Eagle Point – Blue Rapids Park Council

In 2005, when the local community wanted to bring better management of 56 square kilometers of land across the North Saskatchewan River, the Blue Rapids Park Council was born. The Council’s work includes environmental education, ecological monitoring and stewardship initiatives. They promote community ownership for local wild places and sound environmental practices. They believe that involving the community at all levels is important and as such, deliver free programs to schools and youth in neighbouring areas. Together with their community, they work on trail and shoreline clean-ups, tree planting in disturbed forests and inventorying local floral and fauna. Their hope is that connecting people to nature will encourage those people to protect wild places in the future. Already, the Council has completed the Vegetation Classification for the Parks System, outlining forest and vegetation types. In the future, they hope to expand into water studies and wildlife monitoring, as well as advancing the amount of protected land in the Parks System.