With 2016 now under wraps, the parks department in Okotoks is preparing for a busy 2017.

Topping the list for highlights for the department from this past year are the cemetery land use assessment and park development project for the escarpment in Drake Landing.

Christa Michailuck, parks manager for the Town of Okotoks, says the gold fish eradication project in Crystal Ridge and Drake Landing also stand out to her.

"We ended up completing two treatments on each pond and as far as we know we were successful in removing all of the fish from those ponds and now we keep monitoring to make sure we don't have the problem in other ponds in the coming years."

Another hot topic in Okotoks is the deer population.

A few incidents occurred this past year but Michailuck says the Town increased public education on how to live with urban deer which lead to less issues than in 2015.

One major project the Town will focus on in the coming year is upgrading the cremation garden at the cemetery.

Michailuck says the upgrades will include a couple new features.

"We're looking at the last section of the cemetery which is undeveloped and developing that area for more cremation interment which is like columbaria. We're going to have a scattering garden which is a new interment strategy and we'll have memorialization without interments."

The Town will also look to acquire enough funding to build an inclusive playground next year.

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