A town of 7800 people southwest of Edmonton, Drayton Valley is taking on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection program milestones. SSG was recently engaged to perform Drayton Valley’s corporate and community emissions inventory, help set a community emissions reduction target, and determine an action and implementation plan to achieve the target. Community and stakeholder engagement are key components to the Plan’s development, along with the collection and analysis of historical and current energy and land use data for the forecasting of short- and long-term energy and emissions trends.

The Town is being guided through a process that is robust, defensible, replicable and transparent.  At the project’s completion, Drayton Valley will be provided with a comprehensive GHG and energy inventory, will have set emissions reduction targets, and will have a local action plan detailing how their targets will both be achieved and maintained.

Images: Dean Lack, Amanda Horst

The Salmon Arm Economic Development Society (SAEDS) and Columbia Shuswap Regional District identified key challenges in how the community could support their agricultural industry.
Methodology and developments included:
A dynamic community website http://growshuswap.com/
IdeaScale – an interactive forum where the community could suggest, discuss and vote on proposed ideas
Situational analysis of the region, including land availability using GIS ALR
Focus groups evaluating the ideas from the community, with the support of NVIVO qualitative data analysis software
An agricultural plan that had both adaptation and mitigation approaches to climate change
Starting with defining a clear Agricultural Strategy for the region, SSG identified mechanisms to support food security, sustainable growth of agriculture, and future land use and strategic plans. This involved looking at regional differentiation, collaboration between organisations, community engagement, research, education and marketing.

A town of 7800 people southwest of Edmonton, Drayton Valley is taking on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection program milestones. SSG was recently engaged to perform Drayton Valley’s corporate and community emissions inventory, help set a community emissions reduction target, and determine an action and implementation plan to achieve the target. Community and stakeholder engagement are key components to the Plan’s development, along with the collection and analysis of historical and current energy and land use data for the forecasting of short- and long-term energy and emissions trends.

The Town is being guided through a process that is robust, defensible, replicable and transparent.  At the project’s completion, Drayton Valley will be provided with a comprehensive GHG and energy inventory, will have set emissions reduction targets, and will have a local action plan detailing how their targets will both be achieved and maintained.

Images: Dean Lack, Amanda Horst