Dave Rondeau presents medals to two young volunteers. (Submitted photo)

By Nigel Maxwell

Messy woods

Nisbet forest cleanup crew calls on city to waive landfill fees

Nov 19, 2025 | 12:10 PM

A group of passionate volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to clean up a section of the Nisbet Forest northwest of Prince Albert have launched an online fundraiser to help pay for the expensive dumping fees. But they are also calling on the city to waive their fee all together.

As a result of this year’s work, landfill fees amounted to about $600. Greenland Waste donated a large bin.

“Despite the fact that much of this garbage can be traced back to the city, Crutwell Métis Local 66 will now be responsible for paying the full landfill fees, expected to be about $600, in addition to the countless hours of volunteer time, resources, and hard sweaty labour already contributed by their members,” a statement by the group read. Going forward they have signalled plans to establish a small “Illegal Dumping Awareness and Reporting Fund.”

“Any excess funds raised will go toward this initiative and to support next year’s cleanup — a volunteer effort that has been proudly ongoing for decades.”

(Submitted/ Dave Rondeau)

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Wendy Wilson moved to Crutwell four years ago, and along with her husband and grandchildren, has been assisting with the clean up effort.

“You’ll find box springs and mattresses and fridges and stoves and microwaves,” she said. “People that don’t want to pay to go and use the landfills, just seem to drive down the side roads and drop off things in the bush.”

Wendy and her husband love to ride their quads and snowmobiles and while venturing out will often bring along some garbage bags. She said it’s amazing what they will find, and cited an abundance of toilet bowls.

“Two years ago seemed to be the toilet change for everybody’s homes,” she said.

Wilson noted the Rural Municipality of Shellbrook’s graders have attempted to close off some of the side roads, to make it more difficult for trucks. And in some cases neighbours have chased down some of the offenders and forced them to clean up the garbage they were seen tossing away.

(Submitted photo)

(Submitted photo)

Crystal McClean is a teacher at Eagle’s Nest Youth Outreach and as part of their land based learning had the Indigenous youth help with the clean-up effort.

“It’s just empowering them to do better and be better and to show people we can make a difference.”

McLean added it’s also good for the youth to see the before and the after.

“They see before when it’s full of this garbage and they see the effects of their hard work and they see how beautiful it is after all the garbage has been cleaned up.”

Response from the city

Parks and Open Spaces Manager Tim Yeaman provided a statement to paNOW and confirmed one of the organizers contacted the city’s Sanitation Manager by phone to ask whether there was a possibility for dump fees to be waived. Following that inquiry, Yeaman said some some preliminary research was done, and it was communicated back that administration does not have the authority to waive fees for this type of request.

“It is also important to note that the clean-up area is located in Crutwell, within the RM of Shellbrook and the Nisbet Forest. To our knowledge, this work is not occurring within city limits.”

Yeaman added no formal request has ever been submitted to either the mayor’s office or the city manager’s office regarding a waiver of dump fees. Should the organization wish to pursue this, they would need to submit a formal request through the appropriate channels.

Yeaman also commented on the assumption on the group’s GoFundMe page, that the garbage can be traced back to the city.

“This is concerning, as no evidence or formal communication has been provided to substantiate that claim. Some caution is advisable in responding to that statement.”

Yeaman said the city is certainly willing to have a conversation with the group, provided that all inquiries are directed through the proper channels—specifically, the city manager’s or mayor’s office.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @@nigelmaxwell