Including nature in urban environments helps to make them more beautiful, healthy and sustainable. Livable communities include a mix of engineered infrastructure and natural spaces that work together to increase climate resilience, preserve biodiversity and promote access to nature.
Today, Adam van Koeverden, Secretary of State for Sport and Member of Parliament for Burlington North-Milton West, Kristina Tesser Derksen, Member of Parliament for Milton East-Halton Hills South, and Asif Siddiqui, Director of Muslim Families Development Corporation (Muslim Families), announced a joint investment of nearly $340,000 towards permaculture landscaping in Milton.
Focusing on underused, publicly accessible spaces, the landscaping project will allow local youth to study and assess environmentally conscious and sustainable improvements. Through the Blue Dot Stewards programme, a youth mentorship and environmental leadership initiative, young people will advance designs based on permaculture principles, planting native species that produce food or traditional medicines.
The project will help to increase knowledge of the natural environment and give participating youth more opportunities to lead and work together. Work will be undertaken near Sherwood Park at the Indian Creek Trail Head, and the Milton Community Park, enhancing approximately 56,000 square-metres of public park space.
Permaculture is a design system that covers a wide variety of activities and perspectives. It is mostly focused on developing permanent agriculture that requires little human intervention to sustain, such as in food forests that can yield valuable seeds, fruits or vegetables. Landscaping enhancements, like the ones being undertaken through this investment, help to build more robust ecosystems, address food insecurity, and support greater resilience to climate change.
Muslim Families is a community organization focused on youth development, social well-being, and civic engagement, particularly supporting diverse immigrant, and at-risk populations through meaningful, values-driven programming since 2018.
