Grande Prairie is home to over 150 parks that provide residents a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities and beautiful scenery throughout the community.
Our tree population is also one of the many assets that make Grande Prairie a wonderful place to live. We give them the best opportunity to thrive by choosing the right tree for each location and providing basic care. Parks staff maintain 25,000 trees, 484 shrub beds and 96 flower beds on public lands across the city.
Benefits of Our Urban Forest
An urban forest includes all the vegetation growing in a city, public or private, trees, shrubs, even perennials and groundcovers. They all combine to make up the urban ecosystem. It is often difficult to assess the true value of an urban forest. Monetary value can be calculated based on models of an average neighbourhood; however, these measurements only express a part of an urban forest's true value. There are many intangible benefits of a healthy urban forest.
Vegetation improves urban air quality by removing and storing tons of carbon dioxide annually. This process is called carbon sequestering.
Green environments reduce stress and provide opportunities for leisure and recreation which improve citizens' overall health and wellness, thereby resulting in reduced health care costs.
Vegetation and the soil it grows in hold large quantities of water, reducing the amount of water a municipal storm system needs to accommodate. After an inch of rainfall, if 20% of Grande Prairie were covered by hard surfaces such as roads, sidewalks parking lots and driveways that would leave the City's green spaces to absorb 80% of the water or 256,000,000 litres.