Advocates call for policy change to protect wildlife from litter in St. Albert

A St. Albert man says garbage from a neighbouring construction site is ending up in a nearby stormwater pond. CTV News Edmonton's Nav Sangha has the story.

Life-long St. Albert resident, outdoorsman and birder Brett Bolkowy is tired of seeing trash littered along his cycling route in the Riverside community.

Bolkowy said he’s seen plastic, lumber, styrofoam and other debris in the water, reeds and tall grass that make up a city-owned stormwater management facility.

“I counted over 100 pieces of garbage in the wetland the other day,” Bolkowy told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

He said he reached out to the City of St. Albert nearly three months ago about trash littering the area.

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About two months ago, he also got in touch with UrbanAge Homes, the home builder, and Genstar, the real estate developer.

“Originally, Genstar didn’t respond to any of my emails. I know that UrbanAge Homes cleaned up behind their finance, but they didn’t clean up the stuff down by the wetland,” said Bolkowy.

Last month, the City of St. Albert sent a crew to clean up the area. Bolkowy said they were there for a few days, but haven’t been back since, and there’s more garbage every day.

“I’ve noticed that construction garbage is an issue throughout St. Albert,” said Bolkowy. “We need to do something when it comes to policy and enforcement so that developers and builders have to keep a handle on their garbage before it ends up in our natural areas.”

“We call ourselves a botanical art city, but this isn’t a very good look for people who call themselves that.”

An email from the City of St. Albert to CTV News Edmonton said it is aware of the concerns with litter and debris located within city parks and green spaces.

“Municipal Enforcement Services has been onsite to investigate the concerns, and the city is working directly with the developer and builder to address these issues,” said the email. “The stormwater management facility in Riverside is regularly cleaned by Genstar and has also been visited and cleaned up by the City. Due to weather and wind conditions, debris can blow off construction sites.”

St. Albert’s engineering department allegedly directed the developer to clean up the rest of the garbage in the wetland. But Bolkowy claims the developer considers the matter closed, even though there’s still refuse in the area.

The city said it is continuing to work with the developer to ensure the area is clean.

“Obviously, I want to see this cleaned up, but I also want to see better policy and enforcement throughout the city, because this is an issue everywhere,” he said, adding that things like covered dumpsters, clean up bonds and eco plans could be easily implemented.

“There are lots of different policy angles that the city could implement here fairly easily to make sure we keep our city clean.”

Dale Gienow, the executive director of WILDNorth, agrees with Bolkowy.

“If we’re going to share our environment with these animals, we have to make sure we protect them by protecting their environment,” said Gienow. “We do need strong legislation when it comes to how we manage our resources, how we manage that trash.”

WILDNorth provides care to injured and orphaned wildlife and offers educational resources about humanely coexisting with wildlife.

“We see a disproportionate amount of animals being negatively impacted by refuse or trash, sometimes from these sites that are being developed,” said Gienow, adding that it particularly affects birds.

He said he’s rescued many ducks that have had trash stuck around their necks, making it difficult for them to swim, fly and eat.

Local songbirds will often pick up garbage and use it for building their nests. This can cause young birds to get entangled and potentially compromise their development.

“It’s part of our responsibility as citizens – if we see garbage on the ground, and it’s safe to do so, we should pick it up and put it in a garbage or recycle bin,” said Gienow. “Look out for our wild neighbours.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha