Go Green a tribute to Swift Current; improvement projects ongoing
An important focus of the work done at different sites during this year's Go Green was to beautify areas in preparation for the Western Canada Summer Games, which will take place in Swift Current in August 2019.
“The City has done an outstanding job over the past number of years of really improving the sites,” Moberg said. “With the Western Canada Summer Games coming up next summer, they've used this year and last year to try and make some improvements in areas that would be beneficial for that project and the things we're doing are meaningful. You see the results and you can see them for years beyond. I think that's important from a volunteer perspective. We have a lot of people who are involved now and they are there for that reason that they can be part of something that you can say someday I was part of that.”
The work done at two site locations will have direct benefits for the efforts of the Swift Current Creek Watershed Stewards (SCCWS) to enhance water quality and stream health within the watershed.
Volunteers helped to plant indigenous plants for a rain garden project on a site along South Service Road East, next to the Regier Honda dealership. This project received federal grant funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The vegetation planted in a culvert will help to slow down stormwater before it enters the creek, which will reduce erosion and sedimentation.
“We have in the past found some issues with water quality just downstream from where that culvert is and that's the impetus why this project started,” SCCWS Executive Director Kevin Steinley said. “It definitely will work to improve water quality and improve it for downstream users.”
This project will have a number of other benefits. Reducing the flow of the water in the culvert might help to recharge the aquifer due to water soaking into the soil, the plants will filter out pollutants in the water, and the beautification of the site will be a benefit when the City extends the walkway along this part of the creek.
Another site next to Connaught Drive along the creek was revegetated with native trees and shrubs. This project received federal funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The volunteers at the site included staff from environmental consultants Matrix Solutions and JAG Landscaping.
Common burdock, an invasive weed species that is starting to show up in greater numbers in the watershed, was cleared from the creek bank. It will therefore avoid the spread of seed down the creek.
“It improves the site and it improves the look, especially on the walkway,” he said. “Eventually the trees will provide shade on the creek and provide an area for fish to be, especially on really hot days, because they prefer cooler water.”
The SCCWS has been involved with Go Green from the start and projects have evolved from creek clean-up to the planting of indigenous species that improve the integrity of the creek banks.
“We're a really small organization with a staff of two with maybe a summer student,” Steinley mentioned. “It allows us to have these projects where it takes a number of people, whether we need eight or 10 people. The volunteers that come out and help are a real source for us in terms of being able to get the work done in a timely manner and also many of them come with a lot of skills that we don't have to help out in a project too.”