Environmental Policies

The Environmental Policy is Lacombe County's commitment to a healthy environment for current and future generations.

The purpose of this policy is for Lacombe County to commit to focusing our efforts on internal County operations to conserve, protect, and enhance the environment in balance with social and economic needs.

The Policy includes the following guiding principles:

1. In all County decision-making we shall:

• Integrate environmental considerations into all decision-making processes
• Base all decisions on transparent and consistent policies that balance social, economic and, environmental needs
• Consider both short- and long-term impacts in all decisions

2. Lacombe County will provide leadership by: 

• Providing leadership through example
• Demonstrating a financial commitment to environmental improvements  
• Instilling the ethics of environmental responsibility, through education and communication with all employees, contractors, consultants and suppliers
• Preparing our county and community for future environmental policy measures from higher levels of government that may be more rigorous or prescriptive

3. In all County department practices and activities we shall:

• Understand and comply with federal and provincial legislation
• Implement current best management practices
• Monitor and evaluate environmental performance to identify opportunities for improvement

Lacombe County recognizes that there is a need to carefully manage the County’s reserve lands to provide benefits for existing and future residents of the County and the general public and protect the natural environment.  The Use and Management of County Reserve Lands Policy provides directions for the ongoing management of reserve lands, the removal or licensing of existing encroachments on reserves, the potential disposal of existing reserve lands and the acquisition of reserve lands in new subdivisions.