Town to research landscaping policies

By Rob Vogt
The Town of Claresholm will look into researching municipal landscaping policies to encourage environmentally sustainable gardening practices, but will not replace the grass at the new town office and multi-use community building with arid land landscaping.
At its July 17 meeting, Claresholm town council reviewed a request from Cynthia Wannamaker asking the town consider setting an example to homeowners by getting rid of the grass planted around the town office in favour of arid land landscaping, noting examples of alternatives exist in town such as Ringrose Park and the Claresholm Public Library.
She also requested a review of Bylaw No. 1714, which indicates town residents must keep their grass at six inches or less.
Wannamaker went on to explain that as Scientific American Magazine puts it, “lawns are the most grown crop in North American, and they are not a crop that we can eat; their primary purpose is to make us look and feel good.”
Almost all lawns consist of monoculture species imported from Europe. While lawns may be suitable in ecosystems which can support them, they are inappropriate for arid and semi-arid regions such as exist in Southern Alberta. Lawns do not promote diversity; they are not a source of food for humans, or many other species for that matter; they don’t provide shade against heat as trees and shrubs do; they require a great deal of water that could be redirected towards more productive agriculture; and there is a predominance of home owners who use toxic chemicals to prevent other species from intermixing with the lawn grass of choice, chemicals which then spread into other areas including aquifers.
By re-landscaping the area around the town office to better reflect what this region can support, she continued, town council could be providing leadership to the many in this town who do not see alternatives and examples to green lawns.
“Our climate is changing, becoming hotter and drier as we move into the future,” Wannamaker said. “At some point, we will not be able to afford the luxury of these green lawns, which suck resources and deliver very little in return. I believe the town has a responsibility to provide solutions for this issue.”
She also explained Bylaw No. 1714 has a requirement for grass to be six inches or less.
She said this increases evaporation from the soil as long grass does a much better job at protecting the ground from becoming dried out than short grass does.
It means that home owners are using lawn mowers much more frequently; as much as five percent of total air pollution is related to emissions from lawn mowers, thereby increasing the carbon footprint.
It restricts home owners who want grass to a narrow selection, as she presumed the town would make a person cut ornamental grasses such as feather reed, which look best when several feet tall.
It directs the energies of home owners into grass maintenance, rather than tree, shrub and flower planting, all of which are more beneficial to the natural environment than manicured grass lawns.
Council then agreed to research municipal landscaping policies to encourage environmentally sustainable friendly practices and to bring the findings back to council at a future meeting for discussion, with all of council in favour except Coun. Kieth Carlson who was opposed.
Coun. Mike Cutler also noted when the new town office was built, they looked at different models for landscaping, and discovered lawn was better than wood chips or shale for maintenance.
“It’s something we looked at and investigated,” he said.