Edmonton, AB

Edmonton residents know that greens are good for you, and they treasure the city’s parks, trails and a greenway system that is the envy of many other metropolitan areas.

Even as the city continues to grow, smart planning that requires developers to donate 10 percent of any new development to the city for a park ensures that the green system will prosper along with the city itself.

So, just how big is big, when it comes to a parks and trails system? Edmonton has 896 city district and neighbourhood parks, 150 kilometres of paved walking trials, 338 playgrounds, three municipal and numerous private golf courses, 92 tennis courts and more than 309,000 ornamental trees lining its parks and boulevards.

Among these is a 48-kilometre stretch known as the Ribbon of Green, which includes 22 major parks. All this, and more, gives the city the distinction of having the most urban parkland in North America.

Most of the walking trails in the parks system spin out from the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, and those who use the trails are only limited by their preference of topography.

“I like the accessibility the whole trail system gives,” says John Stanton, owner of The Running Room, who, along with his clients, is an avid trail-goer. “It has paved trails, grassy trails and pebbled gravel areas, so that runners, walkers, cyclists, people in wheelchairs and, in the winter, skiers and snowshoers, have access to the system. There are even portions of the trail where horses are permitted, so it makes it an all-inclusive system throughout our city.”

Stanton and other running enthusiasts also laud the trail system’s connectivity, which ensures that once on, a user doesn’t have to get off and cross through, over or under major thoroughfares and other obstacles to reconnect with their chosen route.

“You can get on the trails through various feeder ravines throughout the river valley and go up into almost every community,” he says. “You don’t have the gaps that some cities have; it’s fully integrated. That’s a huge advantage for everyone who uses the trail.”

The city of Edmonton has several hundred employees who maintain the parks and trails, but the citizenry pitches in as well, recognizing and preserving the value of the system. An annual event, Clear the Trails, raises funds to clean and restore the trails and adjacent areas, as well as provides for ongoing maintenance year round. Efforts such as these certainly help, and the city provides some $45 million per year toward maintenance, as well as another $60 million for capital improvements and additional land purchases.

“The way they’re operated really does allow people to come most any time,” Stanton says. “Edmonton has become quite an active city, and part of the reason for that is this trail system. They’re free, people feel safe, and whether you’re a walker, runner, cyclist or horseback rider, you can use them. People are out there all the time.”