Grass to fight greenhouse gas: Selkirk, Man. pilots environmental project

What if a city could improve its biodiversity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase stormwater capacity and save taxpayer money all with flowers and natural grass?

That’s precisely what the City of Selkirk hopes to do with its latest naturalization project along the city’s main drag and in its parks.

The city is piloting a project which would see turf grass on medians and boulevards and in underused areas of parks replaced with natural grass and wildflowers.

The goal is to cut down on maintenance and, by nature, its environmental impact.

“People don’t need to be driving past a micro-golf course,” Selkirk CAO Duane Nicol told Global News.

The pilot project is part of the city’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy penned in 2019. The goal of the strategy is to address climate change-related issues the municipality faces without compromising resident well-being.

Nicol estimates it costs the city $32,000 to cut and maintain grass on Main Street medians and boulevards every summer. With the naturalization project, that cost will shrink down to just $12,000, to which the difference can be used to better maintain parks and trails.

The naturalization project will have a better environmental and social impact, while improving the city’s aesthetic, the CAO said.

Last year the city tested a small patch of turf grass for the project which yielded “phenomenal” results, Nicol said. This year, different species of wildflowers and grass will be tested to see which holds up to winter salt build-up on medians and boulevards, while over 40 species will be planted in designated greenspaces.

The city is also looking to see which species will stand the test of time through the changing climate.

“We know that we’re going to have hotter summers, we’re gonna have drier periods, and then we’re gonna have more intense rainstorm events in summertime,” Nicol said. “We really need to be thinking about, what does this look like, not just today, but in the next 20 years?”

Selkirk’s impact on the environment has long been a focus for the city’s mayor and council. The city recently changed its water treatment plant heating and cooling systems to that of geothermal operations to cut down on emissions, which makes it the city’s second asset to be functional without the use of fossil fuels.

Long-term environmental goals outlined in the city’s Strategic Plan, approved in 2014, include regulating land use and building codes to encourage environmentally-responsible development and address fertilizer run-off into waterways.

The naturalization project will begin further testing next week along the north end of the city’s Main Street and in Selkirk Park. Nicol said eventually he envisions all medians, underused park space and areas along trails to be covered in naturalized grass.

Feedback on the wild plants has been mixed thus far, Nicol said, because the aesthetic is just as the name suggests: wild.

But the CAO maintains the benefit is worth the semi-unruly look, both from an economical and environmental perspective.

“People drive long distances to get out into the wild areas … why can’t we bring a little bit of that into the city and create more natural spaces in the city for people to enjoy?” he said.

– with files from Global News’ Katherine Dorninan

by Global News