Giving
Thanks in Edgemont
Thanksgiving
and the whole month of October bring the culmination of another growing season
as we embark into the longer nights and the promise of dramatic change in our
community’s landscape and weather affecting our day to day lives. Yes, we bid
farewell to our intense display of flowers, but our iconic winter displays are
ready to jump into our scenery once again, adding warmth to our colder days.
Your
ELM Program made efforts this year to take care of some ageing landscape
features and rejuvenate some shrub beds. Pruning was done on our median shrubs,
and we are always identifying areas for improvements for next year.
We
saw some savings with irrigation this year. The wet, early summer caused the
irrigation systems to automatically throttle back on water delivery quantities,
and the scheduled water restrictions this fall to bring the Bearspaw water main
into reality shortened the irrigation eligibility season.
Preparations
are well underway for 2027 summer and winter ELM program deliveries and displays,
and to continuously improve the delivery of the ELM program behind the scenes
to ensure good end results. New City of Calgary ELM policy and initiative
changes are in development and provide an ever-solidifying foundation for the
program for decades to come.
One
new initiative will be to reduce water usage 30% by 2030. ELM programs are
beginning to find new and proven ways to adapt while continuing to deliver the
epic community-led landscape enhancements that are the program’s fundamental purpose.
The prospect of water savings unfortunately does not necessarily translate into
cost savings, as the price we all pay for water will likely increase as Bow
Valley water users increase in numbers while our small headwater sources
continue to decrease in volume and reliability. Reducing water usage is
therefore not an optional undertaking if we wish to have a sustainable program
which keeps the same level of beauty and displays throughout. We are looking
forward to this responsible challenge!
Thanksgiving.
Halloween. Perhaps you will have an opportunity to walk through our many parks
and pathways on a moonlit October night, kicking and shuffling your feet
through layers of fallen leaves. This month has so much to offer in Edgemont! Our
seemingly ever-present chinook arch is back, keeping us company as we look
forward to the cumulus clouds of spring and summer to return signaling another
growing season is upon Edgemont.
-ELM
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