By Lethbridge Herald on May 31, 2025.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
A group of volunteers plant a drought resistant garden Friday to kick off Environment Week at Tartan Park.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

Environment Lethbridge is embarking on a Living Cities project and in partnership with the City of Lethbridge, they installed a new drought-resilient garden on Friday in Tartan Park in West Highlands to kick off Environment Week. 

Environment Week is a national event held during the first week of June that celebrates and inspires action to protect our environment. This year it will take place from June 1-7, and both organizations have planned a variety of events to get residents engaged with the environment and doing their part to protect it. 

Kathleen Sheppard, Environment Lethbridge executive director, told media Friday that they wanted to show residents that using drought tolerant plants doesn’t mean that they need to use lots of rocks and plant cacti. 

“There are lots of native plants that you can use to enhance your landscaping with, and we all know that water conservation is on everyone’s mind, so this is a way to raise the awareness of that, as we head into Environment Week,” said Sheppard. 

She added that as our summers get hotter and drier, it’s important to think about alternative plants that use less water. 

“We hope this project will not only add aesthetic value to Tartan Park but will inspire homeowners to explore different landscaping options in their own yards,” said Sheppard. 

She explained that drought tolerant plants will take about a year to get established into their space, and even though for that first year they will need extra water, they will use a lot less water than other plants afterwards. 

Environment Week will see a variety of events for residents to take part in, such as birding, tree planting and recycling roundups. 

Raene Barber, City of Lethbridge sustainability engineer, told media that the city is excited to partner with Environment Lethbridge during Environment Week. 

“We always encourage residents to take part on environmental stewardship around the community, but environment week is a really good opportunity to get out there and participate in community events,” said Barber. 

She highlighted a few of those events and shared that on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday there will be planting events in Redwood, Lakeview, and Columbia Parks.

“We will be launching some resources on how to build your own rain barrel, as well as how to complete a home efficiency audit, and with that we are launching a home efficiency audit kit, that residents can rent through the Lethbridge Public Library of things,” said Barber. 

She added that there will be a “Beyond the Bin Recycling Roundup” on June 7 at the northwest parking lot of Park Place mall, where residents can bring their old paint, electronics, and other challenging recyclables from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Community events are great because they do help diversify our natural environment, which will be resistant to climate changes into the future, so for example, the tree planting events are aimed at increasing the tree diversity within our urban parks,” said Barber. 

She added that by doing that, if there was ever an invasive pest that comes to Lethbridge unexpectedly, having a diverse planting can really be resilient to those types of changes. 

The full event schedule for Environment Week is listed on Environment Lethbridge’s website at http://www.environmentlethbridge.ca/environmentweek/

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