14
Rural Beautification
Meeting the needs of a diverse community.
Founded in the fall of 2011,
Lesser Slave River’s Rural
Services department provides
essential programs and
services designed to preserve
the beauty of the region,
and to positively impact
the quality of life of its
residents. One of the ways this
essential department helps the
municipality is by keeping its
community infrastructure well-
maintained, and by cultivating
the natural elements around it.
Under the direction of Rural
Services Director Russ Jassman
and Rural Services Supervisor
Tim Wright, the Rural Services
Landscape Crew performs
many duties — but with one
common goal: to balance
natural assets with man-made
elements to help locals and
visitors alike enjoy the region’s
abundant beauty to its fullest.
This department works year-
round on a variety of new and
legacy projects, but it is the
spring and summer months
when their hard work and
artistry really shows. From May
to August, nine seasonal crew
members are added to the
ranks as they mow, trim, sweep,
plant, weed and generally
groom their way across the
dozens of parks, community
facilities and viewpoints that dot
the MD landscape.
The Landscape Crew is
tasked with a spectrum of
duties ranging from routine
inspections, maintenance
and repairs of MD-managed
facilities to mowing, watering
and weed control of parks
and playgrounds.
The MD’s collection of
community information kiosks
(and soon-to-be-installed
tourism kiosks) are also the
purview of the Landscape Crew.
In addition to general landscape
care, each of these structures
is adorned with tasteful floral
arrangements courtesy of
the department’s Flower
Beautification program. This