The final Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan will be finalized and presented to City Council in the spring of 2024. (Photo: LNN)

By Joel Mendelson

City of Lethbridge releases weatherproofing survey

Nov 14, 2023 | 1:50 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge is preparing for future extreme weather by creating a Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan to help guide decision-making, policy setting and organizational actions. Feedback is being sought from residents through a survey to help guide the plan.

Raene Barber, Sustainability Engineer for the Waste & Environment department said, “We’re asking the community through our online survey, how we can best support them in taking actions to ‘weatherproof’ our future.”

She continued, “Some of the recommended actions in the survey are things like providing more urban canopies by planting climate-resilient trees along streets. These canopies help provide shade in neighbourhoods and can even reduce the rising temperatures experienced in your home during the summer.”

The new survey is based on the feedback from the action plan’s initial survey, unveiled in June 2023 during Environment Week.

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Barber said, “We want to thank those people who gave their feedback on the vision and guiding principles of the Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan earlier this year. The feedback shaped the strategic direction of the plan in addition to developing the community risk assessment and the actions we can take as an organization to support our community.”

The risk assessment determined that extreme heat, drought, wildfire smoke and ecoregion shift (the introduction of new invasive species and disease-borne pests) are the top climate impacts in Lethbridge.

The survey asks for resident feedback on suggested actions related to the aforementioned climate risks. It also allows residents to suggest additional actions to be considered for the plan.

Mandi Parker, General Manager of the Waste & Environment department said, “We are developing this strategy to identify ways we can better weatherproof our assets and services when an extreme weather event comes our way.”

She continued, “To ensure we have a plan that aligns with our community’s values, needs and desires, we need our community to share their thoughts about the outlined actions.”

The survey is live until November 22, 2023. The final Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan will be finalized and presented to City Council in the spring of 2024.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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