The Friends of Jasper National Park were singled out in the scoring of an international competition.
It was announced Monday that the Municipality of Jasper received a silver 5-Bloom rating in the 2018 Communities in Bloom competition. Jasper also received an Outstanding Achievement Award for the Canadian Nursery and Landscape Association Environmental Action Award.
The Friends received a special mention for volunteerism for helping to maintain and improve 200 of the 2,000 kilometres of trails in the Jasper area.
“Along with the trail project this group has developed the beautiful Pyramid Island,” a press release read. “This island has ... a site that newlyweds go to have pictures taken. The natural landscape is being protected and appreciated. Their favorite saying is that they are working on areas that have been ‘Loved to Death.’”
Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski sent congratulations from Ottawa.
“I have often said that Yellowhead is home to the most beautiful landscape in Canada,” Eglinski said. “Thank you to all the volunteers and residents in Jasper for, not only preserving that beauty, but also demonstrating the true Canadian spirit on a world stage.”
Jasper participated in the International Challenge (medium) category along with Lewes Delaware USA; Killarney-Turtle Mountain, Manitoba; Pincher Creek, Stettler and Novi Vinodolski, Croatia.
Over the summer, trained volunteer judges travelled to participating communities to evaluate the overall contributions of municipal council and departments; industry; businesses and the private sector – including volunteer efforts – in regards to the following criteria: Tidiness, Environmental Action, Heritage Conservation, Urban Forestry, Landscape and Floral Displays.
A silver 5 Bloom means the town scored above 87 per cent but below 90 per cent.
Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit organization “committed to fostering civic pride, environmental responsibility and beautification through community involvement and the challenge of a national program, with focus on the enhancement of green spaces.”
