Eagle Lake Nurseries grows community roots

By Melissa Crispin-Piche Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

For more than five decades Eagle Lake Nurseries has helped shape the green spaces people enjoy close to home. From trees around Strathmore’s storm ponds to plants supplied for local developments, the business’s work reaches well beyond the nursery grounds.

Established in 1970 by Tony Heuver, Eagle Lake has grown into a supplier serving municipalities across Alberta. Its local roots remain an important part of that work, says Danielle Hall, who works in sales, marketing and industry relations for the nursery.

One contribution the team takes particular pride in is its annual support for Strathmore’s Birth Forest. The nursery donates a portion of the plant material each year, helping the community project continue to grow.

Eagle Lake also works with the Town of Strathmore and Wheatland County. Hall said the nursery supplied all the trees for the new Edgefield storm pond, along with many of the plants going into developments in Lakewood.

Those projects give the nursery a role in how the community looks and how residents use its outdoor spaces. Its reach also includes work with Calgary, Edmonton and other Alberta towns and cities.

Now, Eagle Lake is preparing to connect with the people responsible for those public spaces at the trade show portion of the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association conference (ARPA), taking place Oct. 22–24 in Jasper.

For Hall, the event offers an opportunity to hear directly from parks staff and elected officials about their communities’ planting needs. Those conversations help the nursery adjust its production plans and maintain relationships as municipal staff move into new roles.

Shelby, Eagle Lake’s farm innovation and production manager, encouraged the nursery to participate. Her background in municipal parks and recreation has helped identify the event as a place where growers could contribute to broader discussions about public spaces.

Hall said the purpose goes beyond making sales. 

“We’re far more interested in developing the conversations around why we’re planting things, how we’re planting things, and just continuing to make these spaces healthy,” said Hall.

Choosing plants for those spaces requires an understanding of the conditions they will face. Southern Alberta, specifically Strathmore located in growing region Zone B3, presents its own challenges, including chinooks, extreme weather, late spring frost, early fall frost and a climate that differs from what growers encounter farther north.

Hall said she is encouraged by the growing attention being paid to green infrastructure and the importance of functional green spaces. The value of that work is easy to see in everyday community life.

“They (community residents) want to have nice trails to walk on. They want to have nice places to take their kids to go to parks and to get out and enjoy nature,” she said.

As communities grow, the nursery hopes to help create outdoor spaces that remain healthy and useful for years to come.

That ambition reflects how much the business itself has changed. Following Tony Heuver’s passing, his daughter Anita Heuver took over ownership and now serves as CEO.

Hall said some people may still picture Eagle Lake as the small, family-run nursery they remember from years ago. While that history remains part of its identity, its work and reach have expanded.

“We’ve grown a lot since I think a lot of people were familiar with us,” she said. “And we’ve become quite the industry leader in a lot of these sectors.”