The following article appeared in the June 15 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
City takes a look at how it maintains parks and sports fields without pesticides
The prime dandelion season is drawing to a close, but city officials say Guelph’s battle with weeds will only get tougher unless the city adopts a new strategy.
Director of operations Derek McCaughan told a council committee yesterday the city is reviewing how it handles parks and sports fields.
The city was recently flooded with complaints from residents about weeds and dandelions in municipal parks.
McCaughan told the emergency services, community services and operations committee the city needs to find a new approach to managing recreational land.
“Unless other actions are taken, it will only get worse,” McCaughan said. “Every year will be worse than the last unless we do something different than what we’re doing today.”
He said based on council’s direction, the city stopped using pesticides in 2000, but it didn’t replace the sprays with any new form of maintenance.
As a result, the dandelions and weeds have been spreading each year, he said. McCaughan said the problem is compounded by the fact that the budget for park and field maintenance hasn’t seen any significant expansion in several years.
Murray Cameron, manager of parklands and greenery, said parks crews had a busy weed season this year but they kept up with the cutting schedule, especially on the sports fields, which are mowed every five business days.
The main weed season is ending, which will make maintenance a little easier over the summer, Cameron said.
McCaughan said the city is conducting its review to establish a set of quality standards for parks and sports fields and determine the best strategies to meet them.
He said the department will have a better idea during budget deliberations on what kind of funding increases it might need.
Councillor Vicki Beard, who sits on the committee, suggested the city could save money by reducing the amount of grass that needs to be cut. She said city staff should consider using patches of mixed vegetation to replace some grass in parks.
Beard said it’s an approach that must be adopted gradually, but it could have a positive impact in several ways.
“It would reduce the energy used to cut the grass, it would allow us to put funding into something else, it would reduce the number of geese in the park . . . and it would be easier on the mowers,” she said.
“We have been caring for parks the same way for years and years and years. Well now we need a different way of doing things and it can’t happen overnight.
“(City staff) will come up with the tools they need, and we can give them to them.”