City launches green incentive programs

By Lethbridge Herald on April 23, 2025.

Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

Two initiatives were launched in the river bottom Tuesday as Lethbridge acknowledged Earth Day. The announcements were made at the  first of three City of Lethbridge press events on a day that started out rainy and cool, perhaps fitting for Earth Day, which has been acknowledged her for 55 years.

The annual Coulee Cleanup, which runs through the end of May, was launched on Tuesday morning along with a new venture initiated by the Helen Schuler Nature Centre aimed at caring for the river valley and  park areas.

Helen Schuler resource development co-ordinator Chelsea Sherbut said under cloudy skies that the centre has launched a new challenge called Verdant Quest, combining four different components from cleaning up litter to picking up cigarette butts in order for participants to win a digital certificate with badges and for those who complete all four challenges a limited edition sticker and a chance to win one of two  grand prizes. Along with picking up cigarette butts and litter,  another challenge involves removing invasive plants .

“It’s free to participate and a fantastic way to get to get involved in local environmental action,” said Sherbut.

“We already know that people in Lethbridge love their parks,” said Sherbut noting last year’s coulee cleanups had more than 1,000  participants.

“So this is just building on that momentum and giving people a way to  be rewarded for their efforts and to have a little bit of fun, as  well,” she added.

Coulee cleanups are designed to protect the city’s river environment by people removing debris and garbage.

“Citizen efforts toward conservation projects make an actual, real difference. Cities that don’t have the same challenge don’t enjoy  quite the pristine landscapes that we end up here because of things like Coulee Cleanup,” added Sherbut.

“It’s just  also a good way for people to feel more connected with nature.”

Coulee cleanup participation, Sherbut said, is a testament to about how residents feel about the city’s natural areas.

Last year, a total of 1,027 people volunteered participated in the  cleanup for a total of 1,541 hours. They collected 489 bags of  garbage. A shoreline collection effort saw 19 bags collected by 72 people.

Kathleen Sheppard, executive director of Environment Lethbridge, on  Tuesday launched a new website called greenyql.com which contains  information on sustainability.

The intent is “to act as a hub for all environmental and  sustainability information in Lethbridge,” said Sheppard.

“One of the things we hear a lot from people is people feel like they’ve missed out on events because they happened and they didn’t know about them. Or people are just sort of a little bit confused about all the different organizations and programs,” Sheppard added.

The website is “a gateway that will take you to programs, events,  opportunities in Lethbridge all about environmental conservation,” Sheppard said.

“We know the community likes to be involved in these different programs.”

“We really think that by providing a single gateway to people to find information we can boost those participation rates even higher.”
Earth Day is a chance to celebrate the local environment and is also a  push for action, Sheppard noted.

The greenyql.com website lists several dozen programs and resources  from more than 20 organizations and agencies including the City of Lethbridge and the Southern Alberta Group for the Environment. It also  lists upcoming events and provides information for people who want to  get involved in protecting the local environment.