Genesis Land has teamed up with the Alberta Native Plant Rescue Society to support restoration and rewilding efforts in Calgary.
As our much-anticipated Logan Landing community continues to take shape, Genesis Land is working hard to ensure that this exciting new southeast Calgary development stands as an example of how urban living and environmental stewardship can coexist in harmony. Indeed, we’ve had this goal from the very beginning.
When Blake McNeill, co-founder of the Alberta Native Plant Rescue Society, reached out to us last summer to inquire about rescuing Logan Landing’s native plants prior to breaking ground, we were eager to oblige.
“The Genesis Land team got our vision right away,” says McNeill.
The Alberta Native Plant Rescue Society is a grassroots group that focuses on salvaging native plants and seeds that are in danger of being lost to construction and development. Armed with a mission to preserve and promote biodiversity in Alberta, this crew of enthusiastic volunteers initially came together in 2022, after McNeill learned that proposed construction of a much-needed overpass in the Town of Cochrane had been approved.
“That interchange was definitely necessary for Cochrane,” recalls McNeill, a long-time plant enthusiast. “But I kept thinking about all the native plants and grasses that the area was going to lose. And then I thought, ‘Why can’t we just rescue them and move them somewhere else?’”
So, that’s exactly what he set out to do. After approaching various project stakeholders, securing permission for his plan, and working with project engineers to determine which areas of the site they could salvage from, McNeill assembled a group of fellow plant enthusiasts who made their way to the Cochrane site to dig up the native plants. The team had them replanted in places they could thrive, including schools, public parks, and backyard habitats.
“We had access to the site for about a year and a half and were able to do all sorts of plant rescue and seed harvest,” says McNeill. “We pulled tens of thousands of plants off that hill.”
When the Cochrane project ended, McNeill was galvanized to keep going with these rescue projects. “I turned my attention to land developers in Calgary,” he says. “And when I got a hold of Brendan McCashin (senior vice president of land development at Genesis Land), I was barely into my elevator pitch before he said he was onboard. He and his team were eager to work with us at Logan Landing.”
Working On-Site at Logan Landing
McNeill and his fellow volunteers began harvesting plants from the Logan Landing project area in the summer of 2023. Their initial forays concentrated on the top quarter of the site, which was the first section slated for development and consisted primarily of ranch land.
“There was nothing particularly native or natural about that parcel anymore, but there were some native plants that had fought their way back onto the land,” says McNeill. “We really want and need plants like that, because they’re the ones that will compete with invasives.”
Once development officially began on that first phase of Logan Landing, the Genesis Land team invited McNeill’s group to continue their good work in other tiers—areas that won’t undergo development or construction for another year or two but are rife with native species.
“Logan Landing consists of quite a huge hunk of land. There’s a gazillion plants we can salvage,” McNeill says with a laugh, adding that having extended access to this land over the changing seasons has greatly increased the types and numbers of plants and seeds his volunteers can harvest. “It’s great because we can get the full variety of species out there. We can get plants as they emerge in the spring, and then harvest seeds in the summer and fall.”
Of course, there are schedules and parameters to work with when it comes to harvesting these plants. Generally, volunteers with Alberta Native Plant Rescue will visit the Logan Landing site around two to three times a month, usually on a Sunday. Prior to each visit, the Genesis Land team will put down survey stakes to denote the rescue area the group can work within that day. Then the volunteers—guided by plant experts who help identify what to pull and what to leave—get to work.
Over the last year, these volunteers have been able to salvage a variety of native plants and seeds—prairie smoke, shooting star, little blue steam, prairie crocuses, and a slew of native grasses have all been harvested from the site.
But where do these rescued plants and seeds end up?
“The plants being harvested from Logan Landing are going everywhere—every plant we get, every seed we get, there’s a new home waiting for it,” says McNeill.
For example, there are myriad gardening enthusiasts throughout Calgary and beyond who are eager to use these plants and seeds to rewild their yards or naturalize their acreages. There are also schools, churches, and other organizations who are keen to plant the rescued flora on their own properties. And then there are special interest groups who are doing important restoration work that involves rewilding ecologically sensitive areas. Among the most active of these groups is the Friends of Fish Creek Park Society.
Increasing Biodiversity in Fish Creek Park and Beyond
In operation since the mid 1990s, the Friends of Fish Creek Park Society conducts environmental and conservation work throughout Fish Creek Provincial Park, which is located very close to Logan Landing and is considered one of the largest urban parks in North America.
“Primarily we focus on grassland restoration in Fish Creek Park,” explains Emma Stroud, the ecology and conservation team lead with the society. “We’ll pull invasive species, maybe do some soil work and decompaction, and then we’ll introduce various native species back, whether that’s through seeding of native species, live plugs, or potted plants.”
Stroud and her team have joined the Alberta Native Plant Rescue Society volunteers at Logan Landing on a number of occasions—and this collaboration has helped to make massive inroads with the restoration work she and her team are doing in Fish Creek.
“We’ve salvaged about 5,000 live plants from Logan Landing this year,” says Stroud, explaining that many of them have already been planted in the park, while others are kept in Fish Creek’s on-site nursery for later planting. In addition, Friends of Fish Creek has created a project called Grow with Us, in which the society gives away free native plants to people in the community, then collects the seeds from them at the end of the season to use in their park restoration efforts.
“This partnership with the Alberta Native Plant Rescue Society and Genesis Land has been amazing, because we can get so many more plants that have either been lost to the park or have in pushed to the boundaries. We’ve been able to increase our biodiversity by tons,” says Stroud.
Future Restoration and Beautification
While efforts by the Alberta Native Plant Rescue Society and the Friends of Fish Creek Park Society are already making a significant impact at Fish Creek and in other parts of Calgary, the team here at Genesis Land has plans for some of those salvaged plants as well. Many of the seeds and plants that have been rescued from the Logan Landing site will be reintroduced to the community in the future.
“One of the things that’s been really amazing about working with Genesis Land is that we’re not just salvaging plants from their area and moving them elsewhere,” says McNeill. “Genesis is also working toward the restoration and beautification of Logan Landing itself.”
While planning and designing Logan Landing, the Genesis Land team ensured that vast swathes of native plants would remain untouched and protected through environmental reserve areas. As Logan Landing Phase 1 reaches completion, Genesis Land is also committed to re-introducing the displaced foliage cared for by the Alberta Native Plant Rescue back into the community.
“For Genesis to be doing this sort of thing is incredible. We’re not just harvesting plants from their site, we’re also working with them to restore their own area, and that’s the dream,” says McNeill.
