Just minutes away from Moose Jaw’s city center is a hidden gem.

It’s hard to believe that you can be in one of Saskatchewan’s major cities, and yet only steps away from a natural park with over 20 km of trails and almost 500 acres of parkland. The trails are open year-round and the area is home to a wide variety of plant and animal life, including more than 190 bird species.

The park is known as Wakamow Valley. Locals are aware of recreational activities the park offers. You will see them canoeing, having picnics, going for walks or runs and even camping there in the summer. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are popular in the winter.

“It really is such a beautiful place,” said Tony Showchuk, Director – Human Resources at SaskTel and chairperson of the EnviroCare committee. “And, it was a perfect choice for SaskTel EnviroCare’s latest venture.”

Thirty-five members of SaskTel EnviroCare from Regina, Lumsden, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw made their way to the park on June 9, 2018, to complete some greening activities. They were armed with work gloves, sunscreen and bug spray and were provided with rakes, shovels and wheel barrels to get the job done.

“As part of our duties, we were happy to spread about 100 yards of mulch on sections of the Trans Canada Trail,” said Tony. “We also cleaned litter throughout the park and did some weeding in the flower beds in front of the park’s offices.”

After hearing about vandalism that had occurred in one of the park washrooms, the group also decided to donate some funds towards repairing the damages. The funds came from bottle/can recycling the group does at various SaskTel office locations throughout the province.

SaskTel EnviroCare’s efforts were in celebration of Canadian Environmental Week, which ran from June 3 to 9. The day the group visited Wakamow Valley was designated ‘SaskTel EnviroCare’ Acts of Kindness Day. But staff didn’t have to be in Moose Jaw to take part.

“We asked SaskTel employees to participate even if they couldn’t be there,” said Tony. “Participation could mean any small Act of Kindness that people could perform at home, (on their property, with their family/friends) to better the environment and share their SaskTel EnviroCare spirit.”

“It’s all about doing our small part to help the environment,” said Tony. “We encourage employees to consider joining our group on one of our ventures. But we also appreciate that people do what they can to make greening efforts a priority every day!”

Employees at SaskTel care about the environment and so does the corporation. To find out more, check out  SaskTel’s Commitment to the Environment or view SaskTel’s  Environmental Policy and  Environmental Strategy.