A Great Year for Our Environment Committee!
by Robin Thompson, Environment Director
2023 was a big year for the CBMCA Environment Committee, beginning with a hugely successful river and pathway cleanup and party in May and ending with September’s Swap! Drop! Donate! event. The months between were filled with gardens, new trees, and building relationships with some great organizations.
Spring
It’s Your Mission Annual River and Pathway Cleanup and Party
On May 7, we partnered with Erlton and Rideau-Roxboro to clean the paths and banks along the Elbow River flowing through our three communities (from Macleod Trail to the 25 Avenue Bridge). We spent the winter petitioning the City for that expanded river coverage and added the Erlton/Roxboro escarpment and park. As always, the MNP Centre co-sponsored the event and this year we were happy to welcome Telus as well.
More than 130 volunteers rolled up their sleeves and filled so many garbage bags that we lost count. In the afternoon we hosted a free, family barbecue (feeding 150 people in 30 minutes!), featuring entertainment from the Calysto Steel Drum band, buskers, stilt walkers, and hula hoop dancers.
Summer
Educational Pollinator Garden
Located on the north side of the community centre/Montessori school was an unsightly section of overgrown bushes and weedy trees. This summer we cleared all that brush, creating two enormous debris piles that the City kindly hauled away, and made the space ready to plant next spring with heritage perennials, native plants, and water sources for insects and birds.
More Trees!
We planted four new fruit trees: two north of Cliff Bungalow community garden and two south of the playground. Eventually these will be lovely to sit under while watching the kids play. Watch for more fruit trees next summer.
Dogs, Lots and Lots of Dogs!
You may know that there have been ongoing issues with off-leash dogs in the field between 2201 and the former Holy Angels school on Cliff Street. This is a playing field for a school, not an off-leash park, and we’ve sought to educate dog owners about Calgary’s leash laws for the last couple years. There’s new signage now, with proper maps of where dogs can and cannot be off-leash, and we have already seen a reduction in dog-related incidents. Now, if people would just pick up the poop their dogs leave on the escarpment!
Watch our social media in the spring for a survey of your views on the existing off-leash area.
Fall
Swap! Drop! Donate! Community Cleanup
On September 24 we partnered with Erlton and Rideau-Roxboro to host an expanded event at the Western Canada high school parking lot. Building on the success of 2022, when we made the event about downsizing and not just sending junk to the landfill, we filled the big Women In Need truck and collected more than 950 kg of electronics for recycling. The six ‘swap’ tables were busy all day.
Community Gardens
Despite the challenges of a very dry summer, our two community gardens — managed by Georgina Jameson (Mission) and Natasha Kuzmak (Cliff Bungalow) — had a terrific year. We have more than 100 gardeners who grow flowers and vegetables, not just for themselves but for the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank. One Mission gardener even grew kiwis and artichokes.
Sponsorships
Bird Friendly Calgary
In 2021, BFC led the effort to make Calgary one of Canada’s first certified Nature Canada Bird Friendly Cities. In 2023, our city was recertified and upgraded from entry to intermediate level. Certification aims to highlight and mitigate threats contributing to the loss of an estimated three billion birds on the landscape over the last 50 years. CBMCA is an active member of the planning team.
City Nature Challenge
This year, we co-sponsored the annual Calgary City Nature Challenge (April 26 to May 1), where citizen scientists competed with 460 other cities to document the flora and fauna in their neighbourhoods. Watch for it again this spring.
Calgary Bike Swap
We supported this free event and hope to host it in Cliff Bungalow-Mission in 2024.
Plans for 2024
We have so many ideas for 2024 and are busy planning and writing grant applications for:
an urban orchard in Cliff Bungalow (project with Calgary Parks);
• free or discounted lilac bushes for gardeners in Cliff Bungalow-Mission
• providing landscaping education for helping residents improve their streetscapes
• working with businesses to improve their landscaping on 4 Street
• continuing to be proactive regarding graffiti, trash, and other issues
If you would like to be part of the Environment Committee, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at [email protected]!
Click here to the Cliff Bungalow Community News home page for the latest Cliff Bungalow community updates.
Click here to the Mission Community News home page for the latest Mission community updates.
