“Deep respect and consideration of the environment and the protection of our community’s natural assets underlies much of what the City does. Port Coquitlam considers environmental stewardship to be a year-round effort,” says Mayor Scott Young. “In addition to recently planting more than 40 new trees in 10 different locations throughout the City, our parks crews apply ‘green’ principles to facility management by using natural and organic pesticide alternatives, purchasing low emission and low noise equipment and using recycled material for mulching.”

“It’s not just the City getting involved in these efforts,” Young adds. “We are grateful to the volunteers and community groups who Pitch In this weekend and year-round.”
Parks crews chose trees for more than just site-specific conditions such as drought tolerance and wet soils. They were also chosen to provide berries for birds or for their beautiful flowers. For the amateur arborists, nine different species were planted: swamp cypress, magnolia, burr oak, larch, Chinese pagoda, eastern yellow wood, tri-coloured beech, mountain ash, and Japanese Stewartia. Six different parks benefited from the new plantings — Routley, Lions, Robert Hope, Fox, Gates, and Sheila Barrett — as well as the Red Bridge parking lot, Citadel Landing, the fish hatchery, and various City boulevards. The new trees were funded though tree cutting permits issued by the City.
The City also applies ‘green’ principles to our facility maintenance. City crews use low emission and low noise equipment. Composted leaves collected from parks and chippings from tree and brush removal are used as mulch rather than purchasing new materials. Similar to the mulching program, the City composts its green waste and uses the compost to fertilize parks and public areas. Parks crews use natural and organic pesticide alternatives such as ladybugs to control aphids and horticultural vinegar for weed control. Crews also minimize the need for any pest control by selecting plants that are not susceptible to disease and pests.
The City’s full time commitment to keeping Port Coquitlam clean and beautiful extends to offering solid waste, recycling, and green waste collection as well as parks services that include attractive plants and flowers in parks and other public properties. In addition to these regular services, the City also spends almost $300,000 annually on clean-up services such as graffiti removal, litter pickup and the collection of illegal dumping.