday, of a farmer north of Calgary having his private land also used as a dumping ground.Farmer Mitchell Konschuk even captured a video of people dumping garbage on his property in broad daylight, as reported by CBC News.In the clip, people empty a U-Haul truck filled with garbage onto his land, which occurred back in July.Konschuk claims the dumping is a "daily problem" that is getting worse each year..Since his farmland falls within Calgary's city limits, Konschuk is supposed to call the city and file a report about the dumping.The fines for being caught dumping can be as high as $10,000 in Calgary, and offenders may be ordered to clean up the trash they dumped.However, in Konschuk's case, he says he is left to clean up the trash and pay the dumping fees.Similarly another farmer, Larry Williams, whose farm is just outside of Calgary, has been experiencing the same illegal dumping on his property.."I don't know if the dump fees are too much or what it is — it's pretty common to have dump trailers full of pallets of sod or demolition drywall stuff dumped in your gateways or even in the fields," he stated."It's a big pain and we're the ones that have to clean it up." Both farmers hope the city will crack down on the illegal dumping with stricter enforcement.
